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Let’s invest in mentoring programs for Maine’s teachers

In Maine, the speaker supports L.D. 470, An Act to Require School Administrative Units to Adopt Mentoring Programs for Teachers and to Improve Existing Programs, to support new teachers.
New teachers face challenges such as classroom discipline, motivating students, and managing workloads, leading to nearly one in six leaving the profession within the first five years, according to a 2015 United States Department of Education study.
These challenges and high attrition rates have financial implications for schools due to the costs of recruiting, hiring, and training new teachers, along with academic and emotional costs to students.
Flynn Ross, Maine Teacher Residency Director, stated that a majority of the program's funding is spent on funding teachers, with $150,500 spent on tuition assistance and $141,000 on stipends for veteran teachers in the 2023-2024 school year.
To address the teacher shortage, Maine is considering multiple approaches, including L.D. 34 to raise the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 over five years and extending conditional teaching certificates via L.D. 369, though concerns exist about student performance and administrative challenges, as well as the need for a multi-pronged approach including financial and career support.

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The Maine Monitor

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PenBay Pilot

Lean Left

Lawmakers aim to tackle the teacher shortage from multiple angles

The challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers in Maine is profound. The state pays teachers the least out of its New England counterparts and faces a dwindling workforce as teachers age and younger workers are not entering the field fast enough. “Everyone knows it’s one of the fields where you are overworked and underpaid and underappreciated,” said Zachary Guiod, who is in training to become a teacher. “You go into the field knowing that.”…

11 days ago

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