The 2025-26 data shows a drop of more than 2,000 students statewide since last year. The decline has ripple effects for Maine’s school funding formula and construction backlog.
Riley Board
Staff Writer
Riley covers education for the Press Herald. Before moving to Portland, she spent two years in Kenai, Alaska, reporting on local government, schools and natural resources for the public radio station KDLL as part of the Report for America program. Riley originally hails from Sarasota, Florida, and is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the college’s student newspaper, The Campus. She has interned at the Burlington Free Press, and at the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Magazine in Washington, D.C. Outside of work, Riley is passionate about roller skating, cooking and her cat, Edgar.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
7th school district added to Maine lawsuit challenging transgender policies
The Maine Human Rights Commission is suing districts over policies about transgender athlete participation in sports, which it say conflicts with state law.
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Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics, Schools and Education
Maine schools react to increased ICE enforcement
Thousands of students have been absent as a federal immigration enforcement operation descended on Maine, and the state’s largest district is considering a remote learning plans for different grade levels.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
Despite outcry, UMaine will demolish its oldest building
A campaign to save Crossland Hall focused on its role as a home for the Franco-American Centre, but officials said the building has outlived its useful life.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics
Wife of detainee questions morality of ICE enforcement in Maine
Marcos Da Silva’s wife spent almost 2 days trying to find him, and his truck, after he was detained by immigration officials in Portland on Tuesday.
Posted inLocal & State, News
ICE confirms operations in Maine as arrests ramp up
Many city and school officials and residents continued to decry the immigration enforcement actions in Portland, Lewiston and elsewhere in the state.
Posted inHealth, Local & State, News, Schools and Education
University of Maine will receive $45M for health science complex
The federal funding, secured by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, comes after UMaine recently commissioned a study that found adding a medical school was not currently feasible.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics, Schools and Education
Trump administration to investigate 2 Maine districts over transgender athlete policies
Title IX is at the heart of the investigations in Newport and Waterboro.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics, Schools and Education
What could Supreme Court cases on trans athletes mean for Maine?
Two cases from West Virginia and Idaho, argued before the court Tuesday, could have implications for lawsuits about Maine’s policies for transgender athletes in scholastic sports.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
Maine schools tackle food waste to save money, time and the environment
A pilot program from UMaine’s Mitchell Center found big reductions in school cafeteria food waste, and a toolkit rolled out this fall will help schools prepare for a food waste ban that starts in 2030.