{"id":6013,"date":"2025-02-13T18:07:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T23:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/?p=6013"},"modified":"2025-02-13T18:07:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T23:07:40","slug":"hope-for-public-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope for Public Education"},"content":{"rendered":"Public education is essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people. This is not just a good idea \u2013 it\u2019s the law, written into the Constitution of the State of Maine. For rural students without an appropriate public school, Maine set up an array of programs for different types of schools over the years. One option was that a school district could pay some of the tuition at a public or private school the family selected, as long as that school met necessary standards. The state also said that a religious school might be approved for <a href=\"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/\" class=\"more-link\">(more&hellip;)<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public education is essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people. This is not just a good idea \u2013 it\u2019s the law, written into the Constitution of the State of Maine. For rural students without an appropriate public school, Maine set up an array of programs for different types of schools [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":5568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-religion-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hope for Public Education - Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Maine Chapter - FFRF is a welcoming discussion group of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and humanists who support the separation of church and state. We invite you to attend a Zoom meeting and meet new people, make friends, gain awareness of how freethinkers are marginalized, and support each other in their quest for freedom from religion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope for Public Education - Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Maine Chapter - FFRF is a welcoming discussion group of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and humanists who support the separation of church and state. We invite you to attend a Zoom meeting and meet new people, make friends, gain awareness of how freethinkers are marginalized, and support each other in their quest for freedom from religion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MaineAtheistFreethinkerHumanistAssociation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-13T23:07:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ray\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MaineAtheist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MaineAtheist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ray\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ray\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7ef8c7075cbf570c6e2bbb3f5018d1f6\"},\"headline\":\"Hope for Public Education\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-13T23:07:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":750,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics &amp; Religion Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hope for Public Education - Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-13T23:07:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Maine Chapter - FFRF is a welcoming discussion group of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and humanists who support the separation of church and state. We invite you to attend a Zoom meeting and meet new people, make friends, gain awareness of how freethinkers are marginalized, and support each other in their quest for freedom from religion.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"The Future of Public Schools?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/hope-for-public-education\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hope for Public Education\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/\",\"name\":\"Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation\",\"description\":\"An Activist Group of Atheist Freethinkers, Humanists, Liberals, and other Infidels\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"MAFHA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Maine Atheist Freethinkers and Humanists Association\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/MAFHA-Slide-600x1440-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/MAFHA-Slide-600x1440-1.png\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Maine Atheist Freethinkers and Humanists Association\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/MaineAtheistFreethinkerHumanistAssociation\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/MaineAtheist\",\"https:\\\/\\\/youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCspwJsnJLmlEoTI4-KD96Xg\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/maineatheist\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7ef8c7075cbf570c6e2bbb3f5018d1f6\",\"name\":\"Ray\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/437fadf0b28939ddeb0a4c2189c3537e9c2e7c7af09b638ddcb47b77892f18c2?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/437fadf0b28939ddeb0a4c2189c3537e9c2e7c7af09b638ddcb47b77892f18c2?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/437fadf0b28939ddeb0a4c2189c3537e9c2e7c7af09b638ddcb47b77892f18c2?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ray\"},\"description\":\"President - Maine Chapter Freedom From Religion Foundation\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffrfmaine.org\\\/home\\\/author\\\/ray-vensel\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hope for Public Education - Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation","description":"The Maine Chapter - FFRF is a welcoming discussion group of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and humanists who support the separation of church and state. We invite you to attend a Zoom meeting and meet new people, make friends, gain awareness of how freethinkers are marginalized, and support each other in their quest for freedom from religion.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hope for Public Education - Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation","og_description":"The Maine Chapter - FFRF is a welcoming discussion group of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and humanists who support the separation of church and state. We invite you to attend a Zoom meeting and meet new people, make friends, gain awareness of how freethinkers are marginalized, and support each other in their quest for freedom from religion.","og_url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/","og_site_name":"Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MaineAtheistFreethinkerHumanistAssociation","article_published_time":"2025-02-13T23:07:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":666,"url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ray","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MaineAtheist","twitter_site":"@MaineAtheist","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ray","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/"},"author":{"name":"Ray","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/7ef8c7075cbf570c6e2bbb3f5018d1f6"},"headline":"Hope for Public Education","datePublished":"2025-02-13T23:07:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/"},"wordCount":750,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg","articleSection":["Politics &amp; Religion Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/","url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/","name":"Hope for Public Education - Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-13T23:07:40+00:00","description":"The Maine Chapter - FFRF is a welcoming discussion group of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and humanists who support the separation of church and state. We invite you to attend a Zoom meeting and meet new people, make friends, gain awareness of how freethinkers are marginalized, and support each other in their quest for freedom from religion.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Public-or-Christian-School.jpg","width":1000,"height":666,"caption":"The Future of Public Schools?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/hope-for-public-education\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hope for Public Education"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/","name":"Maine Chapter - Freedom From Religion Foundation","description":"An Activist Group of Atheist Freethinkers, Humanists, Liberals, and other Infidels","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#organization"},"alternateName":"MAFHA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#organization","name":"Maine Atheist Freethinkers and Humanists Association","url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MAFHA-Slide-600x1440-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MAFHA-Slide-600x1440-1.png","width":1440,"height":600,"caption":"Maine Atheist Freethinkers and Humanists Association"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MaineAtheistFreethinkerHumanistAssociation","https:\/\/x.com\/MaineAtheist","https:\/\/youtube.com\/channel\/UCspwJsnJLmlEoTI4-KD96Xg","https:\/\/instagram.com\/maineatheist"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/7ef8c7075cbf570c6e2bbb3f5018d1f6","name":"Ray","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/437fadf0b28939ddeb0a4c2189c3537e9c2e7c7af09b638ddcb47b77892f18c2?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/437fadf0b28939ddeb0a4c2189c3537e9c2e7c7af09b638ddcb47b77892f18c2?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/437fadf0b28939ddeb0a4c2189c3537e9c2e7c7af09b638ddcb47b77892f18c2?s=96&r=g","caption":"Ray"},"description":"President - Maine Chapter Freedom From Religion Foundation","sameAs":["https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org"],"url":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/author\/ray-vensel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6014,"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013\/revisions\/6014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffrfmaine.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}