An amended bill passed by the education committee incorporates some of the commission’s recommendations, but a $100 million price tag might scare lawmakers.
Schools and Education
Local, state and national schools and education news from the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Farmington school district giving support to 52 homeless students this year
Amanda Clark updated the Regional School Unit 9 board of directors on students who have been identified as experiencing homelessness or housing instability as of March 4.
Farmington middle schoolers connect to young readers though buddy program
Mt. Blue Middle School eighth graders visited W.G. Mallett School and the UMF Sweatt-Winter Center during Read Across America Week, reading with younger children and sparking interest in making the program a regular event.
Judge gives DOJ access to school sports rosters amid lawsuit over trans athletes
But U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf ruled against the federal government in its requests for lists of all known transgender athletes in Maine or results from events in which they competed.
Statewide bell-to-bell ban on cellphones in schools moves a step closer to reality
The Legislature’s budget committee this week supported funding and language Gov. Janet Mills proposed in her supplemental budget. If the House and Senate follow suit, Maine would join 23 other states with similar policies.
How Maine’s elite private colleges sold Wabanaki land to bankroll early construction
Tribes were stripped of millions of acres. Some of that ended up in the hands of Bowdoin and Colby colleges.
US Supreme Court won’t hear Maine case about parental rights on gender in schools
Amber Lavigne sued a Damariscotta-based school district in 2023, arguing it violated her rights by not informing her about her 13-year-old’s gender expression.
Does Maine spend roughly $20,000 per K-12 student? | Fact brief
Maine had the lowest per-student spending in New England as of the 2021-22 school year.
AI use expands in western Maine schools, policing
Maine is allowing limited use of artificial intelligence in government while requiring safeguards, human oversight and strict data protections.
Mills ups the pressure for permanent free community college in her final year as governor
The two-term Democratic governor now running for U.S. Senate has visited campuses recently in an effort to get one of her signature policies funded.