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2 

CARSON v. MAKIN 

Opinion of the Court 

opportunity  to  receive  the  benefits  of  a  free  public  educa-
tion,” Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §2(1) (2008), and that
the required schools be operated by “the legislative and gov-
erning  bodies  of  local  school  administrative  units,”  §2(2).
But  Maine  is  the  most  rural  State  in  the  Union,  and  for 
many school districts the realities of remote geography and
low  population  density  make  those  commands  difficult  to 
heed.  Indeed,  of  Maine’s  260  school  administrative  units 
(SAUs), fewer than half operate a public secondary school 
of their own.  App. 4, 70, 73.

Maine  has  sought  to  deal  with  this  problem  in  part  by
creating  a  program  of  tuition  assistance  for  families  that 
reside in such areas.  Under that program, if an SAU nei-
ther operates its own public secondary school nor contracts
with a particular public or private school for the education 
of its school-age children, the SAU must “pay the tuition . . . 
at  the  public  school  or  the  approved  private  school  of  the 
parent’s choice at which the student is accepted.”  Me. Rev. 
Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §5204(4) (Cum. Supp. 2021).  Parents 
who wish to take advantage of this benefit first select the 
school they wish their child to attend.  Ibid.  If they select a
private school that has been “approved” by the Maine De-
partment of Education, the parents’ SAU “shall pay the tu-
ition” at the chosen school up to a specified maximum rate.
See §§2902, 2951, 5204(4). 

To  be  “approved”  to  receive  these  payments,  a  private
school must meet certain basic requirements under Maine’s 
compulsory education law.  §2951(1).  The school must ei-
ther be “[c]urrently accredited by a New England associa-
tion  of  schools  and  colleges”  or  separately  “approv[ed]  for 
attendance purposes” by the Department.  §§2901(2), 2902.
Schools seeking approval from the Department must meet
specified curricular requirements, such as using English as
the language of instruction, offering a course in “Maine his-
tory, including the Constitution of Maine . . . and Maine’s 
cultural and ethnic heritage,” and maintaining a student-