Maine's Next Education Commissioner Supports Creationism in Schools

Bill Beardsley is on record supporting the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in Maine public schools. Now he's Paul LePage's appointee for acting education commissioner.

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Over the course of his tenure as Maine’s governor, the LePage administration has earned a reputation for cronyism by appointing friends and family members to high-ranking positions.

So it should come as no surprise that the governor’s appointee for Maine’s acting education commissioner is someone who he has close ties with.

Bill Beardsley, who will replace a retired Jim Rier, was president of LePage’s alma mater Husson University from 1987 to 2010.

In 2010 Beardsley also was one of the Republican hopefuls vying for the party’s nomination for governor, which LePage wound up receiving. Beardsley then served as LePage’s conservation commissioner in 2011 until the position was merged with the Department of Agriculture in 2012 to form the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

What should come as a surprise, though, is that Beardsley and LePage are both on record supporting the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in Maine public schools.

 

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Daniel Luzer is GOVERNING's news editor.
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