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JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS AND THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF EDUCATION TO OPPOSE THE MOVE TOWARD COMPETITIVE GRANTS IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF FEDERAL EDUCATION AID
WE, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the First Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the President of the United States, the United States Congress and the Secretary of Education as follows:
WHEREAS,   the administration of President Barack H. Obama has made it known that it wants to rely more on the use of competitive grants to award federal education aid to states, and it is likely to incorporate competitive grants in its proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as the No Child Left Behind Act; and
WHEREAS,  the shift to competitive grants as opposed to formula allocations will hurt rural states like Maine that lack the people or the capacity at the state and local levels to devote to the grant-writing process; and
WHEREAS,  Maine currently receives an estimated $200,000,000 in federal money annually, distributed largely through formula allocations, that supports programs for the State's neediest children; and
WHEREAS,  changing federal aid to a competitive grant system would jeopardize that funding at a time when the State needs it most, in these serious economic times, and it would hurt the education of children who need it most; and
WHEREAS,  the Maine School Boards Association and the Maine School Superintendents Association, which represent school districts across the State, have formally adopted positions opposed to this move toward competitive grants, now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, your Memorialists, respectfully urge and request the President and Congress of the United States and the United States Secretary of Education to continue to rely on formula allocations that recognize the obligation to educate all our children regardless of where they live and reject the move toward distributing federal education aid through competitive grants; and be it further
RESOLVED: That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the Honorable Barack H. Obama, President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Honorable Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, and to each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.