UMaine at Presque Isle lost out on grants due to line-spacing error, delegation says

Maine’s congressional delegation says the federal Department of Education has refused to review a pair of grant applications due to a line-spacing issue.

Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin have sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos about the error, urging the department to reverse what they call an “absurd bureaucratic decision.”

The lawmakers say the education department has refused to review the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s application for two grants under the fiscal 2017 Upward Bound program competition due to the error. They also say the university wasn’t allowed to correct it.

Collins and Poliquin are Republicans. Pingree is a Democrat and King is an independent. The lawmakers say two pages of the application don’t comply with a double-spacing requirement.