Janet Mills on Education

	Janet Mills on Education

Free community college is working; let's keep it up

Last year, we worked together to make two years of Community College free for recent high school graduates. We believed that it would not only help students pursue higher education debt-free but that it would make ready a trained workforce in much needed sectors of our economy.

Maine's Community Colleges experienced record enrollment last year. Free community college is working. Let's keep it up for another two years!

Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the Maine legislature , Feb 14, 2023

Make two years of community college free

I propose making two years of community college free. To the high school classes of 2020 through 2023--if you enroll full-time in a Maine community college this fall or next, Maine will cover every last dollar of your tuition so you can obtain a one-year certificate or two-year associates degree and graduate unburdened by debt and ready to enter the workforce. If you already started a two-year program, we've got your back too. We will cover the last dollar of your second year.

I will fund an overhaul of the Opportunity Maine Tax Credit. We will broaden and simplify the program's eligibility criteria so that those who graduated with student debt--regardless of what type of degree they have or where they graduated or what type of work they do now--they will be eligible for up to $25,000 of debt relief over the course of their lifetime, so long as they have a job and they make Maine their home.

Source: 2022 State of the State Address to the Maine legislature , Feb 10, 2022

Met state's commitment to fund 55% of cost of education

For the first time in Maine history we met the state's longstanding commitment to fund 55% of the cost of education. No longer will we underfund education in the State of Maine, as past administrations have done. We will maintain this commitment to our students, to our teachers, to our municipalities, and to our property taxpayers. And to help us do so I propose creating an Education Stabilization Fund, capitalized with $30 million from the General Fund, to continue delivering on that promise. Source: 2022 State of the State Address to the Maine legislature , Feb 10, 2022

$6 million in low/no interest loans for childcare facilities

My Back to Work proposal will seek $6 million for low-or no-interest loans to renovate, expand, or construct childcare facilities and increase the availability and quality of childcare slots, with half of that money going to underserved communities in ru Source: 2021 State of the State Address to the Maine legislature , Feb 23, 2021

Restore budget cuts to higher education

This year, I ask this Legislature to fully fund the second year of the higher education budget which was cut last spring. These institutions of higher learning cannot withstand rising costs without the prospects of higher tuition. And higher tuition is the last thing our students need.

Our CTEs [Career and Technical Education] are more important than ever; yet they have not received significant funds for equipment since 1998. I ask this body to fund equipment upgrades for our CTEs so that teachers are able to provide our 8,000 CTE students with the skills that we desperately need them to have.

We need to simplify debt relief programs like the Educational Opportunity Tax Credit to help more graduates retire their debt. And we must boost the Educators for Maine Loan Forgiveness Program to incentivize young teachers to work in the underserved areas which desperately need them.

Source: 2020 Maine State of the State address , Jan 21, 2020

Expand pre-school; pay teachers a living wage

This budget begins making pre-kindergarten programs available to every 4-year old in Maine.

We provide $18.5 million to Child Development Services to support our youngest and neediest children. For kindergarten through high school, we provide an additional $126 million. This budget invests in recruitment and retention to ensure that teachers in Maine will not be forced to leave the state for a living wage. This budget ensures that no teacher in Maine will make less than $40,000 a year.

Source: 2019 State of the State address to the Maine legislature , Feb 11, 2019

Invest $126M in public schools, and $18M for child services

This budget begins making pre-kindergarten programs available to every 4-year old in Maine.

We also provide $18.5 million to Child Development Services to support the needs of our youngest and neediest children. For kindergarten through high school, we provide an additional $126 million over the biennium. This brings the state's share of public education funding to nearly 51 percent of Essential Programs and Services.

Source: 2019 State of the State address to the Maine legislature , Feb 11, 2019

Commission on Education Reform must follow open meetings law

Maine Atty Gen Janet Mills filed a complaint in district court charging the Blue Ribbon Commission on Education Reform with violating the state's open meetings law. Mills says the DoEd asked her office whether the first meeting of the commission could be closed as Governor Paul LePage wished and her answer was clear that it could not. "We allege that there was a willful violation in good part because they were informed directly, specifically that of course the meeting was a public meeting." Source: MainePublic.org on 2018 Maine Gubernatorial race , Jul 8, 2016

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