An Act Regarding the Reorganization of Regional School Units and Allowing a Municipality To Opt Out of an Existing School Structure
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 0475
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: ROSEN, RA YE, WESTON, LANGLEY, MARTIN
Amends: 20-A MRSA §1466, 20-A MRSA §1468

Legislative Document 
No. 475 
S.P. 178 
In Senate, February 10, 2009 
An Act Regarding the Reorganization of Regional School Units and 
Allowing a Municipality To Opt Out of an Existing School Structure 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Senator ROSEN of Hancock. 
Cosponsored by Senator RA YE of Washington and 
9tf)(J~ 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Senator: WESTON of Waldo, Representatives: LANGLEY of Ellsworth, MARTIN of Eagle 
Lake. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §1466 is enacted to read: 
§1466. Withdrawal of a single municipality from a regional school unit 
1. Petition. The residents of a municipality within a regional school unit may 
petition to withdraw from the regional school unit in accordance with this subsection. 
A. Ten percent of the number of voters in the municipality who voted at the last 
gubematorial election must sign the petition to withdraw from the regional school 
unit. 
B. At least 10 days before the special election called pursuant to tllls paragraph, the 
municipal officers of the municipality within the regional school milt shall hold a 
posted or otherwise advertised public hearing on the petition. The municipal officers 
shall call and hold a special election in the manner provided for the calling and 
holding of town meetings or city elections to vote on the withdrawal of the regional 
school unit. 
C. 
The petition to withdraw from the regional school unit must be approved by 
secret ballot by a majority vote of the voters present and voting before it may be 
presented to the board of directors and the commissioner. Voting in towns must be 
conducted in accordance with Title 30-A, sections 2528 and 2529, even if the towns 
have not accepted the provisions of Title 30~A, section 2528, and voting in cities 
must be conducted in accordance with Title 2l-A. 
2. Form. The article to be voted upon must be in substantially the following form: 
"Article: Do you favor filing a petition for withdrawal with the board of directors of 
regional school unit (name of regional school unit) and with the Commissioner of 
Education, authorizing the withdrawal committee to expend $ (insert amount) and 
authorizing the (municipal officers; i.e., selectpersons, town council, etc.) to issue 
notes in the name of the (name of the municipality) or otherwise pledge the credit of 
the (name of the municipality) in an amount not to exceed $ (insert amount) for this 
purpose? 
Yes No" 
3. 
Notice of vote; finding by commissioner. If residents of the municipality vote 
favorably on a petition for withdrawal, the clerk shall immediately give written notices, 
by registered mail, to the secretary of the regional school unit and the commissioner that 
must include: 
A. 
The petition adopted by the voters, including the affirmative and negative votes 
cast; and 
B. 
An explanation by the municipal officers, stating to the best of their knowledge 
the reason or reasons why the municipality seeks to withdraw from the regional 
school unit. 
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, 4. Agreement for withdrawaljnoticej changes in agreement; final agreement. 
The agreement for withdrawal must comply with this subsection. 
A. 
The commissioner shall direct the municipal officers· of the petitioning 
municipality to' select representatives to a committee as follows: one member from 
the municipal. officers, one member from the general public and one member from 
the group filing the petition. The commissioner shall also direct the directors 
representing the petitioning municipality to select one member of the board of 
directors who represents that municipality to serve on the committee. The municipal 
officer and the member of the board of directors serve on the committee only so long 
as they hold their respective offices. Vacancies must be filled by the municipal 
officers and board of directors. The chair of the board of directors shall call a meeting 
of the committee within 30 days of the filing of the notice of the vote in subsection 3. 
The chair of the board of directors shall open the meeting by presiding over the 
election of a chair of the committee. The responsibility for the preparation of the 
agreement rests with the committee, subject to the approval of the commissioner. The 
committee may draw upon the resources of the department for information not 
readily available at the local level and employ competent advisors within the fiscal 
limit authorized by the voters. The agreement must be submitted to the commissioner 
within 90 days after the committee is formed. Extensions of time may be granted by 
the commissioner upon the request of the committee. . 
