[SchoolFinance] Minimum Hourly Wage Data Required Update
Wendy Bradstreet
wendy.bradstreet at rsu29.org
Thu Sep 11 14:18:07 EDT 2025
My understanding is it won't take effect until July 1, 2026 for the
increase to support staff.
*Wendy Bradstreet*
*RSU29 Business Manager*
*PO Box 190*
*Houlton ME 04730*
*(207)538-3137*
*wendy.bradstreet at rsu29.org <wendy.bradstreet at rsu29.org>*
On Thu, Sep 11, 2025 at 2:05 PM Adam Hanson <
ahanson at lewistonpublicschools.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
> With the new state minimum wage being announced as $15.10 as of 1/1/26,
> does anyone know if we need to bump our minimum support staff pay to $17.37
> and ed tech pay to $18.88 as of the same date, or does it not take effect
> until 7/1/26? And for ed techs, does it not impact us until their current
> CBA expires?
> Thanks.
>
> On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 3:07 PM Gravelle, Paula B <
> Paula.B.Gravelle at maine.gov> wrote:
>
>> Gabrielle,
>>
>>
>>
>> That is correct, if you are currently in FY 25, paying at or above the
>> new hourly minimum that will be required in FY 26, then you do not need to
>> do anything in the NEO Staff collection report at this time.
>>
>>
>>
>> The reason we are collecting FY 25 hourly wage data, is so we can provide
>> the “additional funding” required in the law using the FY 25 hourly wage as
>> the base amount for comparing to the new minimum required in FY 26, in
>> order to determine if additional funds are warranted.
>>
>>
>>
>> You will need to update going forward each year for our annual
>> collections of data.
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>>
>> *Paula Gravelle*
>> Director of Public School Finance
>> Maine Department of Education
>> 23 State House Station
>> Augusta, Maine 04333-0023
>> *Email: *paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov
>> *Phone*: 207-624-6792
>>
>> Maine DOE <http://www.maine.gov/doe> | Facebook
>> <https://www.facebook.com/MaineDepartmentofEducation1/> | Twitter
>> <https://twitter.com/mdoenews> | Instagram
>> <https://www.instagram.com/mainedepted/?hl=en> | Maine DOE Newsroom
>> <https://mainedoenews.net/>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* SchoolFinance <schoolfinance-bounces at maillist.informe.org> *On
>> Behalf Of *Krol, Gabrielle
>> *Sent:* Thursday, April 24, 2025 8:16 AM
>> *To:* Moderated information sharing for school business managers <
>> schoolfinance at maillist.informe.org>
>> *Subject:* Re: [SchoolFinance] Minimum Hourly Wage Data Required Update
>>
>>
>>
>> *EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside of the State of Maine Mail
>> System. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the
>> sender and know the content is safe.*
>>
>> Good Morning Paula,
>>
>>
>>
>> Just to confirm, the new minimum wage requirements do not go into effect
>> until July 1st for the contracts that end on June 30, 2025. As long as our
>> hourly staff will receive at least the noted minimum wages of 16.85 or
>> 18.31 per hour based on their appointment, we would not need to worry about
>> the wages through 2025, is that correct?
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Gabrielle
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 22, 2025 at 10:00 AM Gravelle, Paula B <
>> Paula.B.Gravelle at maine.gov> wrote:
>>
>> Good morning,
>>
>> After the release of the plan for collecting the current year (FY 25)
>> hourly staff data in NEO Staff in order to calculate the one-time
>> additional funds for the upcoming school year (FY 26) as required by the
>> new minimum hourly wage statute
>> <https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/20-A/title20-Asec4016.html>,
>> we realized nothing is as simple as we originally thought.
>>
>> Some questions have come up that have required the Maine Department of
>> Education (DOE) to consider many other issues that cannot be resolved
>> simply by updating the hourly wage data in NEO Staff.
>>
>> *Summary of final requirements:*
>>
>> 1. All hourly wage data will still need to be updated for the current
>> FY 25 year in NEO staff for all hourly staff that are currently in NEO
>> staff.
>> 2. Maine DOE will also require a one-time pull from your local
>> payroll system in order to validate payments are accurate for this one-time
>> payment of additional funds.
