I love Maine's motto. Let's face it. Latin is awesome, and Maine does lead. We were the first state to address warrantless wiretapping through our public utilities commission. Our lawsuit served as a model for the rest of the country. Our legislature was the first state to reject REAL ID. Maine legislation served as a model for legislation for nearly 20 other states. Maine was the first and so far only state to pass a marriage equality bill through the legislature and have the bill signed into law by the Governor.
It's good to be a Mainer.
Maine has the opportunity to lead once again. There have been many stories in the Maine media about the Department of Education's social security number collection program. School committees across the state have passed resolutions criticizing the law. Superintendents have discouraged parents from providing SSNs. A week ago, I spoke at the Portland School Committee meeting, encouraging the largest school district to pass a resolution. They did, bringin the total number of resolutions to 14.
Now, the rest of the country is catching wind of this grassroots movement. Change.org read about efforts in the state and created an online petition to encourage Maine legislators to repeal the law. Maine has the opportunity either to be the first to create a database of this nature with entirely new unique identifiers for students, or to recognize the balance between privacy and technology means protecting students from potential identity theft or childhood mistakes affecting careers. Hopefully we will land on the side of privacy, demonstrating for other states how to balance privacy and technology.