AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) A new report from a think tank in Washington, D.C., says that local governments have been picking up an increasing share of education costs in Maine, thanks to cuts in state and federal funding.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says local spending on kindergarten through high school education in Maine was up 12 percent from 2008 to 2015. State and federal funding each declined by 9 percent.
The report found that Maine was among the many states that made steep education cuts following the Great Recession that hit in 2007.
Rep. Victoria Kornfield, a Bangor Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s education committee, tells the Portland Press Herald the report shows that the state does not value education highly, but towns do.
