A bill before the Legislature would address what supporters say is an inequitable level of state funding that goes to Maine Maritime Academy compared to its peer institutions.
The Castine school now gets about a quarter of its $51 million operating budget from the state, while the rest comes from tuition, the federal government and other sources.
However, other maritime academies in California, Massachusetts and New York get between 40 and 51 percent of their operating funds from state taxpayers, according to data collected by MMA.
And in Maine, other public schools with similar enrollments receive an average of half their funding from the state — although they tend to have smaller overall budgets than MMA. That enrollment category includes the University of Maine at Machias, Eastern Maine Community College and Northern Maine Community College.
For bigger institutions, the average state funding rate dips to 42 percent — which is still more than what MMA receives.
The funding disparity has made it harder to attract in-state students even as MMA prepares students for well-paying jobs and provides additional economic benefits, according to school officials and other supporters of the legislation. Over the last five years, about 70 percent of MMA graduates have continued to live in Maine.
“We as a state do not fully take advantage of Maine Maritime Academy and appear to even undervalue it relative to other higher education systems in Maine,” said the lead sponsor of LD 2092, Sen. Nicole Grohoski of Hancock County. “While Maine Maritime Academy has worked hard over the last few years to increase its enrollment and prevent tuition increases, we lose students to Mass Maritime and other competitors who are able to offer more competitive tuition packages.”
To that end, Grohoski’s bill would boost MMA’s state funding level to about half of its annual budget, meaning it would jump by $13.4 million next year, to a total of $25.3 million.
The legislation is scheduled for a work session on Wednesday afternoon. Several people spoke in favor of the bill during a public hearing on Jan. 31, including MMA staff, alumni and students. No one opposed the bill during the hearing or in written testimony.
