Chairman Heather Sinclair of the Edgecomb School Committee was one of 30 educational officials who testified March 9 at a legislative hearing about proposed changes in the state educational Essential Programs and Services funding formula.

Edgecomb is a minimum receiver of state subsidies which places nearly all of the local educational budget on property taxpayers. She along with other school officials around the state believe changes are needed to the two decades-plus old formula. She testified on her "tentative support" for LD 2226, a bill introduced by Rep. Kelly Murphy, D-Scarborough, to overhaul the system.

The current model factors in a district's ability to pay on its property tax valuation. Murphy's proposal would add a district's ability to pay linked to a cost-of-living model to make state distributions "more equitable." One major proposal in the bill would add the rate of economically disadvantaged students (a number based on eligibility for free school meals) into the assessment. 

The Maine Educational Policy Research Institute studied the formula for the Legislature and provided recommendations that became LD 2226, according to a Portland Press Herald report. The MEPRI model showed how the proposed adjustments would affect the funding each district receives from the state. According to the modeling, most districts would receive more state funding under the proposal. Thirty-four districts would see a reduction with 12 receiving a reduction of more than $100,000, according to the Press Herald.

In her remarks, Sinclair asked the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee to develop broader steps in addressing the "mechanisms of Maine's school funding formula. The three fully developed recommendations include aligning the regional adjustment with minimum local salaries rather than the state average, modifying a community's ability to contribute considering their relative poverty rate, and updating the model of adequate services all seem to potentially benefit most towns, including Edgecomb," she said. "As an area with a relatively high cost of living, our local salary scales must reflect these costs to attract skilled educators, particularly in these times of teacher shortages. So, taking the local salary situation into account will benefit us."

Sinclair also addressed the cost of special education on small, rural school districts. "That cost can represent more than 5% of the total budget expenditures. Under the current formula, it can take years for these immediate costs to be reflected in state subsidies. If proposed regional centers take over budgeting and funding of special needs students, it could help remove this level of volatility."

Sinclair told Edgecomb selectmen and the budget committee of her comments during the budget meetiing held later that night in the town conference room.