[SchoolFinance] Minimum Hourly Wage Data Required Update
Zak Harding
zachary_harding at yarmouthschools.org
Thu Sep 11 15:38:15 EDT 2025
§4016. Minimum hourly wage for educational technicians and other school
support staff
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise
indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
A. "Educational technician" has the same meaning as in section 13001‑A,
subsection 8
<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/20-A/title20-Asec13001-A.html>.
[PL 2023, c. 643, Pt. G, §1 (NEW).]
B. "Other school support staff" means a public school employee who is not
an educational technician and who is paid on an hourly basis. [PL 2023,
c. 643, Pt. G, §1 (NEW).]
[PL 2023, c. 643, Pt. G, §1 (NEW).]
2. Minimum hourly wage. Except as provided in subsection 3
<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/20-A/title20-Asec4016.html>,
for the school year starting after June 30, 2025 and for each subsequent
school year, the minimum hourly wage for educational technicians is equal
to 125% of the minimum hourly wage established in Title 26, section 664,
subsection 1
<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/26/title26sec664.html> and
the minimum hourly wage for other school support staff is equal to 115% of
the minimum hourly wage established in Title 26, section 664, subsection 1
<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/26/title26sec664.html>.
[PL 2023, c. 643, Pt. G, §1 (NEW).]
3. Wage increases. If, pursuant to the requirements of Title 26, section
664, subsection 1
<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/26/title26sec664.html>, the
minimum hourly wage is increased on January 1st of any year, the minimum
hourly wage for educational technicians and other school support staff is
increased beginning July 1st of the same year in an amount equal to 125% of
the increased minimum hourly wage under Title 26, section 664, subsection 1
<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/26/title26sec664.html> for
educational technicians and in an amount equal to 115% of the increased
minimum hourly wage under Title 26, section 664, subsection 1
<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/26/title26sec664.html> for
other school support staff.
On Thu, Sep 11, 2025 at 2:52 PM Lucie Tabor <ltabor at vuesc.org> wrote:
> On the July 1, We do adjust any that would fall below the effective min
> wage, regardless of whether the CBA has expired or not. We only adjust
> those specifically affected, no adj for any others until CBA is renegotiated
>
> Lucie Tabor
> *Director of Finance*
> *Valley Unified Educational Service Center (VUESC)*
> *Serving the School Districts of MSAD 27, MSAD 33 and Madawaska School
> Dept.*
> *Upper St. John Valley*
>
> On Thu, Sep 11, 2025, 2:09 PM Adam Hanson <
> ahanson at lewistonpublicschools.org> wrote:
>
>> Sorry, I should have reviewed the statute first. It does specify the new
>> minimum is effective July 1.
>> I do still have the question about ed techs in an existing CBA that falls
>> below the new minimum wage.
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 11, 2025 at 2:00 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
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/23+State+House?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>> 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
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/23+State+House?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>> 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
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/486+Turner+Center+Road+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+Turner,+ME+04282?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/486+Turner+Center+Road+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+Turner,+ME+04282?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>
>>>> Turner, ME 04282
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/486+Turner+Center+Road+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+Turner,+ME+04282?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/486+Turner+Center+Road+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+Turner,+ME+04282?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/486+Turner+Center+Road+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+%0D%0A+Turner,+ME+04282?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>
>>>> 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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>>> recipient, you are not authorized to retain, disclose, copy or distribute
>>> the message and/or any of its attachments. If you received this email in
>>> error, please notify me and delete this message. Thank you.
>>>
>>> 1-855-938-0657 لترجمة هذه الوثيقة، يرجى الاتصال
>>>
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>>
>> --
>> Adam Hanson
>> Controller
>> Lewiston Public Schools
>> 36 Oak Street
>> Lewiston, ME 04240
>> Phone: (207) 795-4100, ext. 4051
>> Fax: (207) 795-4177
>>
>> LEGAL CONFIDENTIAL: The information in this email, and any attachment,
>> may contain legally privileged information. It is intended only for the
>> attention and use of the named recipient. If you are not the intended
>> recipient, you are not authorized to retain, disclose, copy or distribute
>> the message and/or any of its attachments. If you received this email in
>> error, please notify me and delete this message. Thank you.
>>
>> 1-855-938-0657 لترجمة هذه الوثيقة، يرجى الاتصال
>>
>> Haddii aad rabto in lagu turjumo warqadani, fadlan soo wac 1-855-938-0657
>>
>> Pour vous faire interpréter cet email, prière d'appeler
>> le 1-855-938-0657
>>
>> Para receber uma interpretação deste email, faz favor de ligar
>> para 1-855-938-0657
>>
>> For interpretation in Kiswahili (Swahili), Shqip (Albanian), Farsi,
>> Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole), 普通话 (Mandarin), ਪੰਜਾਬੀ(Punjabi), and
>> Русский (Russian), please call 1-855-938-0656
>>
>> For interpretation in Español (Spanish), Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese), and
>> Ikinyarwanda (Kinyarwanda), please call 1-855-938-0657
>>
>> For interpretation of this document in other languages, please call (207)
>> 795-4103
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> SchoolFinance mailing list
>> SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org
>> http://maillist.informe.org/mailman/listinfo/schoolfinance
>
> _______________________________________________
> SchoolFinance mailing list
> SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org
> http://maillist.informe.org/mailman/listinfo/schoolfinance
--
Zak Harding
Director of Business Services
Yarmouth School Department
zak_harding at yarmouthschools.org
207-846-5586
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