>>
>>
>> 1. This one-time pull from your local payroll system will need to
>> include:
>>
>> i. Names of all
>> hourly staff paid in FY 25
>>
>> 1. Student workers
>> 2. Substitutes
>> 3. Food Service Workers
>> 4. Education Technicians
>> 5. All other hourly staff
>>
>> ii. Hourly wage
>> for each hourly employee paid in FY 25
>>
>> iii. Total number of
>> hours worked for each hourly employee in FY 25
>>
>> 3. If you do not have hourly employees paid less than $16.85 per hour
>> for other support staff, and $18.31 per hour for education technicians,
>> then you do not need to do anything at this time since you would not be
>> eligible for additional funding.
>> 4. Additional funding will not be allocated until after verification
>> of continued employment of all hourly staff eligible in the FY 26 school
>> year is completed.
>> 5. Hourly wages will need to be updated annually in NEO staff going
>> forward for all hourly staff that are collected in the NEO Staff module.
>>
>> Here are answers to some of the questions we received:
>>
>> 1. What about student workers that are paid hourly?
>>
>>
>> 1. Problem: student workers cannot be entered into the NEO staff
>> module because it then creates violations for certification.
>> 2. Solution: do *not* enter students into the NEO staff module.
>> 3. If you have students that are working in the current FY 25
>> school year and are paid less than the new FY 26 minimum of $16.85; and
>> they will still be working for you in the FY 26 school year, then you will
>> need to send the Maine DOE a list of those students with their current
>> hourly wage and how many hours they worked in FY 25.
>> 4. This can also be included in the one-time pull from your local
>> payroll system.
>>
>>
>> 2. What about substitutes that are paid hourly and only work as
>> needed?
>>
>>
>> 1. Problem: salary and wage data for substitutes are not collected in
>> NEO Staff because they only work as needed.
>> 2. Solution: continue to enter substitutes in NEO staff for
>> purposes of criminal history records checks and verification of employment.
>> 3. We will need to collect information from your local payroll
>> system for the FY 25 year after the year end (6/30/2025); to include the
>> substitutes name, hourly wage, and number of hours worked in FY 25.
>> 4. We will also need to confirm that they are still employed by
>> the same SAU using the FY 26 data in NEO Staff.
>>
>>
>> 3. What about CTE Regions?
>>
>>
>> 1. Problem: The statute did not specify that the additional funds
>> would be for CTE Regions, and since they are not considered a School
>> Administrative Unit by definition in Title 20-A; CTE Regions are not
>> eligible for the additional funds for hourly staff.
>> 2. CTE Centers that are within a School Administrative Unit are
>> eligible for the additional funds and therefore should update their hourly
>> staff data in NEO Staff.
>>
>>
>> 4. Does this include food service workers that are paid using federal
>> funds?
>>
>>
>> 1. Yes, food service workers are eligible for the additional funds.
>> 2. Even though they are paid using federal funds, the statute
>> requiring one-time additional funds for the minimum hourly wage is not
>> restricted to a specific funding source. So, all hourly support staff, no
>> matter what the source of funding, will need to be updated in NEO staff to
>> include the hourly wage information.
>>
>> Thank you for your assistance and continued patience as we work together
>> to make this work possible.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> ________________________________________
>>
>> *Paula Gravelle*
>> Director of Public School Finance
>> Maine Department of Education
>> 23 State House Station
>> Augusta, Maine 04333-0023
>> *Email: *paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov
>> *Phone*: 207-624-6792
>>
>> Maine DOE <http://www.maine.gov/doe> | Facebook
>> <https://www.facebook.com/MaineDepartmentofEducation1/> | Twitter
>> <https://twitter.com/mdoenews> | Instagram
>> <https://www.instagram.com/mainedepted/?hl=en> | Maine DOE Newsroom
>> <https://mainedoenews.net/>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> SchoolFinance mailing list
>> SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org
>> http://maillist.informe.org/mailman/listinfo/schoolfinance
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Gabrielle Krol
>>
>> Business Manager
>>
>> MSAD 52
>>
>> 486 Turner Center Road
>>
>> Turner, ME 04282
>>
>> 207-225-1006
>> _______________________________________________
>> SchoolFinance mailing list
>> SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org
>> http://maillist.informe.org/mailman/listinfo/schoolfinance
>>
>
>
> --
> Adam Hanson
> Controller
> Lewiston Public Schools
> 36 Oak Street
> Lewiston, ME 04240
> Phone: (207) 795-4100, ext. 4051
> Fax: (207) 795-4177
>
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