Publication Date

5-2022

Place of Publication

University of Southern Maine

Keywords

EPS, Component Review, School Funding

Document Type

Report

Abstract

Background

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) funding model was implemented in FY2019 after a lengthy period of development. The component was scheduled for a review in FY2020 and FY2021 as part of the ongoing cycle of analysis of all major components of Maine’s Essential Programs and Services (EPS) education cost model. Due to the breadth and complexity of the CTE funding model, and the fact that this is the first time it has been reviewed to see how it is being implemented in actual practice, the findings have been broken into several sections. Appendix A provides the overall plan of analyses, which were divided into two separate reports. The Part I report issued in summer 2021 included analyses related to student enrollment trends, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on program enrollments, as well as analyses related to facilities and maintenance spending. The Part II report issued in March 2022 described the remainder of the analyses, which are divided into three distinct sections based on the source data used in each task. Section I presented findings that were derived from staffing data. Section 2 described patterns from expenditure data from the most recent pre-pandemic program year. Section 3 summarized results of a questionnaire that was administered to all CTEs to gather data that are not routinely collected. The data from the questionnaire responses were needed to address a series of questions posed by the “Maine CTE Subsidy Workgroup,” which was formed by Maine Administrators of Career & Technical Education (MACTE) and the Maine School Superintendent Association (MSSA). The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) agreed to include the questions in the research plan for the EPS component review contract with MEPRI. The research topics and questions came from the Maine Department of Education, prior reports by MEPRI and MDOE, and the MACTE/MSSA CTE Subsidy Workgroup as mentioned above. Some of the information was needed for decisions to be made by MDOE during the continuing implementation of the EPS CTE model. The adequacy of sub-components was evaluated. And in some cases updated model parameters were computed. Miscellaneous topics

2 and questions presented by the MACTE/MSSA Workgroup were also addressed. Additionally, relevant findings were presented to the LD 313 work group, which was established after the MEPRI research project was well underway. The materials prepared by MEPRI for the LD 313 work group are included as Appendix D. The current summary report is a compilation of the findings of the Part I and Part II reports together with a summary of the main findings and elaboration on data and analysis methods. It begins with an overall summary of our most pertinent findings in order to aid the reader in navigating the various sections of the report. A methods section describes the data and the analysis techniques used in the review. Finally, detailed findings are presented in two parts corresponding to the Part I and Part II reports previously submitted.

Comments

Report to the Maine Department of Education

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