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- 4% of both Black and 5% of white
children in Maine are uninsured.
White children in Maine are 1
percentage point more likely to
be uninsured than are white
children nationwide. Black
children in Maine are uninsured
at a rate consistent with the
national average for Black
children.
- Youth Health Insurance
- 30 of the 351 Census Tracts in
Maine are considered to be in a
food desert. This impacts 7.3%
of white Mainers and 12.3% of
Black Mainers. Approximately
7.6% of children in Maine live in a
food desert.
- Food Access
- The median home price in Maine
is $290,602. This is 418% of the
median household income for
Mainers.
- Affordable Housing
- 11.7% of children in Maine live in
poverty. This includes 10.9% of
white children. Because white
children experience poverty at a
rate lower than the overall
average, we can deduce that
children of color experience
poverty at higher rates than their
white peers.
- Child Poverty
- Maine students scored an
average of 274 on the NAEP 8th
grade math exam, 11 points
below the national average. The
Black-white gap on the 8th grade
reading exam was 32 points,
above the national average of 24
points.
- NAEP Scores
- The overall 4-year cohort graduation rate for Maine is 86%. For Black students, this rate is only 76%; for white students, 87%. The disparities in graduation rates may be traced to disparities in opportunities to learn.
- Graduation Rates
- Approximately 14% of Black high
school graduates in 2021
entered college in the Fall of that
year. In comparison,
approximately 18% of their white
peers matriculated.
- College Matriculation
- Maine ranks 7th out of 50 states
and Washington D.C. in terms of
its per pupil funding level.
Moreover, Maine spends more
per student relative to its GDP
than the national average. Thus,
Maine’s level and effort of
educational investment is better
than average.
- Per Pupil Spending
- The average teacher salary for
Maine is $59,964; however, the
average starting teacher salary is
only $41,163. Maine ranks 33rd
in the nation for average teacher
salary.
- Teacher Salary
- Approximately 62% of districts in
Maine are regressive in their
spending for Black students.
This suggests that not all
students benefit equally from the
state’s investment in education.
- Progressive Spending
- 0% of districts in Maine have
been identified as having
significant disproportionality in
their identification of students
with disabilities. As such, none
are required to commit 15% of
their IDEA funds to remedying
these disparities.
- Remedial IDEA Spending
Maine Education Investment
- Black students in Maine are
removed from their learning
environment at lower rates than
their white peers. 91 out of every
10,000 Black students were
suspended at least once in the
2021-22 school year, compared
to 126 out of every 10,000 white
students.
- Exclusionary Discipline
- Black students were bullied on
the basis of race at nearly twenty
times the rate of their white
peers (20 incidents per 10,000
Black students and 1 incidents
per 10,000 white students were
reported).
- Bullying
- School psychologists in Maine
serve approximately 1,487
students, on average. However,
school counselors serve an
average of only 278 students;
school social workers, 404
students.
- School Psychologists
- Schools in Maine have, on
average, one sworn law
enforcement officer for every
1,573 students and one security
guard for every 22,287 students.
- School Police
- 97.65% of teachers teaching in
Maine are certified. Overall, the
student to teacher ratio in Maine
is 11:1.
- Access to Teachers
- While 5.0% of white students in
Maine receive the benefits of
enrichment in Gifted and
Talented courses, only 1.6% of
Black students benefit from this
enrichment. While 4.4% of white
students participate in AP
courses, only 2.9% of Black
Maine students are enrolled in
these same courses.
- Challenging Curriculum
- Maine’s rates of identification for
Special Education are robust.
Nonetheless, Black students are
identified at a lower rate (19.1%)
than are their white peers
(24.2%). This suggests perhaps
not all Black students are
receiving the supports they
deserve.
- Special Education
Maine
Maine Community Context
Maine Student Achievement
Maine Student Experience
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Out-of-school Factors
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Opportunity to Learn
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project of the National Center for Youth Law and
The Schott Foundation for Public Education.
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