An Act To Provide for Greater Public Input and Local Control in the Chartering of Public Schools
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 1128
Committee Amendment CA_A_S227 (Senate)

MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE 
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Date: 
MAJORITY 
Lo/~1 ZO/3 
L.D. 1128 
(Filing No. S- ~~~) 
EDUCATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS 
Reproduced and distributed under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate. 
SENATE 
l26TH LEGISLATURE 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 389, L.D. 1128, Bill, "An Act To 
Provide for Greater Public Input and Local Control in the Chartering of Public Schools" 
Amend the bill in section 1 by striking out all of subsection 3-A and inserting the 
following: 
'3-A. Application to commission. The commission may not accept an application 
for a public charter school unless the following requirements are met by the organizers of 
the proposed public charter school. The organizers shall: 
A. Hold one or more public hearings in the catchment area that would be affected by 
the operation of the public charter school and at each public hearing present the 
organizers' proposed plan for the public charter school to persons attending the public 
hearing; 
B. Send an invitation to I;:ach public hearing held under paragraph A to the local 
school board members of each of the school administrative units located in the 
catchment area that would be affected by the operation of the public charter school; 
C. Provide the persons who attend a public hearing with the best estimates possible 
related to the impact of the proposed plan on funding, student enrollment, courses and 
teachers in both the noncharter public schools and the proposed public charter school; 
D. Announce to the persons who attend a public hearing that they have the right to 
provide the commission with their opinions and concerns about the proposed plan to 
operate a public charter school in the catchment area in which they reside; 
E. Accept public comment from the persons who attend a public hearing regarding 
their opinions and concerns about the proposed plan to operate a public charter school 
in the catchment area in which they reside; 
F. Invite written feedback from the local school boards located in the catchment area 
that would be affected by the operation of the public charter schooL including the 
results of a nonbinding advisory vote held by a local school board to determine the 
position of the local school board members on the following question: "Do you favor 
COMMrrTEE AMENDMENT 
"'~or. t:. d' 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 'ft" to S.P. 389, L.D. 1128 
the organizers' proposed plan to operate a public charter school in the region in which 
you reside?"; and 
O. 
Provide the commission with an objective summary of the public comments 
presented at each public hearing, the discussions that occurred between the organizers 
and the persons who attended the public hearings, the feedback from the local school 
boards located in the catchment area that would be affected by the operation of the 
public charter school and the result of the nonbinding advisory votes held in 
accordance with paragraph F.' 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 2. 
SUMMARY 
This amendment, which is the majority report of the Joint Standing Committee on 
Education and Cultural Affairs, amends the bill to provide that any person, group or 
organization, prior to filing an application for a public charter school with the Maine 
Charter School Commission, must hold at least one public hearing in the region that 
would be affected by the operation of the public charter school. The amendment strikes 
the provision in the bill that would have required organizers to hold a vote to determine if 
the persons who attend a public hearing are in favor of the organizers' proposed plan to 
operate a public charter school in the region. In addition to the remaining public hearing 
requirements included in the bill that must be met by organizers before the commission 
may accept the organizers' applications, the organizers must also meet the following 
requirements: 
I. Send an invitation to each public hearing held by the organizers to the school board 
members of each of the school administrative units located in the catchment area that 
would be affected by the operation of the public charter school; 
2. Invite written feedback from the local school boards located in the catchment area 
that would be affected by the operation of the public charter school, including the results 
of a nonbinding advisory vote held by the local school board on the question of whether 
the local school board members favor the organizers' proposed plan to operate a public 
charter school in the region; and 
3. Provide the commission with an objective summary of the public comments 
presented at each public hearing, the discussions that occurred between the organizers 
and the persons who attended the public hearings, the feedback from the local school 
boards located in the catchment area that would be affected by the operation of the public 
charter school and the result of the nonbinding advisory votes held by local school boards 
located in the catchment area to determine if the local school board members are in favor 
of the organizers' proposed plan to operate a public charter school in the region. 
The amendment also strikes the provision in the bill that requires the Commissioner 
of Education to review the current funding laws and rules for public charter schools and 
to submit proposed legislation that provides options for funding public charter schools. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT