For Maine’s education community, this year’s legislative session is shaping up to be mostly about money.
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 inNews
Maine teachers seek to alter process for evaluation
They say the current proposal would put too much importance on how students score on standardized tests.
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Posted inNews, Sports
Feds: Everyone deserves a chance to play
Despite the federal directive, Maine schools are already getting kids with disabilities to be part of the team.
Posted inNews, Politics
LePage’s plan to cover budget gap with casino revenue questioned
An official says it’s a ‘really bad precedent’ to shift money meant to benefit education to another use.
Posted inNews
Maine college system chief relieved to avoid cuts
The chancellor tells state legislators it’s a sign that Gov. LePage values education, even in difficult times.
Posted inNews
LePage’s teacher-pension funding change draws criticism
The plan, part of the governor’s proposed budget, would be costlier for some school districts than others.
Posted inNews
Report: Maine grads more ready for college than others
Data shows less of a need for remedial work, adding a new debate point on school quality.
Posted inNews
Labor panel backs 4.5 percent raise for UMaine faculty
The faculty has gone without a salary increase since March 2009, in part because the University of Maine System has been working to recover from fiscal problems brought on by the economic crisis of 2008-09.
Posted inNews
Portland’s LearningWorks receives $2.4 million grant
The funds will be used to expand existing education programs for at-risk students, immigrants and low-income families to additional schools in Portland and Biddeford.
Posted inBusiness, News
UMaine president explains school’s efforts to improve
University of Maine Orono President Paul Ferguson said the flagship campus of the UMaine system is undergoing a focused drive to cut costs while improving the student experience and working aggressively with the state and its businesses. Called the “Blue Sky Project,” Ferguson described the year-long process of honing the priorities of the university amid […]