{"id":11748,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/kelly-maureen-noonan-murphy\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:42","slug":"kelly-maureen-noonan-murphy","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/kelly-maureen-noonan-murphy\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Maureen Noonan Murphy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Served six years on the Scarborough Board of Education (elected in 2011 and 2014). Served four years in the Maine House of Representatives (elected in 2022 and 2024).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

1) Making Scarborough and Maine affordable for people of all ages.\n2) Improving educational outcomes from PreK through college and adult education.\n3) Modernizing the school funding formula for 2026 realities and finding new revenue sources to ease reliance on property taxes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

I'm running for re-election because there's still work to do and I believe I'm in the best position to do it. As Education Committee chair, I helped raise teacher salaries, fund a school cell phone ban, and expand free community college, all while protecting districts like ours from immediate funding cuts under the new formula. Maine still needs to change how we fund schools to ease the burden on property taxpayers. I'm grateful for your trust, and I'm ready to get back to work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

What is one way Maine is on the right track? What is one way the state is on the wrong track?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Maine is on the right track expanding free community college, opening doors to higher education for students regardless of income. But we're on the wrong track relying so heavily on property taxes to fund local schools. It forces towns like Scarborough to choose between adequate education and affordable housing, and hits fixed-income and working families hardest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

As one of several dozen legislators in your chamber, how would you make a measurable difference for your constituents?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

As Education chair, I shape the language of bills and how they move through the process. Real change comes from coalition-building, so working with other legislators on shared cost pressures is critical. Mastering technical policy, like the EPS funding formula, well enough to write the fix and explain it to colleagues goes far beyond my single vote. Established relationships build the trust needed for bigger changes ahead, like easing reliance on property taxes while funding schools adequately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n

Surveys show the economy is the top concern of voters. What is a specific proposal addressing Maine voters\u2019 economic anxieties that you\u2019d work to make law?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

I would advocate for the expansion of Maine's Property Tax Fairness Credit and pair it with a small per-delivery fee (like Colorado's) to fund schools. This would create a dedicated revenue stream so districts rely less on property taxes. This directly eases the cost burden on homeowners and renters while stabilizing school funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5112,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Kelly","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"Maureen Noonan","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Murphy","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":11747,"voter_guide_candidate_age":51,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Educational technician at a special-purpose preschool working one to one with students with disabilities.","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"I was a member of the steering committee for the Wentworth School building project and have worked and\/or volunteered in various Scarborough schools for almost 20 years.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"The Catholic University of America: bachelor's in English 1997; JD, 2000","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1lUb9M8nLc6T2HZa7vfk2qddeQ4aHtXxD","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-11748","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-democratic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11749,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/11748\/revisions\/11749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=11748"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=11748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}