Last Friday, I visited Mr. Janeway's AP Government class at Mt. Ararat High School to share some of my experiences so far as a State Representative.  As I talked to the students and answered their astute questions, two themes emerged.  First, how do I balance my time as a citizen legislator?  And second, how can today’s school reform process balance short-term cost savings with long-term investment in our greatest assets -- our children?

Balancing time as a legislator, teacher and parent is a wonderful challenge.  For me, the massive quantities of bills, budgets, and agency reports are both exciting and daunting.  Exciting, because I have never had so much reading to do - not even when I was a Comp. Lit major twenty years ago at Brown.  Daunting, because even the smartest veteran legislators can't read it all.  If we’re lucky, we have eight short years to make a difference.  What we give time to, and how we give it, matters greatly to our own future and that of our children.  Choosing well is fundamental.

To balance cost savings and educational excellence in response to the Governor's budget package, the Joint Standing Committee on Education is also faced with a great challenge.  So far, the committee members have heard testimony from hundreds of Mainers, and continues to accept written statements.  Over the next few weeks, they will combine all proposals* into a committee bill.  To help them prioritize, now is the time to submit your concerns, feedback, or suggestions by contacting me, and/or other representatives in the Coastal Journal area.  We will work with the committee to make sure your voice is heard.

Finding balance starts with knowing our priorities.  We may disagree on the means, but Mainers agree on our priorities.  We want to build a strong, sustainable quality of life.  We want to move Maine forward to shared prosperity, standing on the shoulders of our hardworking, fishing-and-farming forebears.  We want our government and our culture as a whole to model the values of fairness, opportunity, and responsibility.  

In the coming weeks there will be much forward movement at the State House.  I will do my best to keep you posted, both here and through the various links at www.sethberry.org.  And I believe I speak for many of my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, in saying that I intend to stay focused on building a strong, shared and sustainable prosperity.

Seth Berry

*For a two-page, side-by-side comparison of the proposals submitted by the Governor and various legislators, please email Seth from his website.

 

State Representative Seth Berry represents Bowdoin, Bowdoinham and Richmond.  His biweekly BerryBlog is exclusive to the Coastal Journal and to his website, www.sethberry.org.