An Act To Eliminate the Requirement That Local Funding Follow a Pupil to a Charter School
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0533
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: MacDONALD, DAUGHTRY, DICKERSON, GRANT, KRUGER, MASTRACCIO, MORIARTY, STUCKEY
Amends: 20-A MRSA §2408, 20-A MRSA §2413

Legislative Document 
No. 533 
H.P. 352 
House of Representatives, February 19, 2013 
An Act To Eliminate the Requirement That Local Funding Follow a 
Pupil to a Charter School 
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: DAUGHTRY of Brunswick, DICKERSON of Rockland, 
GRANT of Gardiner, KRUGER of Thomaston, MASTRACCIO of Sanford, McCABE of 
Skowhegan, MORIARTY of Cumberland, STUCKEY of Portland. 
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; 
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; 
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; 
(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. 
A.  For each public charter school student, the school administrative unit in which the 
student resides must forward the State's contribution to 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.  That portion of the EPS per-pupil rate that is 
the school administrative unit's local contribution to the EPS per-pupil rate may 
not be included in the per-pupil allocation amount that is forwarded by a school 
administrative unit to the public charter school attended by the student. 
(2)  For students attending public charter schools, the school administrative unit 
of residence shall forward the State's contribution to 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 State's contribution to 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 the State's contribution to 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. 
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §2413, sub-§§3 and 4 are enacted to read: 
3.  Virtual public charter school funding.  State operating funds following a student 
to a virtual public charter school may be no more than 20% of the State's contribution to 
the per-pupil allocation amount calculated under subsection 2. 
4.  At-risk pupil exception.  Notwithstanding subsection 2, paragraph A, local 
operating funds may follow a student to the public charter school attended by the student 
if the charter school or virtual public charter school is established solely to address the 
educational needs of at-risk pupils. 
SUMMARY 
This bill eliminates the requirement that a school administrative unit's local 
contribution to the per-pupil allocation follow a student to a public charter school and 
instead requires only that the State's contribution to the per-pupil allocation follow the 
student to a public charter school but allows the local contribution to follow a student 
attending a public charter school established solely to address the needs of at-risk pupils 
as defined in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 2401.  The bill also limits to 
20% the State's contribution to the per-pupil allocation that follows a student to a virtual 
public charter school, except when the virtual public charter school is established solely 
to address the needs of at-risk pupils.