District 8 Legislative Update - August 26th, 2009
August 26, 2009 -
Hi friends,
As summer draws to a close, I hope everyone is enjoying the warm and sunny days. This past month, I have been spending a lot of time all over the state at conferences around education issues.
Appropriations Committee Hard at Work
Even though I have fewer commutes to Augusta, there has been plenty of legislative work this summer. I have been going to Augusta to monitor the Appropriations Committee's work to find $30 million in State inefficiencies for the 2011 budget. Almost every Department in the state is presenting to the Committee with the end goal of isolating structural changes and savings.
As you may know, Education and Health and Human Services account for approximately 80% of our State budget, so predictably both agencies have been spending a lot of time in front of the Committee over the summer. Additionally, the Department of Labor, Corrections and Maine Revenue Services have been sharing their ideas for better operations, structural changes and savings.
As Chair of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, I am keenly interested in the discussion points thus far. Here are some highlights:
* A report by the consulting company McKinsey & Company, "Maine Delivering Efficient Government," highlights how we can save between $30-50 million in education. The trend I see is that the State's declining revenues means spending less on education in order to not increase property taxes.
* The University of Maine System shared their "New Challenges, New Directions" report. It boldly states that they must change how public education is delivered in Maine while also saving over $100 million in the next four years. The trend I am seeing is that our seven public universities will no longer be working in isolation, resulting in less duplication and more specialization at each campus.
* The American Recovery Reinvestment Act brought over $300 million into Maine. A report shows how every K-12 district has spent their funds. Some common uses are: saving the money for next year's budget; putting it toward special education; making renovations and repairs; and general funding of programs. The trend I see is that school superintendents understand the next two years are going to be tough and are investing in long-term investments rather than introducing new programs.
Finally, I have spent time in Augusta with the Education Committee for confirmation nominations to the Maine Maritime Academy and Community College Board of Trustees. As you read this, the State Senate will have voted on dozens of new appointees to boards across the State.
Maine Prevention Dropout Summit
On July 27 and 28th, I was in Orono for Maine's first annual Dropout Prevention Summit. Over 250 students, teachers, administrators, and policy makers gathered for two days. The summit was a truly eye opening experience.
Maine is currently losing over 3,000 students per year; that means more than 21 students per day are leaving our schools. Each one of these students has their own story behind this statistic.
What I enjoyed most about the summit was that students were the centerpiece. Instead of listening to adults rattle off statistics, we heard from students statewide why they left school, what circumstances got them back and what we can do to keep others from leaving as well.
Many students decided to leave school because they felt that no one cared about their education. Others were struggling with work, parenting, homelessness, and other challenges in their lives. For many that returned to school, all it took was a teacher coming to their homes to show them that they truly matter.
I came away with a few key pieces to keeping kids in our schools:
* Retrain teachers to build relationships with all students.
* Give multiple pathways for students to learn to engage all students and retain at-risk students.
* Create response-to-interventions so that when a students shows signs of falling through the cracks, we can deal with it immediately.
* Remove as many barriers as possible that keep students from achieving. For example, create rolling completion dates for homework instead of repeatedly failing students.
* Get parents more involved in their children's education.
Portlanders Serving Our State
This past Monday, the Legislature convened to vote on judges and appointees to various boards and commissions set up by the State government. These board and commission positions are on a volunteer basis and require a significant amount of work, but the information they provide to the Legislature and State agencies is crucial to the work we do.
With more than 60 confirmations, I am proud to announce that four people from Portland were confirmed by the Senate.
* Beth Dobson was confirmed to serve as a District Court Judge;
* Naomi Mermin was confirmed to serve on the Efficiency Maine Trust Board;
* Kenneth Spirer was confirmed to serve on the Indigent Legal Services Commission;
* and A. Mavourneen Thompson was confirmed to serve on the Human Rights Commission
All four of these individuals deserve our thanks and congratulations.
Closing
I hope all is well, and that everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend. Please contact me any time, and I'll see you around town!
-Justin
