A Maine Wire / Co/Efficient poll conducted this week shows that most Maine voters want schools to get back to teaching the basics — like math, reading, science, and writing — while a small minority of self-identified liberals want a greater focus on diversity and equity programming.
Most liberals in the survey also opposed greater transparency in public schools, like the posting of curriculum materials online for parents to review. A majority of liberals surveyed also said they didn’t want parents to have the right to protect their children from school content that they deemed illicit or obscene.
In a survey of nearly 2,000 Maine general election voters, 66 percent of self-identified liberals said teachers should spend more time promoting diversity and equity as opposed to math, reading, writing and science.
That left-wing bloc stands in sharp contrast to the large, bipartisan majority of Maine voters who want Maine’s schools to get back to the basics.
93 percent of conservatives and 73 percent of moderates said teachers should not prioritize diversity and equity programming over core educational subjects. In terms of party identification, large majorities of both established political parties, as well as likely voters who aren’t a member of a political party, supported a return to traditional subject matter.
Bipartisan majorities also support greater transparency in public school curricula and stronger safeguards to ensure students are only accessing age-appropriate materials.
[RELATED: 80% of Maine Voters Want School Materials Posted Online…]
Curiously, despite the majority consensus on these hot button education issues, it is actually the liberal minority that is dictating what happens in Maine schools.
When it comes to school transparency, gender programing, Critical Race Theory, and parental rights, Maine’s policymakers and school board members have traditionally taken the liberal position. But the survey suggests that far more Maine voters are skeptical of the recent push for “woke” curriculum than support it.
