Education groups line up to support Sen. Millett's school budgeting bill

AUGUSTA — A bill by Sen. Rebecca Millett, D-Cape Elizabeth, that would add stability and predictability to school district budgeting received strong support by the education community during a public hearing Wednesday at the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.

There is no standard budget cycle for local school districts, and school budgets often must be ratified before a final state budget is complete. That means local residents are often asked to vote on school budgets before they know exactly how much state funding for education they will receive.

Sen. Millett, a former member of her own local school board, said one of the greatest frustrations at the local level was having to approve a budget without knowing what the state would do. When additional funds come in, she said, “districts must completely restart the lengthy process of rewriting a budget, informing their communities of the changes and gaining support for the changes, and incurring additional costs in the thousands of dollars to hold another budget referendum.”

LD 1475, “An Act to Facilitate the Use of State Education Subsidies,” would authorizes a regional school unit to issue a warrant article to ask residents in advance what they would like to do if the state sends more education funding than the School Board anticipated.

“The legislature’s biennial budget undertaking, with late budget adoption votes, is notably misaligned with our communities’ processes,” said Sen. Millett. “This bill would mitigate those challenges, and would help communities be more clear about the options available to them. It will allow citizens to decide how to proceed if additional funds become available.”

The Maine Principals’ Association, Mayors’ Coalition, Maine School Management Association and Maine Education Association all testified in favor of the bill.

In written testimony, MSMA wrote that the bill “ends the ambiguity around late state aid and gives school boards and superintendents the option to use additional General Purpose Aid in the best interest of the students they serve.”

The committee will consider and vote on the bill during an upcoming work session.

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