An Act To Establish Multidistrict Online Classes in Maine
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 0675
Committee Amendment CA_A_S304 (Senate)
Amends: 20-A MRSA §19154, 20-A MRSA §19154-A

FIRST RECULARSESSION 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A " to S.P. 206, L.D. 675, Bill, "An Act To 
Establish Multidistrict Online Classes in Maine" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the 
summary and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 20-A MRS A §19154, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 330, §4, is 
amended to read: 
2. 
Eligibility. A kindergarten to grade 12 student enrolled in a public school 
residing in the State who is 20 years of age or younger is eligible to enroll in the program. 
A. Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, a student is eligible to enroll in an online 
learning program or course that is offered by a school in a school administrative unit, 
a private school approved for tuition purposes that enrolls at least 60% publicly 
funded students or an online learning provider approved by the department in 
accordance with section 19153. A student may enroll in an online course as long as: 
(1) The online course is consistent with the content standards and the parameters 
for essential instruction established pursuant to section 6209; 
(2) The student notifies the school administrative unit in which the student 
resides by the April 1st before the start of the school year that the student elects 
to take one or more online courses during the school year; and 
(3) One or more of the following conditions exist: 
(a) The course is not available to the student in the school administrative unit 
where the student is enrolled, either because the course is not offered locally 
or because a scheduling conflict prevents the student from enrolling in the 
course during the upcoming school year; 
Cb) The student was not successful in completing the course previously and 
is unable to retake the course locally with a different teacher; or 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
"'. .,. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 206, L.D. 675 
(c) The student receives permission from the superintendent of the school 
administrative unit in which the student resides. 
This paragraph is repealed July 1, 2015. 
B. Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, if the student is enrolled in a full course 
load without the online course, the student must receive approval to enroll in the 
online course from the superintendent of the school administrative unit in which the 
student resides. 
This paragraph is repealed July 1, 2015. 
Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §19154, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 330, §4, is 
amended to read: 
3. Agreements to share access to programs and courses. Sehool Notwithstanding 
any other provision of this section, school administrative units may develop agreements 
to share access to online learning courses and programs offered by other sehool 
administrative l:H1its. 
Sec. 3. 20-A MRSA §19154, sub-§§5 and 6 are enacted to read: 
5. Pilot project for full-time online enrollment. A student may enroll full-time in 
an online program during the 2012-2013 school year, the 2013-2014 school year and the 
2014-2015 school year, as long as: 
A. 
Each course in the online program meets the requirements of subsection 2, 
paragraph A, subparagraph (1 ); 
B. The student notifies the school administrative unit in which the student resides by 
the April 1st before the start of the school year that the student elects to enroll full-
time in an online program; 
C. No more than 5% of students in a school administrative unit are enrolled full-time 
in an online program; and 
D. The total cost for the online program taken by an individual student does not 
exceed the state average tuition rate calculated under section 5804 for elementary 
students or section 5805 for secondary students. 
In the case of a school administrative unit that offers an online program exclusively to 
students who reside, and whose parents reside, outside of the State, those students are not 
subject to the cost limitation in paragraph D. 
This subsection is repealed July 1, 2015. 
6. Funding. A school administrative unit shall provide payments for students who 
meet the eligibility requirements set forth in subsection 2 to enroll in an online learning 
program or course as follows. 
A. A school administrative unit shall provide at least $5,000 in payments each year 
for all eligible students to enroll as part-time students in an online learning program 
or course. 
B. Funds made available for eligible students under this section may be provided 
from one or more of the following sources of funds: 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
~. .,. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 206, L.D. 675 
(1) State subsidy payments allocated to the school administrative unit pursuant to 
chapter 606-B, including targeted technology resource funds allocated to the 
school administrative unit pursuant to section 15681; and 
(2) Revenues from local, state, federal or other sources that are appropriated, 
allocated, granted or donated to the school administrative unit and that may be 
used for the purposes set forth in this section. 
C. The school administrative unit may authorize an expenditure of funds received by 
the school administrative unit under paragraph B that exceeds $5,000 when the 
superintendent provides permission for an eligible student to enroll in an online 
program or course pursuant to this section. 
This subsection is repealed July 1, 2015. 
Sec. 4. 20-A MRSA §19154-A is enacted to read: 
§19154-A. School administrative unit online learning program 
1. Course offerings. A school administrative unit may offer an online learning 
program to students in other school administrative units within and outside of the State as 
long as: 
A. The provider of the online learning program is either a school administrative unit 
in the State, a private school approved for tuition purposes that enrolls at least 60% 
publicly funded students or an online learning provider approved by the department 
in accordance with section 19153; 
B. The school administrative unit offering the online learning program provides 
public notice of the availability of the program through the department website 
established pursuant to subsection 2; 
C. 
If a program is oversubscribed, the school administrative unit shall give 
preference first to a student who is a resident of the school administrative unit and 
2nd to other public school students in this State who are not residents of the school 
administrative unit through the use of a random lottery to select among students; 
D. A teacher employed by a school administrative unit or a private school approved 
for tuition purposes that enrolls at least 60% publicly funded students and provides 
instruction through an online learning program to students must hold a valid teaching 
certificate in each content area being taught or receive approval from the 
commissioner to teach a course; and 
E. A teacher employed by a school administrative unit or a private school approved 
for tuition purposes that enrolls at least 60% publicly funded students must receive 
appropriate preservice and in-service training pertaining to the organization of the 
online classroom, programs and courses, the technical aspects of online education, 
the monitoring of student assessment and other pertinent training. 
