The most important bill Maine legislators vote on during our two year term is the state budget and this year was no different. The state budget impacts the lives of every Maine citizen, determining how more than $7 billion of your tax money is going to be spent while also setting the direction for our state for the next two years.

This year was arguably the most contentious budget debate in Maine history with the obvious exception of 1991 when state government shut down for 17 days. This year, state government also went through a very brief and partial shutdown, and while no one here at the state house wanted that, I believe the end result was a better budget for the people of Maine.

The two major sticking points throughout the budget negotiations were tax increases and education reforms that would guarantee that the money the state is spending on education was being spent wisely.

The new budget recently signed into law by the governor is by no means perfect, but it does include many of the things that I and my House Republicans colleagues fought for.

No New Taxes:

• The 3 percent surtax that would have impacted Maine’s small business community was repealed as part of the new budget. This tax would have impacted roughly 16,000 tax filers in Maine, 11,000 of those filers are small businesses. Life is tough enough for Maine businesses and we can’t afford it to make it any harder.
• We also successfully fought for the removal of the 1.5% increase in the lodging tax that would have been part of the 2-year budget had it not been for the efforts of House Republicans who refused to support a budget that contained this unnecessary tax increase.

Education Reforms:

For years there has been an outcry for the legislature to increase the amount of money being spent on K-12 education. The state already spends more than $1 billion per year on K-12 public education and we felt it was important to make sure that money was being spent more efficiently. We wanted to be certain that more of that money was making its way into the classroom. Currently only 59 cents of every dollar we spend makes it into the classroom. When the dust settled on this budget, we added $162 million in additional funding to our schools. This money is divided up amongst the school districts by the Maine Department of Education using the Essential Programs and Services formula which takes into account such variables as property valuations, the number of special education students etc. Using this formula, the $162 million in additional funding translates into an additional $82,754, or less than 1%, for Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor. Edgecomb and South Bristol receive no additional money out of the increased funding. With some provisions passed as part of the new budget this money will theoretically be spent in the most efficient way possible.

• 50 percent of the additional funds a district receives from this increase must be used to offset the local share of public education which will result in direct property tax relief.
• More money will now also make it into the classroom with a new requirement that increases the percentage of funding that actually goes into the classroom from the current 59 percent to 61 percent in 2018-19 to 70 percent in 2022-23.
• We also fought to restore $5 million in grants for school districts for voluntary regionalization projects. To apply, school districts and neighboring educational units propose plans that would help save costs by working together on initiatives that could create new opportunities for students while reducing cost, including transportation facilities, professional development and special education services. The goal is to lower long-term costs. To date, the Department of Education has announced 10 grants totaling $4.1 million which are expected to deliver $23.5 million in savings over 5 years. According to projections, this additional $5 million will enable over $20 million in cost reduction.

While I acknowledge that this budget is not perfect, it could have been a lot worse. I remain troubled that the state budget continues to grow significantly every two years and now we have surpassed the $7 billion mark in state spending for the first time in Maine history. While I’m pleased that we were able to fight off any new tax increases and implement some substantial education reforms, we must find a way to do a better job of controlling state spending in the future.

Rep. Stephanie Hawke is serving her second term in the Maine House representing House District 89, which includes Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb, South Bristol (part), Southport and Westport Island