CALAIS — Superintendent Mary Anne Spearin told the Calais School Committee earlier this month that proposed changes to the state’s school funding formula could benefit the district.

The Maine Legislature voted Thursday to pass L.D. 2226 — An Act to Amend the Essential Programs and Services School Funding Formula — and adopt three of the report’s four recommendations.

Last year, state lawmakers directed the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Education Policy Research Institute, which is funded by the Legislature and the University of Maine System, to study the models used to determine state funding for public schools.

The EPS Funding Report, released last month, identifies several problems with Maine’s school funding model — in place since 2005 — that have been especially hard on public schools in Washington County.

Spearin said the proposed changes, if enacted, could bring about $50,000 to $60,000 in additional education funding to Calais.

“I’m hopeful that it’s more than that,” she said, adding that “every little bit helps.”

The bill will change how the state calculates salaries for Maine’s educators. Previously, the Legislature set a $40,000 base salary for teachers, and schools received funding based on the difference between that base and their average teacher pay.

Calais salaries are now indexed at 0.94, meaning teachers earn about 6 percent less than the state’s base.

The report recommended changing the formula so the base salary becomes a true minimum salary, which means Calais and some other districts would receive additional funding to meet the new standard.

Spearin noted that several Washington County districts have even lower indices than Calais, meaning they would benefit even more — though all would see a funding increase.

Machias-Eastport and Jonesport-Milbridge are both currently indexed at 0.84.

The EPS funding report says the changes to the salary index could result in an overall increase of just under $38 million in state funding for schools.

It notes that nearly every district in the state would receive more money after the reindexing, with the only exception being Maine School Administrative District 54 in Skowhegan.

The second change recommended by MEPRI — and potentially the most significant for Calais — is a refinement to how the state determines a community’s “ability to contribute.”

Public school funding has traditionally relied on a community’s property tax rate — also called the mill rate — to determine how much state support a district receives. But this approach puts many rural Maine communities at a disadvantage, where high property values do not necessarily translate into high wages.

The report recommends adjusting this model to include a community’s income level when determining how much state funding its schools receive. It outlines several ways the formula could be revised by shifting the weighting between the property tax rate and a “regional adjustment” based on differences in the cost of living.

According to the report, the change will not affect the state’s overall spending on public schools. Instead, it redistributes existing funds, with about $13 million shifted to districts with greater need.

The Legislature voted to adopt this measure as part of L.D. 2226.

Spearin said a crucial part of implementing these formula changes will be maintaining the district’s understanding of the Calais school community’s overall financial situation.

Traditionally, the district gathered this information through questionnaires sent home to determine eligibility for school lunch. But with free meals available to all Calais students since 2020, the district has had to find other ways to collect the data.

Calais now sends home an “Economic Status Form,” provided by the state Department of Education.

Spearin emphasized that having accurate information about the economic situations Calais families face will be essential to securing appropriate funding if and when these changes are implemented.

The other changes recommended in the report — but not included in L.D. 2226 — were adjustments to funding for instructional staff support to better reflect what schools actually spend on training and supplies, and shifting to a regional model for managing special education.

L.D. 2226 also includes changes to how the state allocates funding for transportation, a change that is likely to benefit Calais, which, despite being one of Maine’s smallest cities by population, covers a relatively large geographic area.

Massachusetts police chiefs are in familiar territory as they fight for funding for a mental health program that seeks to divert individuals in crisis from arrest, as Gov. Maura Healey looks to slash roughly $15 million from the initiative.

The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association is leading the call for Beacon Hill lawmakers to restore full funding for the so-called jail and arrest diversion program in the governor’s budget proposal for next fiscal year.

Healey has requested $63.4 billion for next year’s budget, a proposal that would raise current spending by 3.8% but lower funding for jail diversion programs from $19.1 million to $4 million.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Mental Health says the proposed allotment matches funding levels from before the pandemic, when the state did not have one-time federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

Michael Bradley, who leads the Chiefs of Police Association, looks at jail diversion programs as an effective collaboration between law enforcement and behavioral health providers that helps de-escalate mental health crises through specialized training and clinical partnerships.

More than 150 clinicians are embedded in police departments serving over 250 communities across the state, Bradley highlighted in a letter to lawmakers earlier this month.

Bradley provided numbers from the Department of Mental Health that showed the state’s $17.2 million investment in the program in Fiscal Year ’25 “supported more than 29,000 documented crisis interventions, diverted over 3,300 individuals from arrest, and prevented more than 6,500 emergency department visits.”

Overall, the program helped save the state an “estimated $42.8 million” that fiscal year, Bradley stated.

Under Healey’s $4 million request, Bradley fears the program would suffer from limited training capacity and fewer available clinicians and diversion options across Massachusetts.

“The need for crisis response will not diminish,” Bradley stated in his letter to lawmakers. “Instead, the burden will shift back to patrol officers without adequate clinical support, leading to increased emergency department utilization, unnecessary arrests, greater correctional involvement, and higher long-term state costs.”

Police chiefs had to fight for funding for the program last year, when Healey looked to restore spending on the initiative to pre-pandemic levels.

In response to a LinkedIn post that Bradley made highlighting this year’s proposed spending reduction, Mansfield Police Chief Ron Sellon commented, “It’s utterly ridiculous that we have to fight for this over and over.”

At the local level, the Watertown Police Department deployed 401 co-response interventions in 2025, diverting 30 individuals from arrest and 129 individuals from “unnecessary hospitalizations,” according to a department Facebook post in February.

Those diversions led to a total cost savings of $497,322, the department added.

The Department of Mental Health has highlighted that the program received a $15.1M expansion through the legislative budget process. A spokesperson added that it is “encouraged” to see more police departments participating in the program.

“The Department of Mental Health is committed to working with law enforcement to help make sure people in need of mental health or substance use treatment get the care they need as an alternative to incarceration,” the spokesperson told the Herald Friday evening.