Governor Mills and Senate Majority Leader Teresa Pierce Celebrate Budget Provision Boosting Maine Teacher Pay

Governor also tours housing construction that will create over 350 affordable units in Downtown Portland thanks to Mills Administration investments

Gorham, MAINE-- Governor Janet Mills and Senate Majority Leader Teresa Pierce today joined students preparing to enter Maine's education workforce to celebrate a provision of the supplemental budget that will raise Maine's minimum teacher salary over the next three years.

The provision, championed by Governor Mills and Majority Leader Pierce, will increase the State's minimum teacher salary from its current level of $40,000 to $50,000 by fall 2029. The measure builds on previous action by the Governor and Legislature in 2019 to raise the minimum teacher salary to $40,000 -- the first increase in more than a decade.

The Governor -- surrounded by future Maine school teachers, legislators, and state education leaders -- ceremonially signed the budget provision at the University of Southern Maine's Center for Teaching and Innovation. Using funds from the Governor's Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, USM created the new Center to enhance teacher education and incorporate emerging technologies into classroom teaching.

"As the daughter of a longtime public school teacher, and as someone who raised five daughters who attended public schools in Maine, I know firsthand how important teachers are and the many challenges they have to overcome every day," said Governor Janet Mills. "This salary increase is just another small step towards finally paying teachers what they deserve."

"When we think back to those who most influenced our lives, chances are one of them was a teacher. But today, too many current and future teachers struggle to see how they can afford to stay in their careers," said Senate Majority Leader Teresa Pierce. "With this critical investment, we are ensuring that the next generation of educators is ready and willing to inspire our students."

"Raising minimum teacher pay will make it easier for more aspiring educators like me to commit to enrolling in high-quality educator preparation programs like USM's and ultimately, a career as a Maine teacher," said University of Southern Maine Student Seth des Rosiers. "On behalf of the nearly 4,000 students enrolled in educator preparation programs across the University of Maine System, I thank Governor Mills and Senator Pierce for investing in Maine educators and the schools and students they serve."

The Governor officially signed the supplemental budget into law earlier this month at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor. The budget also makes the Governor's nationally celebrated Free Community College program permanent, expands Maine's nation-leading free school meals program, and includes the Governor's proposals to provide direct financial relief to more than 500,000 Maine people, enhance property tax relief for Maine households, and build upon the Administration's record investments in housing.

Later this morning, the Governor visited Downtown Portland today to visit three housing projects under construction -- made possible by the Mills Administration investments -- that will create 356 new affordable homes within a quarter-mile stretch.

One of the projects, located on the site of the former Preble Street Chapel on Cumberland Avenue, will create 60 units of affordable housing and 110 childcare slots on the same site. The project was made possible by Maine's landmark Affordable Housing Tax Credit, established by Governor Mills in 2020 and recently extended by the Governor for another eight years.

Over the past six years, the Maine Affordable Housing Tax Credit has helped preserve 108 existing units of affordable housing across the state, with an additional 824 units either built or in the pipeline for construction.

Since 2019, the Mills Administration has dedicated more $350 million to alleviate Maine's housing crunch -- over five times the amount the state spent on housing from 2000 to 2018. These investments have resulted in the creation of 2,100 new apartments built and occupied to date, with more than 1,800 more under construction and over 1,500 in the underwriting pipeline. In the past year alone, the state has financed more than 1,000 affordable homes, mostly new construction.