MEA’s 2025 Legislative Agenda 

Maine faces a critical shortage of pre-service teachers. Last year, over 815 teachers left their profession or retired, while enrollment in teacher preparation programs continues to decline. The average starting salary for first year teachers in Maine ranks #37 in the country and last in New England, and currently, Maine teachers earn 23% less than other college-educated professionals with similar experience.  

 To attract and retain qualified educators, MEA supports proposals to raise the starting teacher salary to at least $50K to boost salaries for Maine’s teachers up and down the scale, help address the educator shortage, and recruit and retain highly qualified educators to the profession. 

The number of people completing educator preparatory programs in Maine has dropped 50% in the last decade—declining faster than the rate nationally. The legislature must improve the teacher recruitment pipeline by paying for student teaching work.      

Some aspiring educators are forced to forgo student teaching because they are unable to take on the financial burden of tuition, rent, and necessities, Some aspiring educators are forced to forgo student teaching because they are unable to take on the financial burden of tuition, rent, and necessities while working full-time in our schools. To recruit more aspiring educators and reduce the financial burden of student teaching, MEA supports legislation to compensate student teachers while they are working in our schools and additional support for cooperating teachers. 

Last year nearly 500 teachers chose to leave the profession—nearly double the numbers from 2015-2018. MEA supports proposals that focus on retaining our early career educators by strengthening mentoring requirements for teachers in their first two years and providing mentor teachers with a robust annual stipend. 

Maine students and educators deserve to feel safe at school, yet members cite challenging behaviors as the top issue they face in their schools because of lack of training, staffing shortages, and lack of resources to meet students’ complex needs. MEA supports enhanced professional development training opportunities for all educators and school staff focused on de-escalation techniques and positive behavior interventions to help educators meet the complex needs of Maine’s students.  

Community schools empower students, educators, and families to thrive in their communities by integrating essential services like food pantries, mental health counseling, and health care. MEA supports integrating elements of the community school model across the state to expand the key services students need to thrive and succeed academically and personally. Maine should focus on the expansion of services in areas with the greatest need and target services to match the unique needs of student populations.  

Student mental health continues to be a top concern for MEA members, which highlights the urgent need for comprehensive mental health support in our schools. MEA supports proposals to increase the presence of mental health professionals—school psychologists, counselors, and social workers—and comprehensive school counseling and student services in our schools.  

This includes:  

• Additional mental health supports for students  

• Enhanced behavioral supports  

• Increased number of counselors  

• Continuing education opportunities for staff 

Educational support professionals (ESPs) provide essential support to students but are often not provided with proper training, to help them be successful in their roles. Professional development and proper orientations can help retain these essential workers by equipping them with the skills and confidence needed to overcome challenges and thrive in their careers.  

Our educational support professionals deserve job-specific training that complements the essential and important support they give to our students. MEA supports proposals that require districts to provide paid professional development for ALL hourly school employees, covering essential skills such as school roles, safety procedures, and the implementation of IEPs. 

Educator pension plans are a tool for employers to attract skilled workers and get them to stay in the profession.  Unfortunately, previous cuts to the pensions of teachers, certified professionals, ed tech IIs and ed IIIs has seriously degraded the pension benefits for current and future retirees.  

To address the educator shortage, Maine must invest in fair pay—from day one through retirement. MEA will continue to advocate for the enhancement of retirement benefits that recognize and reward educators’ hard work on behalf of students including: 

• Strengthening support for retired educators by increasing the state’s share of retired teacher healthcare from 60% to 70% over the next two years.  

• Raising the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) cap to $40,000. This means retired teachers and public workers will get COLA on the first $40,000 of their pension. The amount will also go up with inflation, making the pension system stronger and giving more security to everyone, now and in the future.  

Maine students and educators deserve to attend schools that are safe and healthy, but too often school buildings are unsafe. Maine must find a way to provide stable funding for the capital needs of our school buildings, which is why MEA is in favor of removing the debt service from the school funding formula (EPS) and finding alternative ways to augment state support for our schools’ critical capital needs.   

Property tax sensitivity has made it increasingly difficult for school districts to pass school budgets and left too many districts without the resources they need to provide for students. MEA is in favor of an increase in Maine’s Homestead Exemption and property tax fairness credit to help reduce pressure on school budgets and property taxpayers.  

Maine’s Essential Programs and Services (EPS) formula is a complex system that calculates how the state distributes funding to local school districts. MEA will engage with the school funding study (EPS) currently underway by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) to advocate for equitable distribution of state funding for schools and continue to advocate for maintaining 55% state funding for public schools.   

MEA supports an increase of the state appropriation to the University of Maine system to provide critical funding to our state’s public, 4-year university system.  Our entire state benefits, economically and socially, when our public higher education is affordable, robust and comprehensive.  MEA members in the UMaine System are ready to lead an effort to increase the state appropriation for the UMaine System to at least keep pace with inflation.   MEA is equally committed to making sure these resources are allocated closest to the students and are not swallowed up by administration or central office.   

Additionally, MEA is committed to ensuring that all employees in the UMaine System earn a wage that allows them to meet their basic needs with their full-time earnings, without needing to rely on state-funded services.