PATFA recommends part-time faculty read this June 7, 2025, essay from Trish Riley, chair of the UMS trustees, on the status of the budget for the University of Maine System:

The University of Maine System is an engine of educational attainment and economic mobility. Now is the time for the Legislature to fund it adequately. Building on her past support, Gov. Janet Mills proposed a 4 percent annual appropriation increase for our system in her final biennial budget. Last month, three-quarters of the Maine House and the entire state Senate endorsed this essential funding. But the recently enacted continuing services budget for fiscal year 2026-27 flat funds the university system, exacerbating decades of disinvestment when we can least afford it. While the state once funded 72.5 percent of the system’s operations, our inflation-adjusted appropriations have declined for decades and now pay just 43 percent of UMS education costs, far less than the 55 percent rightly provided for public K-12 schools.

As a union Local of the American Federation of Teachers, PATFA is both local and national. The retooling involves keeping PATFA-AFT members informed and involved on three tracks at the same time: System, state, and federal. We bargain directly with the System; we advocate jointly with the other unions in Augusta; and we advocate in Washington through AFT.

PATFA officers would like to share with you the following four points to make clear your rights as a part-time faculty member within the University of Maine System. 

PATFA recommends part-time faculty read this June 7, 2025, essay from Trish Riley, chair of the UMS trustees, on the status of the budget for the University of Maine System:

The University of Maine System is an engine of educational attainment and economic mobility. Now is the time for the Legislature to fund it adequately. Building on her past support, Gov. Janet Mills proposed a 4 percent annual appropriation increase for our system in her final biennial budget. Last month, three-quarters of the Maine House and the entire state Senate endorsed this essential funding. But the recently enacted continuing services budget for fiscal year 2026-27 flat funds the university system, exacerbating decades of disinvestment when we can least afford it. While the state once funded 72.5 percent of the system’s operations, our inflation-adjusted appropriations have declined for decades and now pay just 43 percent of UMS education costs, far less than the 55 percent rightly provided for public K-12 schools.

As a union Local of the American Federation of Teachers, PATFA is both local and national. The retooling involves keeping PATFA-AFT members informed and involved on three tracks at the same time: System, state, and federal. We bargain directly with the System; we advocate jointly with the other unions in Augusta; and we advocate in Washington through AFT.

PATFA officers would like to share with you the following four points to make clear your rights as a part-time faculty member within the University of Maine System.