Category: Media Releases

Governor LePage asks State Education Board to review Commissioner candidate

Portrait of Jim Rier, ActingAUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage announced today that he hopes to make his Acting Education Commissioner permanent.

In a letter sent Monday morning to the State Board of Education, Governor LePage said he intends to nominate Jim Rier, of Topsham, to be Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, pending that 10-member board’s evaluation of the candidate.

While most gubernatorial Commissioner appointments go directly to the legislative committee of jurisdiction, State statute requires the Governor’s nomination for Education Commissioner be interviewed by the State Board of Education, which is currently chaired by Nancy Perkins, of Cornish.

The State Board is expected to interview Acting Commissioner Rier at its next regular meeting on Jan. 15, something traditionally done in executive session. The Chair will then deliver the Board’s written appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate within 10 days to the Governor, who will consider the feedback before formally posting the nomination for the Legislature’s consideration.

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New schools proposed to Charter Commission

AUGUSTA – The Maine Charter School Commission (MCSC) has received applications from four groups interested in opening public charter schools in the fall of 2014.

Those submitting applications by the Dec. 2 deadline to join Maine’s five existing public charter schools included Lewiston-Auburn Academy Charter School, Lewiston; Maine Connections Academy; Maine Virtual Academy; and Many Hands Montessori School, Windham.

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Record number of Mainers earning high school credential

As Maine moves to a new high school equivalency exam, thousands looking to advance their career and post-secondary aspirations are completing the current GED® this year though doing so before 2014 is not required

AUGUSTA – A record high number of Mainers have earned their high school equivalency credential this year in advance of the State moving to a new exam provider starting in 2014.

Already in the first 10 months of 2013, 2,699 Mainers have successful completed their GED®, a significant increase over the 1,878 who did so in 2012 and the 2,258 who did so in 2011.

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Commissioner applauds strong start of charter schools

Monitoring by the Maine Charter School Commission of the two charter schools that served students during the 2012-13 academic year show the state’s first charters are meeting their missions

AUGUSTA – The State’s Acting Education Commissioner is applauding the state’s first two public charters after their inaugural monitoring reports show the central Maine schools are engaging students and adapting quickly to meet emerging needs.

Cornville Regional Charter School in Cornville, which served approximately 60 grade K-6 students, and the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences (MeANS) in Hinckley, which served 52 students grades 9-12, opened in the fall of 2012 after Maine, under the leadership of Governor Paul R. LePage, became the 41st state to allow public charter schools. 

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DOE, UMaine launch autism resource, research institute

AUGUSTA – Mainers who serve children with autism and their families will soon have a statewide system of supports.

The Maine Autism Institute for Education and Research (MAIER), a partnership of the Maine Department of Education and the University of Maine’s College of Education and Human Development, will open on Jan. 1 at the UMaine campus. The two organizations have committed to contribute a total of $288,000 to fund the first 18 months of the new collaborative.

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Maine students show improved proficiency in math, reading

Performance of third-year high school students increased in math and reading, but students showed concerning slippage in the content areas tested for which schools are not held accountable for achievement results

AUGUSTA – Proficiency in math and reading is on the rise again in Maine high schools according to the scores just in from last May’s SAT, suggesting students are better prepared for success in college and their careers.

Most notable was the nearly 2 percent increase in the number of tested students who achieved proficiency or above in critical reading, up from 47.2 percent in 2011-12 to 48.9 percent in 2012-13, with 8.6 percent of those students exceeding proficiency standards.

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Mainers finalists for top teaching award in math, science

GARDINER – Department of Education Chief Academic Officer Rachelle Tome announced today that four of Maine’s top teachers are finalists for the nation’s highest honor for mathematics and science educators.

Tome was joined Friday by Anita Bernhardt, Maine DOE’s standards and assessment coordinator, and Michele Mailhot, the Department’s mathematics specialist, in congratulating the state’s finalists for the prestigious Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching during a ceremony at the Maine Science Teachers Association conference in Gardiner.

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Transfer decisions refocused on student best interest

AUGUSTA – Starting today, superintendents who reject a parent’s request to send their child to school in another district will have to explain why that transfer would not be in the best interest of the student.

Under Maine law, a parent who believes it is in the best interest of their child to attend school in a different district than where the student lives can request the two superintendents agree to a transfer.

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Governor LePage appoints Acting Education Commissioner

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage has appointed Jim Rier as Acting Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, effective immediately.

Rier, a native of Machias who now lives in Topsham, has been at Maine DOE for a decade, first as Director of Finance and Operations and most recently as Deputy Commissioner since 2011.

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