An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Virtual Public Charter Schools
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0481
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: MacDONALD, COOPER, DEVIN, DICKERSON, GRANT, KRUGER, MASTRACCIO, MORIARTY
Amends: 20-A MRSA §2408, 20-A MRSA §2413

Legislative Document 
No. 481 
H.P. 331 
House of Representatives, February 14, 2013 
An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Virtual Public Charter 
Schools 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative MacDONALD of Boothbay. 
Cosponsored by Representatives: COOPER of Yarmouth, DEVIN of Newcastle, DICKERSON 
of Rockland, GRANT of Gardiner, KRUGER of Thomaston, MASTRACCIO of Sanford, 
MORIARTY of Cumberland. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §2408, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 414, §5, is 
amended to read: 
2.  Virtual public charter schools.  The charter contract of a virtual public charter 
school must require the governing board to: 
A.  Provide each student enrolled in the virtual public charter school with online 
courses that meet or exceed state standards and all instructional materials required for 
the student's participation in the school.  Prior to the beginning of each school year, 
the authorizer shall review and, if appropriate, approve the courses and curricula for 
the virtual public charter school; 
B.  Ensure that the persons who operate the virtual public charter school on a day-to-
day basis comply with and carry out all applicable requirements, statutes, regulations, 
rules and policies of the school.  Education personnel who operate the virtual public 
charter school must hold valid teacher certification in this State; 
C.  Ensure that a parent of each student verifies the number of hours of educational 
activities completed by the student each school year; and 
D.  Adopt a plan by which the governing board provides: 
(1)  Frequent, ongoing monitoring to ensure and verify that each student is 
participating in the virtual public charter school, including synchronous contact 
between teachers and students and between teachers and parents to ensure and 
verify student participation and learning.  The contact between teachers and 
students must include at least 2 personal visits by a teacher to a student during 
each school year; 
(2)  Regular instructional opportunities in real time that are directly related to the 
virtual public charter school's curricular objectives, including, but not limited to, 
meetings with teachers and educational field trips and outings; 
(3) Verification of ongoing student attendance in the virtual public charter 
school; 
(4)  Verification of ongoing student progress and performance in each course as 
documented by ongoing assessments and examples of student course work; and 
(5)  Administration to all students in a proctored setting of all applicable 
assessments as required by the State. 
Nothing in this subsection prohibits a virtual public charter school from reimbursing 
families of enrolled students for costs associated with their Internet connection for use in 
the program. 
Only students enrolled in a virtual public charter school as full-time students may be 
reported in the virtual public charter school's average pupil count to the department for 
the purposes of receiving local, state and federal funds. 
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §2413, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2011, c. 679, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
2.  Revenue provisions.  State and local operating funds follow each student to the 
public charter school attended by the student, except that the school administrative unit of 
the student's residence may retain up to 1% of the per-pupil allocation described in this 
subsection to cover associated administrative costs.  For virtual public charter schools, 
only 20% of the per-pupil allocation described in this subsection follows a student to that 
virtual public charter school. 
A.  For each public charter school student, the school administrative unit in which the 
student resides must forward the per-pupil allocation to the public charter school 
attended by the student as follows. 
(1)  The per-pupil allocation amount is the EPS per-pupil rate for the school 
administrative unit in which the student resides, as calculated pursuant to section 
15676, based on the student’s grade level and adjusted as appropriate for 
economic disadvantage and limited English proficiency pursuant to section 
15675, subsections 1 and 2.  Debt service and capital outlays may not be included 
in the calculation of these per-pupil allocations.  The department shall adopt rules 
governing how to calculate these per-pupil allocations, including those for career 
and technical education programs, targeted funds for assessment technology and 
kindergarten to grade 2 programs. 
(2)  For students attending public charter schools, the school administrative unit 
of residence shall forward the per-pupil allocations described in subparagraph (1) 
directly to the public charter school attended.  These per-pupil allocations must 
be forwarded to each public charter school on a quarterly basis, as follows.  For 
each fiscal year, allocations must be made in quarterly payments on September 
1st, December 1st, March 1st and June 1st.  The September payment must be 
based on the number of students enrolled or anticipated to be enrolled in the 
public charter school at the opening of school for that school year, which may not 
exceed the maximum enrollment approved in the charter contract for that year 
unless a waiver is obtained from the authorizer.  In February of the school year, if 
the number of students is higher or lower than the number of students at the 
beginning of the school year, adjustments must be made in the June payment, 
with 50% of the annual per-pupil allocation added for additional students or 
subtracted if the total number of students is lower. 
