Each year Junior Achievement of Maine works with students throughout the state to encourage sound economic skills and financial literacy.  Most recently, Junior Achievement offered JA In A Day at Maranacook Middle School with the help of several community volunteers.  Junior Achievement looks for business and community volunteers throughout the state to help deliver programs to students of all grade levels.

Trisha Malloy volunteered during the Maranacook Middle School program conducting a session called "People Power." This session is part of Junior Achievement's "A Global Marketplace Program."  Over 50 students moved through six sessions during the school day learning about currency, imports, exports, human resources, and global trade.

On Tuesday, March 22, Junior Achievement hosted JA In A Day at the University of Maine at Augusta with students coming from Cony Middle School and Winthrop Middle School.  FAME is proud to have staff members working with Junior Achievement of Maine to promote financial literacy for future generations.

The Harold Alfond College Challenge will be hosting two Casting Calls in April and you're invited! Come see hundreds of babies at the Bangor Mall on April 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and at the Wyndham Hotel in South Portland on April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Casting Calls are a great way for FAME to reach families who want help completing the paperwork to open their NextGen account and receive the $500 Alfond Grant. All Maine resident babies under one year of age are welcome to attend and will receive a free professional photograph and the opportunity to be in future Alfond Grant marketing materials.

Information about the program and Casting Calls can be found online at: www.500forbaby.org

The Legislature has confirmed Govenor LePage's nomination of Stephen Bowen to be the new Commissioner of Education.  Before joining the Department, Commissioner Bowen directed the Center for Education Excellence at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a Portland-based public policy think tank.  In his three-and-a-half years there, he researched and wrote dozens of policy briefs on issues from school consolidation and school funding to online learning and charter schools, authored numerous op-eds, columns, and blog posts on education-related issues, and regularly presented the findings of his research to policymakers and the public.

Commissioner Bowen taught social studies in middle and high schools for ten years in Fairfax County, Virginia, and then in Camden, prior to joining the Center.  At Camden-Rockport Middle School he taught social studies and was there when Maine's nationally and internationally recognized middle school laptop program was first implemented, with the deployment of laptops to eighth graders in the fall of 2003.  In 2002, he was elected to the first of two terms in the Maine House of Representatives, representing Camden and Rockport.  During that time, he served on the Marine Resources and State and Local Government Committees, and the Select Committee on Regionalization and Community Cooperation.  He served on the Legislature's Appropriations Committee during his second term in the House.  Commissioner Bowen has a B.A. in Political Science from Drew University and a Masters of Education from George Mason University.

The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee has been busy conducting public hearings on Govenor LePage's biennial budget proposals.  FAME recently appeared at public hearings concerning proposed redirection of Fund for a Healthy Maine (FFHM) spending, as well as additional higher education funding.

Fund for a Healthy Maine 

With respect to FFHM programs, there are three separate budget initiatives eliminating funding for programs administered by FAME:  the Dental Education Loan and Loan Repayment Programs; Area Health Education Centers; and the Quality Child Care Education Scholarship.  The dental education initiative proposes to reduce funding to the program by $237,740 in each year of the biennium to reflect a redistribution of funding and the consequent reduction of revenue available in the Fund For a Healthy Maine.  As you may know, the Maine Dental Education Loan and Loan Repayment Programs provide need-based, forgivable loans to Maine residents pursuing post-graduate education in dentistry and loan repayment for dentists providing services to underserved populations in Maine.  The program will be able to continue for a limited time without new funding, although in reduced fashion.  The proposed cuts will soon disallow any new participants in the program, however.  FAME will be able to meet its commitment to existing program participants, but will need to reduce new participants to two this year and one the following year.  FAME has been able to leverage money in this program twice:  once through a HRSA grant, and another with Delta Dental money.  The second initiative concerns the Maine Area Health Education Centers administered by the University of New England.  This initiative reduces funding by $100,353 in each year of the biennium.  The Maine Area Health Education Center Network addresses health professional workforce shortages in Maine's rural and underserved areas.  This is essentially pass-through money given by FAME to the University of New England.  The third and final initiative relates to quality child care and reduces funding by $143,629 in each year of the biennium.  The Quality Child Care Education Scholarship is a need-based program that provides funding for early childhood education or child development courses at the post-secondary level at eligible institutions.  The cuts will have the practical effect of eliminating the program.  In 2009-2010, FAME funded 276 students.  In 2010-2011, we expect to fund up to 200 students.  In 2011-2012, we would be unable to fund any students.

