While LD 90 gets broad support, the Committee on Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future has not yet identified how the state would pay for the various initiatives.
Noel K. Gallagher
Noel Gallagher covers K-12 and higher education issues statewide. Her stories are a mix of breaking news and trend stories. In recent years, they’ve ranged from why college costs so much, the launch of the state’s first charter schools, how a school welcomed a transgender student and why Maine schools have a hard time finding teachers. She’s enough of a news nerd to enjoy sitting through legislative education committee meetings and hours-long school board meetings so you don’t have to.
The Maine Press Association has honored Noel’s work, but she says she writes for the readers, in the firm belief that an informed citizenry is key to a healthy democracy.
Noel is a California native who has worked at wire services, online websites and newspapers across the country. She was in Washington D.C. during the early Clinton years, covering AIDS activism in 1990s San Francisco, documenting the business of wine in Sonoma County and riding out the boom and bust cycle of the early Internet era in early 2000s Silicon Valley. She arrived in Maine at the beginning of the recession and wrote quite a bit about the downturn here.
In her free time, Noel writes the occasional cookbook review, spends an inordinate amount of time at the Portland Public Library and hangs out with her three fabulous kids and wonderful husband. She is not a former member of the band Oasis.
Posted inLife & Culture, News
Pope ‘of the people’ delights local Catholics
Francis impresses with his informality and willingness to wade into crowds to greet people.
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Posted inNews, Politics
Special Maine panel unveils proposals for closing ‘skills gap’
The group puts forth a package of bills seeking $11 million for job training.
Posted inNews
Staff cuts possible as USM looks to trim $5 million
‘We’re going to be making some tough decisions’ on next year’s budget, USM’s president says.
Posted inNews
Portland school budget hike of 5 percent proposed
Catch-up pay raises and cost shifting account for more than $3 million of the $8 million in cost increases.
Posted inNews
Portland charter school sues its founder
But an attorney for John Jaques says he plans to countersue the Baxter Academy on grounds of defamation.
Posted inNews
Baxter Academy leadership dispute moves online
“It’s unfortunate that he’s trying to hold the school hostage but that’s what he’s doing,” says Allison Crean Davis, the vice chair of the board of directors of the Baxter Academy for Technology and Science.
Posted inNews
Baxter Academy’s top exec ousted by board
Mismanagement of the charter school is cited, but John Jaques says it’s a power play by a large donor
Posted inNews
Panel backs compromise on Maine student ‘restraint’ rules
The compromise would allow a “physical escort,” which includes temporary touching of a student to “induce” the student to walk to another room.
Posted inNews
Big step for Portland elementary schools
A Walking School Bus program will launch in April at Reiche and East End, then expand to others this fall.