Board tracks MEPRI funding‑formula recommendations as district faces roughly $4.1M state funding loss

Portland — Board members on Feb. 24 described ongoing work with state lawmakers and researchers after the Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) presented recommendations to revise Maine’s EPS funding formula.

Key points: The board summarized four recommendation areas MEPRI presented to the Legislature’s education committee: (1) update the regional adjustment to reflect current labor costs, (2) incorporate measures of economic disadvantage into a community’s ability‑to‑pay, (3) increase weighting for economically disadvantaged students, and (4) examine transportation and special‑education funding allocations.

Local impact: Superintendent and board members said these changes are unlikely to retroactively eliminate the district’s FY27 shortfall but could reduce future volatility. The superintendent noted district staff had submitted updated student counts to the state and that the district faces an unusual swing driven largely by property‑valuation changes in the formula. "If Portland property valuation did not change from last year to this year, our actual funding would have gone up $7,800,000," a board speaker said, to illustrate the sensitivity of the formula to valuation shifts.

Advocacy and timing: Board members discussed using district communications and coordinated community testimony to press for MEPRI’s recommended changes and to track supplemental budget opportunities. They said MEPRI will draft bill language and present further models to show how alternative weightings (e.g., 90/10, 50/50 splits between valuation and income) would affect districts.

What’s next: The board will monitor MEPRI presentations and legislative activity and intends to use district newsletters and social media to solicit public testimony if and when bill language advances.