An Act Regarding
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 0318
Committee Amendment CA_A_H610 (House)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A• to H.P. 218, L.D. 318, "An Act Regarding 
School Funding and General Purpose Aid for Local Schools" 
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following: 
'Resolve, Directing the Maine Education Policy Research Institute and the 
Department of Education to Recommend Changes to the Essential Programs and 
Services Funding Formula' 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. Maine Education Policy Research Institute to review certain 
essential programs and services components; report. Resolved: That the Maine 
Education Policy Research Institute shall: 
1. No later than October 1, 2025, identify updated cost model parameters for the 
Department of Education to use in simulating projected impacts on school funding. 
Parameters must include, but are not limited to, the following: 
A. Transitional recommendations for moderating the special education component's 
expenditure-based adjustment; 
B. A minimum index value for the regional adjustment; 
C. A recommendation for calculating a regional index based on a valid and reliable 
cost-of-living measure; 
D. An updated per-pupil amount to more adequately fund instructional staff support; 
E. A variable student weight for determining economic disadvantage, with higher-
poverty units receiving a progressively higher weight; 
I 
F. Alternative parameters and implementation guidelines for the transportation model; 
and 
G. One or more options for incorporating a student economic disadvantage factor into 
the method for determining the amount of state subsidy provided to each municipality, 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
'?-,.0$ 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT A 
"to H.P. 218, L.D. 318 
including, but not limited to, adjusting the local required share of the essential programs 
and services cost estimate based on the proportion of economically disadvantaged 
resident students; 
2. No later than October 1, 2025, identify additional information needed from school 
administrative units, to be collected by the Department of Education in fall 2025, to 
examine the per-pupil costs of certain high-cost in-district special education programs and 
services; and 
3. Solicit stakeholder input on the results of simulations generated by the Department 
of Education pursuant to section 2, subsection 2 and submit a report to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs summarizing the recommended parameters 
and results of stakeholder input no later than January 15, 2026. 
Sec. 2. Department of Education to collect data and conduct simulations 
of updated parameters for certain essential programs and services 
components; report. Resolved: That the Department of Education shall: 
1. Collect data identified by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute pursuant 
to section 1, subsection 2; 
2. Simulate the impacts that the parameters proposed by the Maine Education Policy 
Research Institute pursuant to section 1 would have had on fiscal year 2026 school funding 
allocations, including the impact of all parameters combined, on the following: 
A. Total statewide cost of education; 
B. Statewide mill rate expectation; and 
C. Local and state shares and state share percentage of the essential programs and 
services estimated cost of education in each school administrative unit; 
3. Provide the results of the simulations pursuant to subsection 2 to the Maine 
Education Policy Research Institute no later than October 15, 2025; and 
4. Submit a report summarizing the results of the simulations pursuant to subsection 
2, as well as any other simulations the Commissioner of Education may recommend, to the 
Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs no later than January 15, 
2026. The joint standing committee may submit legislation related to the report to the 
The Maine Education Policy Research Institute shall conduct the work under section 1 
within existing contracted resources. The Department of Education shall conduct the work 
under this section within existing resources.' 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section 
number to read consecutively. 
SUMMARY 
This amendment replaces the bill, which is a concept draft, with a resolve. The 
amendment directs the Maine Education Policy Research Institute to specify certain 
elements of the essential programs and services funding formula to be simulated with new 
parameters. The Department of Education is required to collect additional data from school 
administrative units and conduct simulations of the proposed parameters. The institute is 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "fi( to H.P. 218, L.D. 318 
required to solicit feedback from stakeholders on the recommended potential adjustments 
to the funding formula in light of the forecasts prepared by the department. The amendment 
directs the department to conduct the reviews within existing resources and the institute to 
conduct the work within existing contracted resources. The institute and department are 
required to submit reports with their findings and recommendations to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs no later than January 15, 2026. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 05/27 /25 LRL 
LD318 
LR 1718(02) 
An Act Regarding School Funding and General Purpose Aid for Local Schools 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment A' (H- b{ t) 
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Review to be completed within budgeted resources 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
This legislation requires the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) to identify updated cost model 
parameters to be used by the Depmiment of Education in simulating projected impacts on school funding and to 
dt 
stakeholder input on the results of the simulations. Maine Revised Statutes A1motated, Title 20-A, section 10 
established the Education Research Institute to collect and a11alyze education infom1ation and perfonn targeted 
education research for the Legislature. The Legislature contracts with the University of Maine System to maintain the 
institute and ongoing General Fund appropriations of $250,000 per year are included in the Leaming Systems Team 
program account within.the Department of Education to support the work of the institute. This fiscal note assumes 
that the work required in this bill to be perfonned by MEPRI will be paid for with the funding included in the 
Leaming Systems Team budget for fiscal year 2025-26 and enacted in Public Law 2025, chapter 2 and that the cost of 
the review will not exceed the $250,000 already appropriated for fiscal year 2025-26. Given these assumptions, no 
General Fund appropriations for the cost to MEPRI to conduct the required review are included in this bill. 
Additional costs to the Depmiment of Education to conduct the required simulations can be absorbed within existing 
budgeted resources. 
LRl 718(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1