(3)  For transportation expenses, the average per-pupil expense in each school 
administrative unit of residence must be calculated and an amount equal to a 
proportion, up to but not more than 100%, of that per-pupil allocation amount 
must be forwarded to the public charter school attended on the same basis as the 
per-pupil allocations for operating funds.  The percentage of that per-pupil 
expense must be determined by the authorizer of the public charter school and 
must be based on the cost of transportation services provided by the public 
charter school to the student. 
(4)  The department shall pay to the public charter school any additional 
allocation assigned to the public charter school for gifted and talented students 
pursuant to section 15681-A, subsection 5 in the year in which the allocation is 
assigned. 
A school administrative unit is not required to send funds to a public charter school 
for a student enrolled in the public charter school's preschool or prekindergarten 
program if the school administrative unit of the student's residence does not offer that 
program to its own residents. 
B.  The following provisions govern special education funding. 
(1)  For each enrolled special education pupil, a public charter school must 
receive the average additional allocation calculated by the department under 
section 15681-A, subsection 2 for each school administrative unit for its special 
education students.  These allocations must be paid on the same basis as the per-
pupil allocations for operating funds. 
(2)  The school administrative unit of residence shall pay directly to the public 
charter school any federal or state aid attributable to a student with a disability 
attending the public charter school in proportion to the level of services for the 
student with a disability that the public charter school provides directly or 
indirectly. 
(3)  The department shall pay to the public charter school any additional 
allocation assigned to the public charter school because of a high-cost in-district 
placement in accordance with section 15681-A, subsection 2, paragraph B in the 
year in which the allocation is assigned. 
(4)  The school administrative unit of residence shall pay to the public charter 
school any additional allocation assigned to the unit because of a high-cost out-
of-district placement in accordance with section 15681-A, subsection 2, 
paragraph C in the year in which the allocation is assigned to the school 
administrative unit. 
(5)  If the public charter school in which the student is enrolled was authorized by 
a local school board or a collaborative of local school boards, the funds under this 
paragraph must be paid to the local school board that authorized the public 
charter school or to the designated school board of the collaborative, rather than 
directly to the public charter school.  The local school board or boards that 
authorized the charter school are responsible for ensuring that special education 
services are provided to students in that school, pursuant to section 2412, 
subsection 2, paragraph A. 
C.  Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the State shall send applicable 
federal funds directly to public charter schools attended by eligible students.  Public 
charter schools with students eligible for funds under Title I of the federal Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 20 United States Code, Section 6301 et seq. 
must receive and use these funds in accordance with federal and state law.  During 
the first year of operation, a public charter school must receive Title I funds on the 
basis of an estimated enrollment of eligible students, as agreed with its authorizer. 
D.  A public charter school may receive gifts and grants from private sources in any 
manner that is available to a school administrative unit. 
E.  A public charter school may not levy taxes or issue bonds secured by tax 
revenues. 
F.  In the event of the failure of the school administrative unit to make payments 
required by this section, the Treasurer of State shall deduct from any state funds that 
become due to the school administrative unit an amount equal to the unpaid 
obligation.  The Treasurer of State shall pay over the amount to the public charter 
school upon certification by the department.  The department shall adopt rules to 
implement the provisions of this paragraph. 
G.  Any money received by a public charter school from any source and remaining in 
the school's accounts at the end of any budget year remains in the school's accounts 
for use by the school during subsequent budget years and may not revert to the 
authorizer or to the State. 
H.  Nothing in this chapter may be construed to prohibit any person or organization 
from providing funding or other assistance for the establishment or operation of a 
public charter school.  The governing board of a public charter school may accept 
gifts, donations or grants of any kind made to the school and expend or use such gifts, 
donations or grants in accordance with the conditions prescribed by the donor except 
that a gift, donation or grant may not be accepted if subject to a condition that is 
contrary to any provision of law or term of the charter contract. 
J.  The department may establish a method of transferring funds to public charter 
schools that is an alternative to the method provided in this subsection. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the laws governing virtual public charter schools to: 
1.  Require the authorizer of a virtual public charter school to review and approve the 
courses and curricula for the virtual public charter school prior to the beginning of each 
school year; 
2.  Require that education personnel operating a virtual public charter school hold 
valid teacher certification in the State; 
3.  Require that each virtual public charter school student receive at least 2 personal 
visits from a teacher during each school year; and 
4.  Provide that only 20% of the per-pupil allocation of state and local operating 
funds follows the student to a virtual public charter school.