Last year, when Paul LePage marched in Eastport’s Independence Day parade he went mostly unnoticed.
But this 4th of July, Governor LePage was the focus of celebration when he signed the education funding bill, LD 1274, in front of Eastport’s Shead High School. Standing by his side were Senate President Kevin Raye (sponsor of the bill), Representatives David Burns and Dianne Tilton, and several other key players in the successful last-minute passage of this alteration to the EPS (Maine Department of Education’s Essential Programs and Services formula), which will increase the share of state education money for rural communities.
“The enactment of LD 1274 is a victory for rural education, and a significant step toward restoring a measure of fairness after six devastating years of a biased and unfair funding formula that has wreaked havoc on education,” said Raye in a prepared press release continuing, “In Down East Maine and across much of the state, our children, teachers and property taxpayers have suffered as a result of the round peg of rural schools being pounded into the square hole of an urban funding formula.”
At the other end of the state, Representative Peter Stuckey of Portland has a different perspective. In an email response, he admitted that the “formula is ‘wicked’ complicated and virtually nobody likes it or thinks that it is fair” and pointed out that there are different challenges facing an urban service center such as Portland.
Stuckey sees the real problem is a “system that pits communities, working families and disenfranchised people against each other.” He would like to see more money for all communities.
Jim Rier, deputy commissioner of education, reminds critics that there will be an additional $19 million for education in 2013, the year LD1274 takes effect. “Portland, that may stand to lose up to $900,000 under the new bill, will receive an additional $1.5 million in increased funding. This is a net gain of over a half a million dollars.” He also said “a significant amount of additional money” for the economically disadvantaged and those communities facing needs associated with language challenges is already factored into the present formula and will not be impacted.
Rier listed three components that make up the changes in the funding formula that will shift $6 million of the $914 million appropriation in the recently approved 2012-13 state budget to aid for rural schools.
The first is that adjustments to non-teaching staffing calculations in school units of less than 1200 pupils will effectively increase the support by about 10 percent for staff like guidance counselors, librarians, educational technicians, clerical staff and school principals.
The second is that benefits will not vary across the state, despite salary variations. This will shift some funding (for those benefits) to those areas that pay their teachers less.
The third change will impact communities that are property-rich but have a low average family income (as measured by the number of students who qualify for free or reduced fees for lunch) and receive a minimum subsidy based on per-pupil valuation. $2 million will be shifted to help equalize this disparity. Rier used Lubec as an example, which has “1.5 million in property value behind each student [because there are so few students] compared to Yarmouth which has only 1 million for each student. This could mean an increase from the 2011-12 state subsidy for Lubec of $56,400 to $ 131,000 in 2012-2013.”
“It ended up being a measured and reasonable response to concerns with the current funding law,” said Rier, who is originally from Machias in Washington County and a supporter of the bill.
Machias is also the home of the bill’s greatest advocates. AOS 96 superintendent Scott Porter and East Machias selectmen Kenneth “Bucket” Davis and Will Tuell were ardent supporters of this bill which, according to Porter, they helped to craft. “Senator Raye tasked our group to develop the necessary language in LD 1274 that would send more money to rural Maine,” said Porter.
The Town of East Machias is one of 11 towns in AOS 96 (an alternative organizational structure formed in 2010). Its residents were so committed to promoting change in the funding formula that they backed the efforts of its selectmen and financed expert advice on school law. Porter, Davis and Tuell were all in Augusta during the last days of the legislative session as the vote in the Senate came down to the wire.
The bill passed in the state senate on June 29, right before the close of the session, with a final vote of 17-15.
Coverage of Washington County is made possible by a grant from the Eaton Foundation.
Leslie Bowman is a freelance writer and photographer living in Trescott.