In the case of a school administrative unit that offers an online learning program or 
course exclusively to students who reside, and whose parents reside, outside of the State, 
those students are not subject to the lottery and enrollment preference provisions 
established for an oversubscribed program in paragraph C. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
'?t." \. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A "to S.P. 206, L.D. 675 
2. 
Department website. 
The department shall maintain a publicly accessible 
website listing the online learning program or courses that are made available by school 
administrative units in accordance with this section. School administrative units offering 
an online course to students in other school .administrative units shall provide the 
department with the name of the online course, the name of the provider of the online 
course, a link to more information about the online course, the number of slots available 
to students in other school administrative units and the tuition rate for each online course. 
The department shall make this information available on its publicly accessible website 
and shall update the website regularly. 
This section is repealed July 1, 2015. 
Sec. 5. 
Department of Education to establish working group. 
The 
Department of Education shall create a working group to study the opportunities in and 
challenges of creating one online school for the State for stUdents in kindergarten to grade 
12. 
This working group must include teachers, administrators, parents, information 
technology specialists and other persons, groups or entities that have an interest in online 
learning. No later than January 4, 2012, the Department of Education shall report the 
findings of the working group along with any suggested legislation to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs. 
The Joint Standing Committee on 
Education and Cultural Affairs may submit a bill regarding the subject of the study to the 
Sec. 6. Online learning program evaluation. The Department of Education 
shall evaluate the implementation of the multidistrict online learning programs as set 
forth in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 19154, subsections 2, 5 and 6 and 
section 19154-A. No later than January 31, 2015, the Department of Education shall 
report the findings of its evaluation along with any suggested legislation to the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters. The 
joint standing committee may submit a bill regarding the evaluation required under this 
section to the First Regular Session of the 127th Legislature.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment strikes and replaces the bill to provide several provisions that allow 
nonresident students to enroll in a school administrative unit's online learning program, 
with the school administrative unit in which the student resides providing the student's 
tuition payment to the enrolling school administrative unit for the online program. The 
amendment accomplishes the following. 
1. It expands the eligibility provisions to permit a student to enroll in an online 
learning program or course that is offered by a school in a school administrative unit, a 
private school approved for tuition purposes that enrolls at least 60% publicly funded 
students or an online learning provider approved by the Department of Education and 
provides that a school administrative unit must pay for an online course that meets the 
content area requirements of the system of learning results when, the school 
administrative unit does not offer the course or the student cannot take the course for 
certain reasons. These eligibility and course offering provisions are repealed July 1, 
2015. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
~. ·,. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 206, L.D. 675 
2. It establishes a 3-year pilot project, including eligibility provisions, for enrolling 
students in full-time online learning programs, beginning in the 2012-2013 school year 
and ending in the 2014-2015 school year. The pilot project provisions are repealed July 
1,2015. 
3. It establishes provisions pertaining to online learning programs and online course 
offerings that a school administrative unit may offer to students who reside in the school 
administrative unit and to students who reside, and whose parents reside, outside of the 
school administrative unit or outside of the State. These provisions are repealed July 1, 
2015. 
4. It provides that school administrative units must provide at least $5,000 in funding 
. for students who meet the eligibility requirements to enroll in online courses and 
authorizes a school administrative unit to provide more than $5,000 in funding when the 
superlntenderttptovides permission for an eligible student to enroll in an online course. 
The funding provisions are repealed July 1, 2015. 
5. It directs the Department of Education to provide information on online learning 
programs and courses offered by eligible providers on the department's publicly 
accessible website. This provision is repealed July 1, 2015. 
6. It directs the Department of Education to create a working group to study the 
opportunities in and challenges of creating one online learning program for the State and 
to report to the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs by January 
4,2012. 
7. 
It requires the Department of Education to evaluate the multi district online 
learning programs that el1roll students in one or more online courses, as well as the pilot 
project that enrolled full-time students, and to report the results of the evaluation to the 
joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters, 
which may submit a bill to the Legislature. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
State Mandates 
Required Activity 
Revised: 06112111 frac.. 
LD675 
LR 1850(02) 
An Act To Establish Multidistrict Online Classes in Maine 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment "A" Solo 30af 
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
State Mandate - Unfunded 
Unit Affected 
Local Cost 
Requires resident school administrative units to pay for on-line courses that meet 
certain criteria offered by non-resident school administrative units for resident 
students under certain conditions. 
School 
Moderate 
statewide 
The required local activities in this bill may represent a State mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine. Unless 
General Fund appropriations are provided to fund at least 90% of the additional costs or a Mandate Preamble is 
amended to the bill and two-thirds of the members of each House vote to exempt this mandate from the funding 
requirement, municipalities may not be required to implement these changes. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
This legislation requires that, from fiscal year 2012-13 through fiscal year 2014-15, school administrative units 
(SAU's) must provide up to a total of $5,000 to support the costs of students enrolling in online courses offered by 
nonresident school administrative units. 
Additional costs to the Department of Education to conduct the required study and evaluation and to provide the 
required information can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. 
LR1850(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1