EPS funding change to aid county schools

In front of Shead High School in Eastport and surrounded by area legislators, school administrators, municipal officials and school board members, Maine Governor Paul LePage signed into law a bill that reforms the state's controversial school-funding formula and will lead to more funding for schools in Washington County and other rural areas of the state. The signing ceremony was held on July 4 just before the start of the city's Independence Day parade.
"This law will begin to correct an error in our educational funding formula and will benefit our rural areas," said Governor LePage. "This is a victory for parents, students and teachers in parts of our state like Washington County that have felt a negative impact for several years because of their smaller school districts. The system is not fair, and we are attempting to make it more equitable for everyone."
Maine Senate President Kevin Raye of Perry, who sponsored LD 1274, commented, "For six long years rural Maine has suffered under a flawed, biased and anti-rural funding formula." Not until this year were legislators, with the support of the governor, able to enact changes and "bring fairness to the children everywhere in the state of Maine." With Shead as a backdrop, Raye commented, "This school is emblematic of schools across the state that will finally get a fair shake."
AOS 77 Superintendent Jim Underwood expressed his appreciation toward the governor and everyone involved with revising the formula. "This bill will benefit so many rural areas in need. It's well known that our area is one of the most economically deprived parts of the state, and for the sake of our students and their education we deeply appreciate what the legislators from all parts of the state have done to help out our children."
Because many school budgets for 2011‑12 have already been established, the funding changes in LD 1274 will take effect in the 2012‑13 school year. The Maine Department of Education projects that, in combination with increased education funding approved by the legislature, LD 1274 will boost state funding for schools in Senate District 29, which includes all of Washington County and small portions of Hancock and Penobscot counties, by more than $1.5 million in school year 2012‑13.
For the 2011-12 school year, before the revision in the formula takes effect, Washington County school districts will lose approximately $1.5 million in state aid. During the seven years since the EPS formula was implemented, a number of coastal Washington County towns have lost almost all of their state funding, while urban and southern Maine schools have gained significantly. According to the subsidy figures for the upcoming year, over those seven years Jonesport will have lost 98% of its state aid, Machiasport 97%, Lubec 93%, Cutler 73% and Eastport 65%. Meanwhile, Brewer will have gained 124%, Yarmouth 72%, Bangor 42% and Cape Elizabeth 25%.
"This measure alone won't make rural Maine whole when it comes to education funding. But it does eliminate from law some of the worst, most unfair and offensive things in the EPS formula, with three common sense provisions redirecting about $6 million of the $41 million in new statewide education funding to communities that have been unfairly punished by EPS," Raye said.
At the signing ceremony, LePage commented that, when he took office, "it became clear that the education funding formula was not working." He noted that it is "important that the rural parts of the state have equity and are on the same footing as the urban areas." The governor also stated that he plans to have a review of the state's educational system and that changes needed to be made. "We have slipped on the quality of students we're putting out."
LePage observed that under the current formula the funding "was going to where all the votes are." The final vote in the Senate on the bill was close, 17 to 15, and the measure was passed in the House by a vote of 84‑56. Much of the opposition in the Senate was from senators who represent districts that would not gain as much additional funding as they would have under the current EPS formula, Raye notes, although no district would actually be receiving less funding. He comments, "By combining the EPS fix with increased state funding, we have helped address a serious inequity while assuring that no school district in Maine will receive less state money than they do today."
Raye recognized other legislators for their support of the bill, including Rep. Howard McFadden of Dennysville, Rep. Joyce Maker of Calais, Rep. Dianne Tilton of Harrington and Rep. David Burns of Whiting. "I would also be remiss if I did not single out AOS 96 Superintendent Scott Porter and East Machias Selectman Kenneth 'Bucket' Davis for their tireless support of LD 1274."
Raye's original bill had been amended in committee, after he worked with the Department of Education to propose an alternative measure to the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. Under the revised legislation, a proposal allowing for the use of a three-year average in a town's property valuation in the formula was removed. Instead, the newly passed law provides an additional minimum subsidy for communities suffering the double whammy of being property‑rich but with a low‑income population. The law ensures that a community's ability to pay is considered as a factor in the formula. It provides additional subsidies for high‑valuation minimum receiver communities with a greater than state average percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch.
The new law also removes a provision in existing law that subjects state reimbursement for school personnel benefits to the labor market index, which has resulted in schools in lower income areas being reimbursed at a lesser rate than wealthier communities.
The law also adds a new provision allowing for a 10% variance in the staffing ratio for school districts with fewer than 1,200 students, acknowledging in law that smaller districts cannot achieve the economies of scale enjoyed by the state's largest school districts.