(1) The agreement must contain provisions to provide educational services for all 
students of the participating municipality within the regional school unit. The 
agreement must provide that during the first year following the withdrawal, 
students may attend the school they would have attended if the petitioning 
municipality had not withdrawn. The allowable tuition rate for students sent 
from one municipality to another in the former regional school unit must be 
determined under section 5805, subsection 1, except that it is not subject to the 
state per pupil average limitation in section 5805, subsection 2 . 
(2) The agreement must establish the withdrawal to take effect at the end of the 
regional school unit's fiscal year. 
(3) The agreement must establish that the withdrawal will not cause a need 
within 5 years from the effective date of withdrawal for school construction 
projects that would be eligible for state funds. This limitation does not apply 
when a need· for school construction existed prior to the effective date of the 
withdrawal or when a need for school construction would have arisen even if the 
municipality had not withdrawn. 
(4) The agreement must establish how transportation services will be provided. 
(5)· The agreement must provide for· administration of the new administrative 
unit, which should not include the creation of. new supervisory units if at all 
pOSSIble. . 
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'(6)' 'Theagie~ment m~st 'mak~ provisio~ fo~ the'distribution of financial 
comlnitments ailsmg from outstarldirig bonds; notes'and any other contractual 
obligations that extend beyond the proposed date of withdrawal. 
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(7) 
The agreement must provide appropriately for the distribution of any 
outstanding financial commitments to the superintendent of the regional school 
unit. 
(8) 
The agreement must provide for the continuation and assignment of 
collective bargaining agreements as they apply to the new or reorganized regional 
school unit for the duration of those agreements and must provide for the 
continuation of representational rights. 
(9) The agreement must provide· for the continuation of continuing contract 
rights under section 13201. 
(10) . The agreement must provide for the disposition of all real and personal 
property and other monetary assets. 
(11) 
The agreement must provide for the transition of administration and 
governance of the schools to properly elected governing bodies of the newly 
created administrative unit and must provide that the governing body may not be 
elected simultaneously with the vote on the article to withdraw unless the 
commissioner finds there· are extenuating· circumstances that necessitate 
simultaneous elections. 
B. Within 60 days of the receipt of the agreement, the commissioner shall either give 
it conditional approval or recommend changes. The changes must be based upon the 
standards set forth in paragraph A and the commissioneris findings of whether the 
contents of the agreement will provide for appropriate educational and related 
services to the students of the petitioning municipality within the regional school unit 
and for the orderly transition of assets, governance and other .matters related to the 
petitioning municipality and the regio·nal school unit. 
C. 
If the commissioner gives conditional approval of the agreement, the 
commissioner shall notify the board of directors of the regional school unit and the 
municipal officers by registered mail of the time and place of a public hearing at least 
days prior to the date set for the hearing to discuss the merits of the proposed 
agreement of withdrawal. The chair of the board of directors shall conduct the 
hearing. 
(1) The board of directors shall post a public notice in each municipality of the 
time and location of the hearing at least 10 days before the hearing. 
(2) Within 30 days following the hearing under this paragraph, the committee 
shall forward the final agreement to the commissioner. 
D. If the commissioner recommends changes to the agreement, the commissioner 
shall: 
(1) Send the agreement back to the committee for necessary corrections; 
(2) Establish a maximum time within which to make the corrections; and 
(3) Indicate that the corrected agreement must be returned to the commissioner 
for conditional approval before it goes to public hearing as set forth in paragraph 
C. 
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5. Date of municipal election; notice; warrant; polling hours. The date and time 
for voting is as set forth in this subsection. 
A. 
The commissioner shall detennine the date upon which the voters of the 
petitioning municipality must vote upon the agreement submitted to them. 
The 
election must be held as soon as practicable, and the conumssioner shall attempt to 
set the date of the vote to coincide with a statewide election. 
B. At least 35 days before the date set in paragraph A, the commissioner shall give 
written notice of the date by registered or certified mail to the town or city clerk of 
the municipality petitioning to withdraw. 
C. 
The town or city clerk shall immediately notify the municipal officers upon 
receipt of the notice under paragraph B, and the municipal officers shall meet and 
immediately issue a warrant for a special town meeting or city election, as the case 
may be, to be held on the date designated by the commissioner. No other date may be 
used. 
D. In the respective warrants under paragraph C, the municipal officers shall direct 
that the polls are to be open at 10 a.m. and remain open until 8 p.m. 
