The state’s new school funding formula “has brought more dollars” to Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough and South Portland schools, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron told attendees at a forum on school funding last week.

The event, held at the South Portland Community Center, was hosted by state Senators Lynn Bromley and Philip Bartlett, both Democrats, in an attempt to answers many of the questions raised by school board members, school administrators and community members during the current budget process, the first to incorporate the new EPS model.

Rep. Connie Goldman, D-Cape Elizabeth, a member of the House Education Committee, also attended and spoke about education funding from her years of experience as a superintendent in Cape Elizabeth and Gorham.

How it works

Under EPS, the state calculates the amount a district should be spending on education for its students to be able to meet the Maine Learning Results standards.

The model incorporates several years of data gathered from high-performing schools across the state and takes into account staff and personnel costs, professional development and transportation costs. The EPS model does not include costs for vocational education, gifted and talented and extra-curricular programs.

EPS specifically targets some funds to K-12 assessment, technology and K-2 students. Individual districts will determine how to use the targeted funds, but in 2007 districts will report on how these funds were allocated. If the state doesn’t approve of the allocations, the funds could be decreased in following years.

School budgets for the 2005-06 school year are being prepared and will be the first to incorporate the new EPS formula for funding public education.

Local public officials in attendance at the forum were South Portland Superintendent Wendy Houlihan; and two members of the South Portland Board of Education, Lori Bowring Michaud and Michael Eastman.

No members of the Cape Elizabeth or Scarborough school administrations or school boards attended.

The two major factors that determine the amount of EPS funds are the number of students and the state valuation of local property. The formula boils down to a per-pupil amount that each district receives, an amount that is calculated from teacher-pupil ratios and the amount of training and experience of local teachers.

Every community receives a base amount for each student, and an additional amount for each student who is in special education, is economically disadvantaged, has limited English proficiency or is in kindergarten, first or second grades.

Attempt at tax relief

EPS is folded into LD1, the state Legislature’s response to the voters’ desire for property tax relief. LD1 has a four-year ramp up to fund 55 percent of public education. That is a point of contention for many who point out that the initial referendum mandating the increase wanted the increase immediately.

The wording of the referendum, which asked if “you want the state to pay 55 percent of the cost of public education,” might have led people to assume the state will pick up the cost of 55 percent of every school budget. But that is not so. Instead, the state will pay 55 percent of the total statewide cost of public education.

For example, Cape Elizabeth’s current school budget is $17.5 million, but $2.17 million or about 8 percent of that will be provided by the state. Cape Elizabeth, as well as other comparable communities in Southern Maine, will probably never receive 55 percent, Goldman said.

Some communities, however, will receive more than 55 percent. Communities with large enrollments and low property values may have 75 to 80 percent of their school budgets funded by the state, according to Goldman.

South Portland school board member Lori Bowring Michaud voiced her frustration with the new funding formula. She said South Portland is a service-related community and provides a large amount of revenue to the state from the Maine Mall, “but we don’t get to see any benefit of that.”

Sen. Bromley assured Michaud that she and the other legislators at the table would have written LD1 differently if they could have, but said passing LD1 required balancing needs of many different Maine communities.