Maine Governor Janet Mills’ Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) is paying $12,500 to a California-based nonprofit that will advise state agencies on how to transition all Maine K-12 public schools to zero carbon emissions in order to address the “changing climate.”

Passed and signed into law during the 131st Maine Legislature, LD 1606 directed the Maine Department of Education (Maine DOE) and GOPIF to “assist public elementary and secondary schools in the State with achieving energy efficiency and maximizing the use of clean energy.”

That guidance also includes advice for public schools to contract with “clean energy” providers to develop contracting guidance in order to “assist the schools with saving money through energy efficiency, clean energy and clean transportation projects.”

Under the bill, the Maine DOE and GOPIF are required to submit a report of its activities and guidance for public school green energy policies to the Legislature by Jan. 31, 2025.

According to a state contract document published Wednesday, the Mills administration will be paying $12,500 to the San Francisco-based nonprofit Undaunted K-12 to satisfy the directives given in LD 1606.

“The selected vendor is uniquely qualified to advise on both state and federal funding to support Maine’s K-12 public schools to make an equitable transition to zero carbon emissions in the face of a changing climate,” the contract reads.

“The vendor and staff have recognized experience and expertise synthesizing guidance and curating relevant resources to help districts understand and make the most of both new and legacy school funding sources in order to achieve energy efficiency and maximizing the use of clean energy,” it reads.

In September, the Mills administration hired Glenn Cummings, a longtime Democratic politician and government employee, into a $121,000-a-year position as the director of the Maine DOE’s new “Green Schools Program.”

As “green schools director,” Cummings is tasked with coordinating the Maine DOE’s initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the state’s public schools, a goal that GOPIF states will be achieved by being more energy efficient and “adopting cleaner technologies.”

The green schools director position was initially proposed last year in a bill, L.D. 612, from Rep. Marc Malon (D-Biddeford). That bill, passed by the Maine House and Senate along party lines with support from Democrats, died on the appropriations table in late July 2023.

Funding for the position was included, however, in the Maine DOE budget approved by the 131st Legislature at the end of the session.