Maine's Governor Wants His State To Move Ahead of Education Pack

By David J. Hoff

Maine's schools can boast that they are the best in the nation, and the state's governor is promising to give them the resources they need to be competitive with those of other countries.

"What I want is not just progress," Gov. Angus S. King Jr. said in his Feb. 2 State of the State Address. "I want to break away from the pack so that when someone in another state says how they're doing, they'll say, 'We're doing great; we're first in the nation, except for Maine, of course.'"

As evidence of Maine's education success, Mr. King cited the state's top ranking on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for 4th graders in mathematics and reading, as well as 8th graders...