I want to correct a misstatement Gov. Paul LePage recently made on the number of school superintendents in the state of Florida. He stated, “We have 127 superintendents for 177,000 kids” while “the state of Florida … has 3 million kids and 64 superintendents.”

He went on to state, “That’s where the problem is. We are spending the money on the administration of our schools and not in the classrooms.”

For 10 years I worked as an administrator in the Orange County (Orlando) Public Schools in Florida. It is a single school district, and Gov. LePage implied that it had only one superintendent, when, in fact, the one large school district has many superintendents: one executive superintendent, up to three associate superintendents, six area superintendents and hundreds of other high-level administrators.

For example, in the special education department alone, there was an executive director and six directors (I was one) plus many administrative coordinators. Our school district office was a nine-story building with dozens of people working on each floor.

Gov. LePage suggests Maine needs far fewer school administrators and more teachers in the classrooms. I don’t have specific data on what Maine needs as school administrators vs. teachers, but I know his analysis is flawed and strongly suggests he doesn’t understand what it takes to provide a quality education system in each school district.

It also suggests he is willing to harm the quality of education provided for Maine’s children to save money now – at great expense in the long run to the state.

Jonathan C. McIntire, Ph.D.

special education administrative director

Flagstaff, Arizona, and Pemaquid Harbor

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