The article about Maine’s educational testing decline over the last 20 years, “Study: Maine among worst in boosting test scores” (July 19), deserves comment.

First, our kids went from No. 3 to No. 14 among the states that participated in this assessment. We slipped, but the article did not report any hard numbers. Could we have stayed in the top 10 with a 1 percent improvement?

We have no way of knowing that, but given hard times, I will take No. 14 with better times ahead expected. Our teachers and schools are obviously some of the best in the nation.

Second, it did not seem to me that Gov. Paul LePage “ripped” the results of this assessment. It easily could be said that the governor might simply have been saying “We can do better.” He wants us to be No. 1, and no one should criticize that standard. He is just raising the bar higher.

I am no fan of the governor, nor he of me, but I will give him the best slant on this. This cannot be an attack on teachers. It is, I hope, simply that we can do better. We are still well above the national average, but why should we not aspire to be No. 1?

Stephen Aucoin

Waterville