Additional Higher Education Funding

On a more positive note, there are two separate initiatives proposing additional funding for two higher education programs administered by FAME:  the Doctors for Maine's Future Scholarship Program and the Student Financial Assistance Programs.  The Governor's budget proposes to restore funding to the Doctors for Maine's Future Scholarship Program by $125,445 in the second year of the biennium.  As you may recall, the program was created during the 124th Maine Legislature.  The medical scholarships provide a tuition subsidy of 50 percent of the cost of attendance annually, up to a maximum of $25,000 per student annually, for eligible students who enter qualifying Maine-based medical school programs.  The goal of the program is to increase the number of physicians in the state who practice in primary care, underserved specialties or underserved areas of Maine.  The funding will have the positive effect of restoring funds cut in the Supplemental Budget in order to avoid any cuts or disruption to the program's anticipated funding stream and functioning.  As FAME stated during the recent hearings on the Supplemental Budget, the prior cut to the program was not expected to affect any students until the fall of 2016.  The proposed restored funding is very good news for the program and the state.  The second initiative concerns FAME's Student Financial Assistance Programs.  This initiative increases funding by $100,000 in each year of the biennium and will allow FAME to award need-based grants for the Maine State Grant Program.  The Maine State Grant Program is the state's basic need-based undergraduate grant program.  In recent years, FAME has awarded over 10,000 Maine students an average grant of $1,000 annually.  Over the years, the Legislature has continually emphasized the preeminent position this program should have among FAME-administered education programs.  Regrettably, due to challenging budget circumstances and reduced appropriations, the program's reach has diminished in recent years.  Whereas in 2008 we offered grants of up to $1,450 to 14,927 Maine students, last year we were required to reduce average awards to $1,000.  The additional funding will have the effect of allowing 1,000 additional Maine students to receive a $1,000 grant.  This is very good news for Maine students and families, as well as for college access generally in Maine.  This increase is particularly timely, as the recently passed Continuing Resolution in Congress terminated the federal LEAP and SLEAP programs, which contributed $233,000 to the need-based grant program this year.  Those funds will not be available for the 2011-2012 academic year, creating a net reduction of available funds of $133,000, even with this welcome increase.

For more information on Gov. LePage's budget, please visit:
http://www.maine.gov/budget/

L.D. 184, An Act To Promote the Financial Literacy of High School Students:  Sponsored by Rep. Ben Chipman (Green-Portland), the bill would, as originally drafted, require the Maine Department of Education to develop and distribute a course on personal finance for use by secondary schools in the state to help students attain financial literacy.  The course must include instruction in purchasing, using credit, budgeting, saving and investing, banking, simple contracts, state and federal income taxes, personal insurance policies and renting or purchasing a home.  Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, all secondary schools must include the personal finance course as part of the mathematics instruction required to obtain a high school diploma.

A public hearing on the bill was conducted by the Education Committee on February 16.  Rep. Chipman (Green-Portland) sponsor, spoke in favor, as did Rep. Maker (R-Calais), the Maine Credit Union League, and the Maine Bankers Association.  Also testifying in favor were Tim Walton of Cianbro and Rep. Ryan Harmon (R-Palermo).  Testifying against were the Department of Education (they stated that Maine's system of Learning Results already covers the topic and that the bill as written is an expensive mandate), the Maine Principals Association, and the Maine School Management Association. The latter two organizations stated their opposition to curriculum mandates and the need for flexibility at the local level.  Speaking Neither For Nor Against the measure was the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation.  They provided information about the financial literacy summit, and mentioned their collaboration with FAME and others on the issue.

The committee held a work session on the bill on February 23.  FAME, the Credit Union League, Jobs for Maine's Graduates, and the Maine Office of Securities shared financial literacy materials with the committee.  After much debate, the divided committee discussed an amendment to the bill requiring the Department of Education to distribute annually to schools financial literacy information, including a listing of what various stakeholders are offering, and to annually report to the committee on such efforts.  The amendment passed 10 to 3.  The bill has not yet been reported out to the floor for debate and final passage.

L.D. 209, Resolve, To Establish a Stakeholder Group to Review the Maine State Grant Program:  The bill, sponsored by Sen. Justin Alfond (D-Portland), authorizes FAME to coordinate a review of the program that includes the participation of a stakeholder group of higher education policy makers, agencies, institutions, students and financial aid administrators in the state and report to the Education Committee with recommendations by December 1, 2011.  These stakeholders include representatives from the Department of Education; the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System; Maine's private higher education institutions; a Maine student; a representative from the Maine Compact for Higher Education; a representative from the Maine Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators; a representative of the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute; a legislator from this committee; and other interested parties.  A work session on the bill was held by the Education Committee on February 24.  A FAME-sponsored amendment to the bill was unanimously supported by the committee.  The amendment removed a legislator from the stakeholder committee in order to avoid a fiscal note to the bill.  It also authorized the Education Committee to report out legislation to the Second Session of the 125th Legislature based on the group's report.  The bill will next go to the floor for votes.

LD 944, An Act to Increase College Attainment:  Also sponsored by Sen. Alfond, this bill would require secondary school students to complete a federally accepted free application for federal student aid and at least one application to a postsecondary educational institution to assess eligibility for financial aid.  The bill has been referred to the Education Committee but no date has been set yet for a public hearing.

LD 1008, An Act to Limit the Use of Social Security Numbers by State Agencies:  This bill, sponsored by Rep. Jane Knapp (R-Gorham), would prohibit state agencies from including an individual's social security number in written correspondence. The prohibition does not apply to federal forms or tax forms. The bill defines "state agency" to mean the State and any office, department, agency, authority, commission, board, institution, hospital or other instrumentality of the State, including the Maine Turnpike Authority, the Maine Port Authority, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, the Maine Community College System, the Maine Veterans' Homes, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, the Maine Military Authority and all such other state entities, including presumably FAME.  The bill has been referred to the Committee on State and Local Government, but no public hearing has been scheduled yet.

To follow the proceedings of the Legislature and its various joint standing committees, please visit:
http://www.maine.gov/legis/lio/