Schools in Durham
Durham does not run a school district. It funds one jointly with Freeport and Pownal as RSU 5, which makes "what does Durham pay for schools" a harder question than it sounds: the answer only exists inside Section 4 of the state's annual ED279 report, which splits the district's funding by member town.
Who pays, and who the state pays for
Durham has roughly $1,064,235 of taxable property behind each pupil; Freeport has $2,223,871. The formula charges each town its valuation against a common mill expectation (5.645 mills in FY2027), so Freeport covers nearly all of its own allocation and Durham does not.
Maine DOE, ED279 Section 4FY2027
- Durham's state valuation
- $692,816,667
- District mill expectation, FY2027
- 5.645
- because a mill is a dollar per thousand
- 1,000
- Required local contribution
- $3,910,950
Pupils appear nowhere in this calculation. The formula asks what a town's property is worth, applies the same rate to every town in the district, and calls the answer that town's share, which is why Durham's 32.8% of the pupils and 19.2% of the local contribution are different numbers.
Table view
| Town | Pupils | Raised locally | Paid by the state | State share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | 651 | $3,910,950 | $5,037,163 | 56.3% |
| Pownal | 205.5 | $2,257,247 | $567,180 | 20.1% |
| Freeport | 1,129 | $14,173,184 | $1,343,428 | 8.7% |
The two panels read in one direction: the more taxable property a town has behind each pupil, the less of its allocation the state pays. Durham has the least property per pupil and the largest state share; Freeport has about 2.1 times the property per pupil and gets 8.7%. Section 4C figures before adjustments. Pupils are subsidizable pupils, not enrolment. State valuation here is the ED279's three-year average, not the 2026 certified valuation on the Taxes page.
Table view
| Town | Pupils | State valuation | Taxable property per pupil (implied) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | 651 | $692,816,667 | $1,064,235 |
| Pownal | 205.5 | $399,866,667 | $1,945,823 |
| Freeport | 1,129 | $2,510,750,000 | $2,223,871 |
Source & method
Maine DOE ED279 Essential Programs and Services allocation reports, FY2014-FY2027
Section 4 read positionally, never label-then-next-number (one label in Section 5A heads three columns). A fiscal year is published only when six internal identities balance to the cent, including that the municipal allocations and pupil counts sum to the district totals
https://www.maine.gov/doe/funding/gpa/currentfy
Data as of FY2027 (the newest fiscal year whose ED279 report balances); retrieved 2 August 2026.
State share of each town's allocation
The same formula, run every year since FY2014. Freeport's line reaches zero in 3 years (FY2019, FY2020, FY2023), where its property valuation alone covered its entire allocation and the state contributed nothing. Durham's has never left the 56.3–62.7% band.
Section 4C before adjustments. Freeport's share reaches zero in 3 years (FY2019, FY2020, FY2023), where its valuation alone covered its allocation.
Table view
| Fiscal year | Durham | Freeport | Pownal |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2014 | 56.5% | 4.2% | 24.4% |
| FY2015 | 61.3% | 3.6% | 26.1% |
| FY2016 | 61.2% | 5.1% | 25.1% |
| FY2017 | 62.6% | 5.3% | 20.3% |
| FY2018 | 62.5% | 2.5% | 17.3% |
| FY2019 | 60.7% | 0.0% | 12.7% |
| FY2020 | 60.6% | 0.0% | 16.4% |
| FY2021 | 60.7% | 0.3% | 15.5% |
| FY2022 | 62.3% | 0.7% | 19.2% |
| FY2023 | 61.4% | 0.0% | 18.6% |
| FY2024 | 62.7% | 2.6% | 24.3% |
| FY2025 | 62.0% | 6.3% | 21.2% |
| FY2026 | 59.9% | 5.9% | 18.8% |
| FY2027 | 56.3% | 8.7% | 20.1% |
Source & method
Maine DOE ED279 Essential Programs and Services allocation reports, FY2014-FY2027
Section 4 read positionally, never label-then-next-number (one label in Section 5A heads three columns). A fiscal year is published only when six internal identities balance to the cent, including that the municipal allocations and pupil counts sum to the district totals
https://www.maine.gov/doe/funding/gpa/currentfy
Data as of FY2027 (the newest fiscal year whose ED279 report balances); retrieved 2 August 2026.
Durham's two shares of the district
The gap between these lines is the practical effect of the formula on a Durham tax bill: the town sends about a third of RSU 5's students and raises about a fifth of its local money.
Shares of the district's Section 4C totals before adjustments. The gap has ranged from 11.8 to 14.4 points.