6. Public hearing; voting procedures. The following requirements apply to the 
voting procedures. 
A. At least 10 days before the election, the municipal officers shall hold a posted or 
otherwise advertised public hearing on the withdrawal question. 
B. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the voting at the meeting held in a 
town must be conducted in accordance with Title 30-A, sections 2528 and 2529, even 
if the town has not accepted the provisions of Title 30-A, section 2528. 
C. The voting at the meeting held in a city must be conducted in accordance with 
Title 21-A. 
7. Article. The article to be voted on must be in the following form. 
"Article: Do you favor the withdrawal of the (name of municipality) from the 
regional school unit (name of regional school unit) subject to the terms and 
conditions of the withdrawal agreement dated (insert date)? 
Yes No" 
8. Ballots; posting of agreement. The withdrawal agreement need not be printed on 
the ballot. Copies of the agreement must be posted in the municipality in the same 
manner as specimen ballots are posted under Title 30-A, section 2528. 
9. Restriction on withdrawal petitions. A municipality within a regional school 
unit may not petition for withdrawal within 2 years after the date of: 
A. A municipal vote on a petition for withdrawal if the petition received less than 
45% of the votes cast; or 
B. A municipal vote on a withdrawal agreement if the agreement received less than 
60% of the votes cast. 
2. 
10. 
Cost of advisors. 
The expense of employing- competent advisors by the 
municipality petitioning to withdraw must be borne by the municipality, and the expense 
of employing' competent advisors by the regional school unit must be borne by the 
regional school unit with the municipality bearing its share according to the regional 
school unit's cost-sharing agreement. 
11. . Determination of vote. The' town or city clerk shall, within 24 hours of 
detennination of the result of the vote iIi the municipality, . certify the total number of 
votes cast in the affirmative and the total number of votes cast in the negative on the 
article to the commissioner. 
.. DeterminatiOli of results; execution of agreement. If the commissioner finds 
that a majority of the voters voting on the article have voted iIi the affIrmative, the 
commissioner shall notify the municipal officers and the directors of the regional school 
unit boards to take steps for the withdrawal in accordance with the terms of the agreement 
for withdrawal.. 
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13. Recount; checldists and ballots; disputed ballots. This subsection applies to 
recounts, checklists, ballots and disputed ba:llots. 
A. If, within 7 days of the computation and recording of the results of the voting, the 
municipality requests to the commissioner in writing a recount of the votes, the 
commissioner shall immediately cause the checklists' and all the ballots cast in the 
municipality to be collected and kept at the commissioner's offIce so they may be 
recounted by the municipality. 
B. The town or city clerk of the municipality is authorized to deliver the checklists 
and ballots to the commissioner, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the 
contrary. 
C. The commissioner shall resolve any question with regard to disputed ballots. 
14. Execution of agreement; certified record; certificate of withdrawal. When 
the agreement for withdrawal has been put into effect by the municipality, the municipal 
offIcers shall notify the commissioner by certified mail that the agreement of withdrawal 
has been executed. 
15. 
Indebtedness; indebtedness defined; indebtedness after withdrawal. This 
subsection applies to outstanding indebtedness. 
A. 
Whenever' a municipality withdraws from' a regional school unit having 
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. outstanding indebtedness, the regional school unit remains intact for the purpose of 
' securing and' retiring. theirtdebtedness. The withdrawal agreement may provide. for 
alternate means for retiring outstanding indebtedness. 
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B: For the purposes of this' subsection, "outstanding indebtedness'" means bonds or 
notes for school construction projects issued by the board of directors pursuant to the 
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.. authorization "established under chapter 609 or Title 20, sections, 3457 to 3460 or 
obligations to the Maine School Building AuthoritypursuanUoany,contract, lease or 
agreement made by the board of directors pursuant to approval of the contract, lease 
or agreement in a meeting of the regional school unit, but does not include any 
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indebtedness of the municipality assumed by the regional school unit at the time of 
formation nor any contract, lease or agreement of the Maine School Building 
Authority to which by operation of law the regional school unit has become the 
assignee. 
16. General purpose aid. When a municipality withdraws from a regional school 
unit, the general purpose aid for the municipality must be computed in accordance with 
chapter 606-B. 
17. 
