{"id":2572,"date":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/howard-s-allen-iii\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:35:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:35:56","slug":"howard-s-allen-iii","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/howard-s-allen-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard S. Allen III"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4-year degree in Secondary Education Social Sciences from University of Southern Maine<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">USM degree, 2-year associates degree in Electronics from Eastern Maine Community College (Bangor)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Previous campaigns and elected office(s) held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ran for the Moy Mo Da Yo Recreational Area Committee and won multiple times between 2007 and 2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. Refocus the district so that the top priority is student academic achievement and the current emphasis on ideology is completely eliminated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. Improve the working environment which has been described as &#8220;toxic&#8221; by current and former employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3. Hire a new superintendent with experience with large school systems and good communications abilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am a big supporter of STEM education and vocational education. I regularly volunteer with the First Lego League statewide competition and as an engineer, mentor high school students who work with my company in the engineering field. I also am concerned about the budget and repeated allegations of corruption within the district.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">What is the biggest challenge facing your community? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the residents in the district, it is the continuing increases in the cost of running the district. Recent information provided by a watchdog group suggests that there are millions of dollars that should be tapped to address many of the budget items included in this year&#8217;s budget request. The town budget held the increase to less than 2%, but the district budget increased 4% while student enrollment is significantly down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">If you could change one thing about how your community functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Easy, hold the budget increase to zero for 2026-27 and use the banked money they have to do their projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Howard","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"S","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Allen","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"III","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":3464,"voter_guide_candidate_age":74,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Staff Engineer","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":0,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"35 years","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[818],"vg_residence_municipality":[493],"class_list":["post-2572","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","hentry","vg_party-unenrolled","vg_residence_municipality-limington"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3840,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2572\/revisions\/3840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=2572"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=2572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}