When Rob Constantine took over as the executive director of the Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM) in July, he had big goals: get more students and make sure Maine’s only public magnet high school does well.
Now, after five months, he’s learning about the challenges he’s up against. One big issue is that fewer students from Maine are enrolling at MSSM, and it’s gone down by 15% in the last two years. Families are hesitant to pay for the school’s room and board fees.
There’s also a problem with the state budget; it’s not increasing, and MSSM lost money during COVID, making it harder for the school to cover its expenses.
In the summer, a plan to increase the school’s $3.6 million in state funding by nearly $2 million didn’t work out. Instead, they got a one-time payment of $500,000 for the 2024-2025 school year.
Constantine became the executive director just before they found out that a legislative bill for more funding didn’t cover important costs like room-and-board fees and teacher pay increases.
Since there isn’t much support in Augusta, Constantine wants MSSM to have better connections with state legislators and the Department of Education. He hopes to learn from them about Maine’s goals for STEM education and careers, so MSSM can prepare students for the future.
“I’m really thinking about our overall partnership with the DOE and legislature, not just our physical presence [in Augusta],” Constantine said. “We also want to more actively share what’s happening here with them. We need to tell the story of MSSM better.”
MSSM is unique and has been around since 1994. It started as one of the few Maine schools offering advanced courses for high school students. The school has a strong focus on science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM), and many graduates have successful careers in these fields.
Constantine feels connected to MSSM, having attended private schools during most of his elementary and high school years. Before MSSM, he worked in various roles at different schools in New Hampshire and Maine.
The biggest problem now is fewer students enrolling at MSSM, partly because of COVID. Enrollment used to be around 120 to 130 students, but it’s now just above 100. During COVID, many parents were worried about sending their kids to a residential school, and public schools started offering advanced courses, making MSSM less unique.
Lower enrollment means less money for the school. They lost $100,000 in room-and-board revenue annually since COVID, and they had to end their international student program, losing $700,000 yearly.
While MSSM’s unique approach to education doesn’t rely on the usual state funding formula, the school still needs support. The school’s portion of the state budget has stayed at $3.6 million since 2017, and it covers 40 to 70 percent of the school’s budget. The rest comes from tuition, room and board fees, summer camp programs, and donations.
To manage their budget, Constantine and his staff have been creative. They hired new teachers but combined some roles to save costs. Even with these efforts, if the state’s contribution increased, the school would still need more money due to other revenue losses.
Constantine wants to attract more students to MSSM and plans to work closely with students’ home school districts. He understands that smaller, rural schools might find it hard to send away their best students, so he wants to figure out ways to partner with those schools and make them feel connected to students’ success at MSSM.
