A member of a Portland Public Schools committee charged with redrawing the school district’s attendance boundaries in order to address…
Browsing: education
The chaos surrounding the Mt. Ararat Schools (MSAD 75) continues this week following the revelation that School Board Chair Frank…
Correction: In a 2/24 piece by Sam Patten entitled GOP Pushes for Parental Rights, Transparency in Maine Schools, the author…
Have a tip for the Maine Wire? Drop us an email! A Falmouth parent was bullied and accused of being…
The American Bar Association (ABA) is ditching the infamous Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) in a bid to improve the…
The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), fresh off their Pandemic Era advocacy for school…
A Hermon third grade teacher who also heads the Hermon Teachers Association has a message for parents who are upset…
As the summer of 2020 progressed, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) continued communications with interest groups in the state,…
There are mounting concerns over profound learning loss due to prolonged school closures and remote learning. New data released last…
According to NBC News, there are 4 million fewer students enrolled in college than there were 10 years ago, and there…
My dad remembers when his family got their first television. It was black and white, and there were only three…
When voters were asked by Pew Research, prior to the 2020 election, what issues were most important to them, education…
The new academic year hasn’t even begun and public school enrollment is already not looking good in some parts of…
“Our goal is to have a system in which every family in the U.S. will be able to choose for…
It took COVID-19 for many Americans to start paying closer attention to public education in America, and a growing number…
The desire and need for school choice nationwide is now clearer than ever. Since the onset of the pandemic, already…
For the third consecutive school year, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) is seeking waivers from the federal government for…
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) recently announced it is looking to hire team leaders to help develop content for…
During a June 16 meeting of the Maine Legislature’s Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, University of Maine System (UMS)…
In the aftermath of widespread pandemic-era learning disruptions, many parents and community members are seeking more information on what is…
In recent weeks, our hearts have been broken and our consciences racked by the awful massacre of elementary school children…
A decision about University of Maine System (UMS) Chancellor Dannel Malloy’s contract will come at a July 11 meeting of…
For John Lewis, his local school district’s decision to enact hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic made finding a work-life…
Over the past two years of social and economic disruption, U.S. education has experienced an extraordinary transformation that can best…
Before the Supreme Court issues its final opinion for the October 2021 term in June, it will rule on a…
A new study recently published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that students with greater access to…
For the last two school years, Maine has received a waiver from the federal government exempting it from federal reporting…
The dominoes are falling. In just the last month, public leaders of numerous (though not all) European countries, the nation of Israel,…
The Maine Legislature will vote on a bill this session intended to protect the rights of student-athletes to profit from…
It wasn’t long ago that “normal” schooling meant public school, understood as some variation on the theme of classes punctuated…
Maine’s truancy rate tripled between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, increasing from just under 5% to just under 15%.…
On Saturday, newly minted Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, declared an end to mask mandates in the state’s public…
On January 12, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) and the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced…
On January 10, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a joint temporary action…
It’s 2022 but you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s still 2020—especially if you have children enrolled in K-12 district schooling.…
On December 30, the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Maine Department of Education (DOE) announced…
The number of students enrolled in Maine public schools grew in the 2021-2022 school year from the 2020-2021 school year,…
Earlier this year, schools around the country received more than a hundred billion dollars from the federal government—American taxpayers, in…
Abraham Lincoln once famously said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government…
We shouldn’t be too surprised that the ongoing exodus from public schools is leading those loyal to government-run schooling to…
Recent enrollment numbers released by the Maine Department of Education (DOE) show that the number of students who are being…
Many parents pulled their children out of school last year for homeschooling and other private options, as schools remained shuttered…
As of October 7, there have been just under 3,000 reported cases of COVID-19 in Maine schools within the last…
A new publication from Maine Policy Institute shows which municipalities in Maine allow public K-12 education funding to follow their…
Today, Maine Policy Institute released a new analysis on the scope of educational options available for Maine families based on…
On Monday, US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona touted new academic research to show that masks have been effective at reducing…
Since the world learned of a novel coronavirus emerging from Wuhan, China in December 2019, there has been no shortage…
During a September 15 meeting of the legislature’s Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, Department of Education (DOE) Commissioner Pender…
This fall may be the biggest moment of truth for public education since the 1970s. After seeing enrollment in government-run…
The ACLU on Tuesday announced it is bringing a lawsuit against South Carolina over its mask policy. The Palmetto State…
