Dear colleagues: Finals Week is just the beginning. So your Part-time Faculty Association of Maine (PATFA) offers this update on issues affecting all of us in May 2020 – as well as the months ahead.

First, the University of Maine System is still calculating its Fiscal Year 2020 costs, and the vice chancellor for finance told university union leaders April 23 that the July state revenue forecasts for the Legislature should be watched closely for clues to how the System’s funding will be affected in the new fiscal year. Until then, lots of questions remain unanswered.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed Executive Order 2020-65 to extend and clarify Executive Order 2020-35, which ordered all K-12 school buildings to close for instructional purposes to students for the remainder of the school year, and provided continuity of learning infrastructure by setting guidelines for remote learning. In addition to continuing the actions taken in the previous executive order, Executive Order 2020-65 also suspends in-person instruction of both the Great Start Readiness Program and early childhood programs for the reminder of the 2019-2020 school year.

To view the agreement, click here: 

virtual_iep_covid-19_school_closure_loa_-_signed.pdf

covid_19_dft_auxilliary_support_staff_program_-_signed_2.pdf

For over a decade, the United States Postal Service has been plagued with the onerous burden of prefunding its retiree health care benefits as mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006. The mandate requires the Postal Service to prefund its retiree health care benefits 75 years in advance, paying for retirement health care for individuals who haven’t been born yet, let alone enter the workforce.

Click here for PDF Version

It is expected that the Governor will announce that he wants to speak to the State Employee Unions.  The Governor's office has reached out to union leadership and requested a meeting within the next few days to discuss the fiscal impact of COVID-19.

Update:

April 30, 2020