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Education Update for December 2010 |
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Upcoming Events | |
December 24, 2010
FAME will be closed in observance of the Christmas Holiday
December 31, 2010
FAME will be closed in observance of the New Years Day Holiday
January 6, 2011
Educators for Maine Advisory Committee Meeting
January 17, 2011
FAME will be closed in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
January 30, 2011
College Goal Maine Sunday Event |
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| College Goal Maine | |
Thank you to everyone who has volunteered for College Goal Maine already! If you are interested in being a volunteer, please sign up at:
http://www.collegegoalsundaymaine.com/volunteer.php
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| Financial Aid Nights | |
In just the past two weeks, FAME staff has presented at 21 financial aid nights to 1,348 people. So far this season, we have presented at 61 locations with a total attendance of 3,024! If you attended or presented at a financial aid night, we would love to know where and how many people attended.
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| Timeline for Spring Semester Program Processing | |
January 3, 2011
Fall/Spring Certification/Payment Processing Opened
April 1, 2011
Begin Reconciliation /Final Adjustment Processing
May 27, 2011
Complete Reconciliation Process/Finalize Payment Request, Refunds and Adjustments
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| State of Maine Grant 2011-2012 EFC Cut-off | |
The FAME Board at its December 16 meeting approved an EFC cut-off of 2000 for both full-time and part-time students in the 2011 - 2012 academic year for the State of Maine Grant Programs. This reduction in EFC compared to 2010 - 2011 is due in part to the historical increases in the number of students qualifying at the zero EFC level for State of Maine Grant as well as a significant increase in the number part-time students attending school. FAME staff will closely monitor 2011 - 2012 student eligibility during the spring and, if possible, increase the EFC cut-off at the earliest part of the summer. There will be no changes to the individual award levels for 2011 - 2012 as those awards are at the minimum level allowed by State Statute.
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| LePage Transition |
Gov.-elect Paul LePage introduced his first Cabinet nominees recently, choosing top campaign aide and ex-Waterville Police Chief John Morris as Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner and Maj. Gen. John Libby to continue as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management. Libby has served as Commissioner since 2004. Morris served as Waterville's director of public safety and as the city's police chief. He was LePage's chief of staff during the gubernatorial campaign. The Governor-elect also has nominated former Husson University President Bill Beardsley as Commissioner of Conservation and former legislator Sawin Millett as head of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. The nominations will be subject to confirmation hearings and votes by the Legislature when it reconvenes in January.
LePage also announced some high-level staff positions: Dan Billings will be chief legal counsel; John Butera will be senior policy adviser for economic development; Dan Demeritt as director of communications and legislative affairs; and Kathleen Newman as deputy chief of staff and legislative director.
To fill these and other positions, the Gov.-elect is relying on the assistance of thirty-five people who constitute a volunteer advisory panel that will help develop policy priorities and evaluate applications for jobs in his new administration. The list includes various professional and political leaders, lawyers, business owners, foresters, and people in public service. The group contains Republicans, Democrats and at least one Independent.
LePage said he has received more than 1,000 applications for about 150 administration jobs that he has to fill. The Gov-elect will take the oath of office January 5, 2011. To learn more about the LePage transition, visit: http://www.lepagetransition.com/press/
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| Legislative Update | |
Members of the 125th Maine Legislature were sworn into office December 1, 2010 by outgoing Governor John Baldacci. In the House, the first order of business was electing a Speaker of the House and Clerk and Assistant Clerk. Rep. Bob Nutting of Oakland was elected Speaker, while Heather Priest and Shawn Roderick were elected Clerk and Assistant Clerk, respectively. In the Senate, Kevin Raye of Perry was elected President, while former Rep. Joe Carleton was elected Secretary of the Senate, while Bonnie Gould was chosen as Assistant Secretary.
After initial organization of the respective bodies, the chambers convened in a joint convention to elect Constitutional Officers for the next two years. Majority Republicans nominated Assistant U.S. Attorney William Schneider as their candidate for Attorney General, and nominated former legislator Charlie Summers for Secretary of State and former gubernatorial candidate Bruce Poliquin for State Treasurer. Minority Democrats nominated two of the three incumbents for these offices: Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and Attorney General Janet Mills. Treasurer David Lemoine declined to be nominated for another term. Having the requisite majority votes needed to prevail, the Republicans' slate of candidates was elected to these offices.
In other legislative news, the newly constituted Rules Committee met in mid-December to propose new rules for the Legislature, including changes to the committee structure. One proposal called for abolishing the former Labor Committee and moving its typical work into the former Business, Research, and Economic Development (BRED) Committee. The new committee will be named the Joint Standing Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development. The merger reduces the number of committees from 17 to 16. Another adopted proposal involves moving oversight of the Maine Public Employees' Retirement System from the former Labor Committee to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee. The Legislature met on December 17th to put the new rules in place so that members can be assigned to legislative committees before the end of the year.
The Legislature also has established a new Joint Select Committee on Regulatory Fairness and Reform to examine Maine's business climate and the effect that existing regulations have on it. The committee consists of fifteen members of the Legislature, appointed by both the Speaker and Senate President. The committee shall make recommendations for improving the business climate in the state and facilitating private-sector job creation by reforming the regulatory structure to ensure that the regulatory process is more efficient and less costly to the regulated community, among other things. The committee shall hold public hearings across the state and report out legislation. The committee's work must conclude by June 15, 2011.
The First Regular Session of the 125th Maine Legislature has a statutory adjournment date of June 15, 2011.
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| State Budget Update | |
Economic forecasters recently released updated projections showing state revenues rising more than $470 million over the next three fiscal years. Maine's Revenue Forecasting Committee re-projected revenues for the current fiscal year to be up $111.6 million and to rise by $365.5 million for the 2012-2013 budget. The rise in projections apparently is attributable to strengthening corporate earnings and growth in personal income, which in turn have led to increases in corporate and individual income taxes. The state's projected deficit is now about $840 million, down from $1.2 billion. Governor-elect LePage and his budget advisers must deliver a new budget to the Legislature in February.
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Finance Authority of Maine
1-800-228-3734 |
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