Senator Nutting Seeks Reforms to School Funding
April 10, 2007
Augusta—State Senator John Nutting, Tuesday, will present a bill to the Education Committee that would repeal the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act and related provisions. It establishes a new school funding formula that requires school administrative units to make a local education funding effort equal to .008 times the total valuation of taxable property within the unit. The State is required to fund education expenses that exceed this baseline. A local unit that does not meet this baseline-funding requirement is not eligible for any state subsidy. The bill requires the Department of Education to audit school administrative units' budgets and to compare the expenses of schools of closely similar size.
Senator Nutting says repealing EPS and would take approximately $50 million of school funding from the minimum receivers and put it into a new formula similar to those in the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Who: Senator John Nutting
What: Public Hearing: LD 1506, An Act To Reform Maine's School Funding
When: Tuesday, April 10th @ 1:00 p.m.
Where: Education and Cultural Affairs Committee
Listen Online: http://janus.state.me.us/legis/audio/education_cmte.html
More info on the bill is online at:
http://janus.state.me.us/legis/LawMakerWeb/summary.asp?ID=280024305
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