Table view
| Fiscal year | Share of pupils % | Share of local contribution % | Gap (points) | State share of Durham's allocation % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2014 | 29.7% | 17.9% | 11.8 | 56.5% |
| FY2015 | 30.3% | 18.2% | 12.1 | 61.3% |
| FY2016 | 30.3% | 18.3% | 12.0 | 61.2% |
| FY2017 | 31.5% | 18.4% | 13.1 | 62.6% |
| FY2018 | 31.7% | 18.0% | 13.7 | 62.5% |
| FY2019 | 31.0% | 17.7% | 13.3 | 60.7% |
| FY2020 | 30.7% | 17.6% | 13.1 | 60.6% |
| FY2021 | 31.1% | 17.4% | 13.7 | 60.7% |
| FY2022 | 31.8% | 17.4% | 14.4 | 62.3% |
| FY2023 | 32.1% | 17.7% | 14.4 | 61.4% |
| FY2024 | 31.6% | 17.2% | 14.4 | 62.7% |
| FY2025 | 31.3% | 17.5% | 13.8 | 62.0% |
| FY2026 | 31.5% | 18.3% | 13.2 | 59.9% |
| FY2027 | 32.8% | 19.2% | 13.6 | 56.3% |
Source & method
Maine DOE ED279 Essential Programs and Services allocation reports, FY2014-FY2027
Section 4 read positionally, never label-then-next-number (one label in Section 5A heads three columns). A fiscal year is published only when six internal identities balance to the cent, including that the municipal allocations and pupil counts sum to the district totals
https://www.maine.gov/doe/funding/gpa/currentfy
Data as of FY2027 (the newest fiscal year whose ED279 report balances); retrieved 2 August 2026.
Durham's allocation over time
Pupils rose from 575.5 in FY2014 to 651 in FY2027, and the allocation per pupil from $11,025 to $13,745.
These are allocations, not budgets. The ED279 states what the state's funding formula says RSU 5's programme should cost and who must pay for it. What the district actually spends is set by its own budget and the annual budget validation vote, and can be higher. Nominal dollars.
Table view
| Fiscal year | Pupils | Total allocation | Raised locally | Paid by the state | Allocation per pupil |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2014 | 575.5 | $6,345,091 | $2,763,183 | $3,581,908 | $11,025 |
| FY2015 | 588.5 | $7,351,961 | $2,844,923 | $4,507,038 | $12,493 |
| FY2016 | 566 | $7,420,356 | $2,881,597 | $4,538,759 | $13,110 |
| FY2017 | 585 | $7,766,924 | $2,906,937 | $4,859,987 | $13,277 |
| FY2018 | 589 | $7,706,347 | $2,892,845 | $4,813,502 | $13,084 |
| FY2019 | 594 | $7,877,832 | $3,095,200 | $4,782,632 | $13,262 |
| FY2020 | 599.5 | $7,896,781 | $3,113,280 | $4,783,501 | $13,172 |
| FY2021 | 619 | $8,188,496 | $3,222,102 | $4,966,394 | $13,229 |
| FY2022 | 622 | $8,077,635 | $3,045,449 | $5,032,186 | $12,987 |
| FY2023 | 626 | $8,135,960 | $3,138,792 | $4,997,168 | $12,997 |
| FY2024 | 640 | $8,787,079 | $3,274,274 | $5,512,805 | $13,730 |
| FY2025 | 648 | $9,031,235 | $3,434,897 | $5,596,338 | $13,937 |
| FY2026 | 640 | $9,124,452 | $3,655,120 | $5,469,332 | $14,257 |
| FY2027 | 651 | $8,948,113 | $3,910,950 | $5,037,163 | $13,745 |
Source & method
Maine DOE ED279 Essential Programs and Services allocation reports, FY2014-FY2027
Section 4 read positionally, never label-then-next-number (one label in Section 5A heads three columns). A fiscal year is published only when six internal identities balance to the cent, including that the municipal allocations and pupil counts sum to the district totals
https://www.maine.gov/doe/funding/gpa/currentfy
Data as of FY2027 (the newest fiscal year whose ED279 report balances); retrieved 2 August 2026.
How these figures were checked
ED279s are PDFs, and a mis-read column is indistinguishable from a real number once it reaches a chart. Each report is therefore accepted only if its own internal arithmetic balances: municipal allocations and pupil counts must sum to the district totals, allocation minus local contribution must equal the state contribution for every town and for the district, and Section 5's totals must match Section 4's. A fiscal year that fails any of these is rejected rather than published; all 14 years from FY2014 to FY2027 passed.