It feels surprisingly sudden, but autumn is here. I have already noticed tree leaves beginning to turn from green to fiery hues of red, orange and yellow, signaling the bittersweet end of summer. Personally, after the unusually warm summer we had, I’m grateful to be back in the season of cool, crisp temperatures, leaf raking and pumpkin bread baking.
For students and parents, this time of year also marks back-to-school season. As a mom to college students, I spent the past few weeks helping my daughters get packed up and ready for the fall semester. And just as a reminder to all high school seniors and returning college students, FAFSA applications open up just around the corner on October 1.
As a state legislator, back-to- school season is also a time to check in with parents, students and educators about the progress we’ve made legislatively to improve our state’s schools. School districts all across Maine will receive increased state funding in the next fiscal year. Here in Gorham, the state will increase funding for our schools by $641,939. That’s a significant improvement to the state funding that the Gorham School District previously received. With this additional money, the town of Gorham will have the opportunity to lighten the financial burden currently being placed on property taxpayers to fund our local schools.
For a relatively small school district, we have extraordinary talent among our educators and school administrators and, with the additional state funding, they’ll be able to provide our students with better resources and more educational opportunities.
I was so happy to see that Heather Whitaker, the alternative education teacher at the Gorham Middle School, was named the 2019 Cumberland County Teacher of the Year. Her passion for supporting Gorham’s students, both inside and outside of the classroom, is an example of the kind of professional excellence we have within Gorham’s schools. Heather started the middle school’s garden, which has donated hundreds of pounds of produce to the local food pantry, and she is the founding member of the Gorham BackPack Program, which provides students experiencing chronic hunger with food over the weekend. What’s more, she’s actively promoting civic engagement among her students by getting them involved with these programs.
Heather has found a way to help those in need, while simultaneously educating our students about one of our state’s most pressing issues. Maine has one of the highest rates of hunger in the nation, as nearly one in five of our children live in food-insecure homes. This problem is likely to get worse, because under a proposed Trump administration change to food stamp rules, 44,000 low-income Mainers are at risk of losing their food assistance.
Fall is traditionally the season of the harvest, and as our local farmers are selling this season’s bounty at the Gorham Farmers Market, a bill I co-sponsored to expand the use of the Women, Infants and Children Special Supplemental Food Program (WIC) to farmers’ markets will soon be going into effect. This new law will provide more opportunities for food-insecure families to feed their children nutritious, locally-sourced food. Just as the garden that Heather started at the Gorham Middle School promotes healthy eating while simultaneously helping to feed those in need, this type of legislation supports families in need while also giving them healthier food options.
From properly funding our children’s education to addressing the issue of hunger in our state, the work that happens in Augusta has a huge impact on our daily lives in Gorham. As we continue into the harvest season and our students are getting settled in their new classrooms, we will begin seeing the ways in which our state policies are working and the areas that need improvement will become clear.
If you have any thoughts about these subjects, or any others, please feel welcome to get in touch with me. As always, I am best able to serve the needs of our community when I hear directly from you.
Rep. Maureen “Mo” Terry is serving her second term in the Maine House of Representatives. She is a chef and small business owner with more than 25 years of experience in the food service industry. She serves on the Taxation Committee.
(207) 712- 9735 | (800) 423-2900 | maureen.terry@legislature.maine.gov