Noel K. Gallagher

Staff Writer

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.

Business, News, Schools and Education

Maine still ranks high in student loan debt

by Noel K. Gallagher November 12, 2014November 13, 2014

Graduating seniors from Maine’s public and private nonprofit colleges in 2013 had an average of $29,934 in debt, exceeding the national average of $28,400.

Local & State, News, Schools and Education

Alfond Foundation gives $2 million to Mitchell scholar program

by Noel K. Gallagher November 8, 2014November 7, 2014

A $2 million gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation has capped a $10 million fundraising drive benefiting a college scholarship program founded by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. The gift will help The Mitchell Institute, which provides a scholarship to one graduating senior from every public high school in Maine every year, to increase the […]