Committee recall. 
If the commissioner determines that the withdrawal 
committee has failed to comply with the requirements of this section, the commissioner 
may authorize the municipal officers to appoint new representatives to the committee. 
18. 
Transfer of property. 
The board of directors may negotiate with the 
withdrawal committee regarding an equitable division of the regional school unit's 
property between the regional school unit and the municipality represented by the 
committee and transfer title of the property to the municipality following withdrawal. 
The board of directors shall determine that the regional school unit's educational program 
will not be disrupted solely because of the transfer of any given property before it may 
complete the transfer. 
Sec. 2. 20-A MRS A §1467 is enacted to read: 
§1467. Transfer of a municipality from one regional school unit to ano1:her 
1. Petition to commissioner. The boards of directors of 2 regional school units may 
petition the commissioner by joint resolution to permit a municipality to transfer from 
one regional school unit to another, as long as that municipality is being transferred to a 
regional school unit contiguous to the municipality. 
2. Transfer agreement. The boards of directors of the 2 regional school units and 
the municipal officers of the municipality involved shall form a committee to prepare a 
transfer agreement within 60 days after being authorized by the commissioner to prepare 
the agreement. Extensions of time may be granted by the commissioner. 
A. The committee shall consider the standards set forth in section 1466, subsection 4, 
paragraph A in preparing the agreement. 
B. The approval process for the agreement must follow the steps set forth in section 
1466, subsections 4 to 16. 
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C. 
The following article must appear on the ballot when the transfer of a 
municipality is considered under paragraph B. 
"Article: Do you favor permitting the (name of municipality) to transfer from 
regional school unit (name of regional school unit) into regional school unit 
(name of regional school unit) as a participating municipality of that regional 
school unit subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement of transfer 
approved by the Commissioner of Education dated (insert date)? 
. 
Yes No" 
A copy of the agreement must be posted with each warrant that directs the citizens to 
vote upon the question. 
D. The article must be approved by a majority of votes cast in both regional school 
units and by a majority of votes cast in the municipality to be transferred before the 
agreement may take effect. 
E. A complete certified record of the transaction involved in the transfer must be 
filed with the commissioner. The commissioner shall issue immediately a certificate 
of transfer to the secretaries of the regional school units by registered mail to be filed 
with the boards of directors of the regional school units involved and shall file a copy 
of the certificate of transfer in the office of the Secretary of State. 
3. Outstanding indebtedness. Whenever a municipality, or a part of a municipality, 
is detached from a regional school unit having outstanding indebtedness, the municipality 
or part of a municipality remains as part of the regional school unit from which it was 
detached for the purposes of paying its proper portion of the indebtedness until the 
indebtedness is redeemed. The municipality or part of a municipality is not part of the 
regional school unit from which it was detached for the purpose of any outstanding 
indebtedness incurred subsequent to the date of the certificate of transfer. 
For purposes of this subsection, "outstanding indebtedness" means bonds or notes for 
school construction projects issued by the board of directors pursuant to the authorization 
established under chapter 609 or Title 20, sections 3457 to 3460 or obligations to the 
Maine School Building Authority pursuant to any contract, lease or agreement made by 
the board of directors pursuant to approval of the contract, lease or agreement in a 
meeting of the regional school unit, but does not include any indebtedness of the 
municipality assumed by the regional school unit at the time of formation nor any 
contract, lease or agreement of the Maine School Building Authority to which by 
operation of law the regional school unit has become the assignee. 
Sec. 3. 20-A MRSA §1468 is enacted to read: 
§1468. State board review of commissioner's decisions 
A regional school unit or other interested party may request that the state board 
reconsider decisions made by the commissioner under this subchapter. The state board 
has the authority to overturn decisions made by the commissioner. In exercising this 
power, the state board is limited by this subchapter. 
SUMMARY 
This bill enacts into law provisions regarding the reorganization of regional school 
units. The new provisions are similar to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, former 
sections 1405 and 1406 and allow the withdrawal from a regional school unit of a 
municipality and the transfer of a municipality out of one regional school writ into 
another. 
The bill also includes provisions that formerly applied in this area of law 
authorizing the State Board of Education to review decisions of the Commissioner of 
Education and to make rules concerning the reorganization of the regional school units. 
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