AUGUSTA – Media is focusing narrowly on just one aspect of State funding to Good Will-Hinckley; specifically, the $530,000 allocated each year to an account for the “Center for Excellence for At-Risk Students,” an account established in 2009 to support Good Will-Hinckley (GWH), but not funded until 2011. However, this is not the only funding the school receives from the State of Maine.
GWH receives more than $1 million in education funds* annually from the State:
- $942,000 to the GWH charter school (GPA subsidy)
- $46,000 in special education money (federal funds flowing through the state)
- $197,000 to RSU 3 for long-term drug treatment education (from GPA “Miscellaneous Costs”**)
* This does not include more than $500,000 in annual state and federal Medicaid funds the State provides to Good Will-Hinckley as a Special Purpose Private School
**MDOE has discretion with regard to funds within “Miscellaneous Costs”
Added together, the State will provide $1.2 million to Good Will-Hinckley over the next year in addition to any money available for the “Center for Excellence for At-Risk Students,” which is funded through the GPA appropriation for “Miscellaneous Costs.”
It is important to note that Governor Paul R. LePage proposed in his budget $68.3 million for “Miscellaneous Costs,” which funds the “Center for Excellence for At-Risk Students.” Democrats cut $1.5 million during the Appropriations Committee proceedings in order to shift more funding into subsidy for public schools.
Furthermore, the Katz-Rotundo amendment attached to the biennial budget reduces non-subsidy GPA funds by a total of $5.625 million. The Katz-Rotundo amendment also shifts $75,000 from “Miscellaneous Costs” into higher education spending for Androscoggin County, the district represented by Rep. Peggy Rotundo, without appropriating additional funds.
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