Democratic Governor Janet Mills considers fully funding Maine's Pre-K through 12th grade public schools one of her top achievements in office, but her Republican opponent and predecessor, says he did so first.Who is correct?In March, following her visit to South Portland elementary school, I asked Mills about her administration's compliance with a 2006 mandate for Maine's 260 school districts, which she reached by signing the state's biennial budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.Mills said, "I know that we, the state of Maine, under this administration has clearly met the obligation of state funding 55% of the cost of school education, the cost of public education, first time in 17 years, and I'm proud of that."But LePage made a counter-argument at a press conference, also in March.LePage said, "I put far more money into education than she did, and we also funded the 55%. The problem is we include the pension and health care, and she doesn't." Two days ago, at an appearance before the Bangor Rotary Club, LePage reiterated his claim.LePage said, "We every year included healthcare and insurance into the formula, and the schools would argue that we weren't funding 55%, but we were funding at 55%, we were always been 55%."But according to budget and spending data from the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Affairs, neither LePage claim is true -- that he spent more money on education than Mills, or that he funded the 55%.DAFS data shows in LePage's eight years in office, state spending on education did grow, from nearly $889 million, or 46% of education costs, his first year, FY 2012, to $1.12 billion, or 49.6%, in his eighth year, FY 2019.Even if you add the costs of educator pensions and health insurance, he fell short of 55% every year. For example, include the $181 million for educator benefits spent in his last and largest budget, and the state share of total education spending was only 53.4%. The LePage campaign shared data budget data, but the figures didn't prove the former governor's claims, and the official formula used by the state, known as Essential Programs and Services., does not include those retirement or health care costs.Counting only classroom costs, Mills spent more than LePage had on education in her first two years in office but fell short of 55%. In her first year, FY 2020, education spending was $1.16 billion, or 50.8% of the state total, and increased to $1.31 billion, or 51.8%, in FY 2021.Her education spending reached $1.31 billion, or 55%, in FY 2022 and will be a bit higher, $1.36 billion, or 55.06%, in FY 2023, which started last month.Steve Bailey, Executive Director of the Maine School Management Association, said of the 55% threshold under Mills: "It had not been achieved before."“Not in my career,” said James Boothby, who stepped down last month as President of the Maine School Superintendents Association. Boothby, Superintendent of Regional School Unit 25, in Bucksport, for the past 16 years and a Maine educator for the past 32 years, said, “I do not recall a time when the state met the 55% funding formula, until now.” Rep. Paul Stearns, of Guilford, the Republican lead on education policy in the State Legislature, agreed that Mills reached 55% and disagreed with LePage’s contention that he did too.“Not by my calculations,” Stearns said. Stearns said the state funding formula never included the costs of educator health insurance but did previously include pension costs, though it no longer does.“The local district pays the employer share,” Stearns said, for educators who are enrolled in MainePERS, the Maine Public Employee Retirement System.In addition to increasing education spending, Mills has started a “rainy day” fund for education, with $15 million in the current budget, to help maintain that 55% obligation. When asked to support former Governor LePage's statements that his administration had met the 55% threshold for state spending on education, the LePage campaign pointed to his FY 2018-2019 biennial budget proposal. On page 16 of the 926-page document, it states:“In 2018, the state share will exceed 50 percent. In 2019, it will exceed 52 percent and in 2020, the state’s funding formula and support for direct instruction will surpass 55 percent. Today, if the State funded salary and benefit costs for all teachers and classroom staff, the state share would approach 60 percent. A new state funding formula refocused on student learning and a statewide teacher contract will allow the state to surpass 55 percent and focus education dollars on the best interest of Maine students.”However, under the formula used, the state share of education spending remained below 50% in FY 2018 and FY 2019, according to data provided by the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Affairs. The total only exceeded 52% in FY 2019 and 55% in FY 2020 – the latter year, after Mills had replaced LePage in office – by including spending on educator pensions and health insurance, which is not part of the formula. There is also no statewide teacher contract in Maine.