At the end of July, Governor Mills and the Maine CDC issued a recommendation that all K-12 students wear face…
Last week I received a letter from my children’s school district. “We will start the school year this fall -…
The Maine Department of Education has certain requirements students must complete before they can earn a diploma. Four years of…
On July 28, Gov. Janet Mills announced updates to Maine’s recommendations for wearing face coverings in indoor settings. The state…
According to Maine Department of Education (DOE) Commissioner Pender Makin, ensuring every student in the state has access to full-time,…
On June 21, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision in the case of NCAA v. Alston…
On June 17, the Maine Legislature is expected to adjourn a special session without voting on the supplemental budget or…
On June 9, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) updated its PreK-12 and Adult Education Public Guidance. Though Gov. Janet…
On April 28, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the case of Mahanoy Area School…
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new light and perspectives to many issues we may never look at the same: politics,…
On Monday, May 24, nearly eight months after it was first ordered, Maine Gov. Janet Mills lifted the state’s universal face…
Governor Janet Mills unveiled a new supplemental budget last week that would grow state spending in Maine to record levels,…
Maine Sen. Susan Collins grilled US CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Tuesday during a Senate Health Committee hearing where…
Lawmakers on Maine’s Judiciary Committee held a public hearing Wednesday on LD 864, “An Act To Protect Teachers’ Privacy While…
Over the last few weeks, a central pillar of pandemic-era decision making crumbled. The arbitrary measuring stick for defining whether…
State government spending has rapidly outpaced population growth in Maine over the last decade, according to a new report published…
Illinois legislators last week voted in favor of enacting new “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” in the state’s teacher…
As district school closures enter their 11th month, many parents are frustrated and angry. They may see private schools that…
The coronavirus pandemic and our collective response to it has changed (for better or worse) the way we live, work,…
School officials and building committees involved in Portland’s elementary school renovations are seeking clarification on the energy requirements of the…
Last year, the Maine Legislature and Governor Janet Mills enacted a pair of bills curtailing the growth of the state’s…
You may think the words of this title are harsh, and they are for an America rapidly disappearing. But I submit…
A pair of lawsuits that mirror a Maine-based legal challenge (currently pending in the First Circuit Court of Appeals) has…
School closures have affected over 55 million K–12 students in the U.S. since March as the nation deals with the coronavirus pandemic.…
The Maine Principals’ Association’s (MPA) Interscholastic Management Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to accept the recommendation of the association’s Sports…
In mid-August, the board of directors of Regional School Unit 18, a school district spanning five towns just west of…
August rolled in and although the garden looks good, I cannot say the same for Maine, the Republic or freedom.…
Opening schools this fall should not be a partisan issue, but it is and will be. The physical and mental…
Last week, Governor Janet Mills’ Economic Recovery Committee released recommendations urging the administration to spend $1.1 billion to support and…
A recent commentary published in the Journal of Pediatrics encourages schools to reopen, citing that children rarely transmit COVID-19 to…
On Friday, Governor Janet Mills released guidelines for schools as they consider whether or not to return to in-person instruction…
As the school year fast approaches, only one item in the curriculum seems guaranteed: change. Maine students will resume school…
A survey conducted by Rep. Justin Fecteau and Rep. Heidi Sampson indicates that Maine students are eager to return to school…
Now that Governor Mills has signaled through her executive orders that the 2020 summer tourist season was over before it…
A pending ballot initiative is quietly seeking to expand negotiable items for teachers’ unions to include class sizes and planning…
These days, in states across the nation, public health officials are discovering more and more cases of COVID-19 among their…
During periods of crisis, some of the most innovative solutions to problems have been developed. Consider, for instance, some of…
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to strike down a Montana provision prohibiting state aid to religious schools. …
On Thursday, April 9, Maine Policy Institute hosted a panel of veteran homeschoolers and educators for a virtual townhall to…
A few short weeks ago, could you have imagined what you’d be doing now: Homeschooling? Do you want to homeschool?…
Who should be in charge of local education policy? Should it be parents and families, or labor unions? This session…
Lawmakers on Maine’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee are holding a public hearing Wednesday, Jan. 15 on LD 1894, “An…
Governor Janet Mills earlier this month released her 10-Year Economic Development Strategy for the state, the first undertaking since 1993. While well-intentioned,…
The Maine Heritage Policy Center and EdChoice recently filed an amicus brief in Carson et al v. Makin, a case before…
Hundreds of bills failed to become law in the First Regular Session of the 129th Legislature. Among them was LD…
There has been quite a bit of debate in recent years about whether too much is spent on school administration…
On Wednesday, June 26, United States District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby issued a ruling that upheld a current law…
As we approach the ten-year anniversary of Maine’s historic public charter school system, there is much to celebrate about how…
The Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business heard several bills last week that would cost Maine millions to…
This session, lawmakers in the Maine Legislature are considering a pair of bills that aim to increase access to higher…