MDIschools.net

Maine School Management Association

 Bulletin

March 11, 2010

GPA restoration now proposed at $25 million

Gov John Baldacci is proposing that an additional $5 million be restored to General Purpose Aid for 2010-2011, bringing the total proposed restoration to $25 million for the upcoming school year.

The governor also is proposing that $1,120,532 be put in the education budget to exempt from penalties the 15 communities in the state that voted for school consolidation, but their potential partners did not. Another $580,000 would be used to restore funding cuts in Adult Education.

The additional $6 million plus would come from $80 million in additional federal Medicaid money that is coming to Maine as part of a jobs package working its way through Congress.

Of that $80 million, $35 million already was earmarked to cover a placeholder in the original supplemental budget.

The governor has proposed using the remaining money to:

n  Backfill $33 million in cuts in the Department of Health and Human Services

n  Restore $5 million to municipal revenue sharing

n  Restore $5 million plus to the Circuit Breaker tax relief program

n  Put $7 million in the budget stabilization or rainy day fund

The money to restore the initial $20 million in K-12 and other restorations to the supplemental budget announced earlier this month came from a reforecast of revenue that estimates Maine will collect $51 million more in income tax than expected over the biennium and receive $27 million in unanticipated federal Medicaid money tied to a subsidized drug program.

If the total $25 million restoration is approved by the Legislature, aid to education, which is at $964 million for this school year, would drop to $936 million in 2010-2011.

Contact: Dale Douglass, executive director douglass@msmaweb.com

Victoria Wallack, communications director vwallack@msmaweb.com

Telephone: 207-622-3473 or 1-800-660-8484