An Act To Establish a Moratorium on the Establishment of Virtual Charter Schools
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0696
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: DEVIN
Amends: 20-A MRSA §2401, 20-A MRSA §2405, 20-A MRSA §2406, 20-A MRSA §2407, 20-A MRSA §2408

Legislative Document 
No. 696 
H.P. 472 
House of Representatives, March 5, 2015 
An Act To Establish a Moratorium on the Establishment of Virtual 
Charter Schools 
(EMERGENCY) 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative DEVIN of Newcastle. 
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and 
Whereas, research has found that virtual public charter schools operated in other 
states have produced mixed results when using federal benchmarks to evaluate the 
academic performance of students enrolled in virtual public charter schools; and 
Whereas, implementation of Maine's recently enacted charter school law has 
resulted in significant controversy over the governance and quality of virtual public 
charter schools; and 
Whereas, this controversy demonstrates the need for a thorough review of state 
policy to ensure that the authorization and operation of virtual public charter schools 
proceed in a manner that preserves public confidence that the interests of students, school 
administrative units and citizens across the State have been given due consideration; and 
Whereas, the protection of the public interests of students, school administrative 
units and citizens of the State requires that the process for authorizing virtual public 
charter schools be temporarily interrupted pending the necessary review of the charter 
school laws; and 
Whereas, in order for the Maine Charter School Commission to review virtual 
public charter schools and prepare a report in time for submission to the 127th 
Legislature, the review needs to be initiated as soon as possible; and 
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within 
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as 
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, 
therefore, 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §2401, sub-§11, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 414, §5, is 
repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
11.  Virtual public charter school.  "Virtual public charter school" means a public 
charter school that: 
A.  Offers education services predominantly through an online program; 
B.  Enrolls students on a part-time basis; and 
C.  Provides a program of secondary education for grades 9 to 12. 
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §2405, sub-§8, ¶E is enacted to read: 
E.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the commission may not 
authorize a virtual public charter school under the provisions of this chapter until this 
paragraph is repealed. 
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §2406, sub-§2, ¶H, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 414, §5, is 
amended to read: 
H.  With respect to a proposed public charter school that intends to contract with an 
education service provider for a limited scope of education or management services, 
in addition to the other requirements of this subsection, the request for proposals must 
require applicants to: 
(1)  Explain how and why the education service provider was selected; 
(2)  Provide evidence of the education service provider's success in serving 
student populations similar to the targeted population, including demonstrated 
academic achievement as well as successful management of nonacademic school 
functions if applicable; 
(3)  Provide information on the proposed duration of the service contract; roles 
and responsibilities; scope of services and resources to be provided by the 
education service provider; performance evaluation measures and timelines; 
compensation structure, including clear identification of all fees to be paid to the 
education service provider; methods of contract oversight and enforcement; 
investment disclosure; and conditions for renewal and termination of the contract; 
(4)  Provide a draft of the proposed service contract; 
(5)  Explain the relationship between the governing board, the school's leadership 
and management team and the education service provider, specifying how the 
governing board and the school's leadership and management team will monitor 
and evaluate the performance of the education service provider, the internal 
controls that will guide the relationship and how the governing board and the 
school's leadership and management team will ensure fulfillment of performance 
expectations; 
(6)  Provide a statement of assurance that the governing board and the school's 
leadership and management team is legally and operationally independent from 
the education service provider; and 
(7)  Disclose and explain any existing or potential conflicts of interest between 
the governing board, the school's leadership and management team and the 
education service provider or any affiliated business entities. 
Nothing in this paragraph prohibits a virtual public charter school from entering into 
a contract with an education service provider that is a public or private nonprofit 
entity for education design, implementation or comprehensive management of the 
virtual public charter school program. 
Sec. 4.  20-A MRSA §2407, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 414, §5, is 
amended to read: 
3.  Start-up schools; virtual public charter schools.  An application for a start-up 
public charter school or a virtual public charter school may be submitted by a nonprofit, 
nonreligious organization.  If the organizers of a start-up public charter school or a virtual 
public charter school have been affiliated with a previous school or education program, 
they must form a separate nonprofit organization in this State to be eligible for state and 
federal grants. 
Sec. 5.  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 part-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.  The average pupil 
count must be based on the number of part-time students enrolled in a virtual public 
charter school and must be reported as the number of full-time equivalent students 
participating in a virtual public charter school's program. 
Sec. 6.  Moratorium on operations of virtual public charter schools.  
Notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 112 or any other law to 
the contrary and regardless of whether the Maine Charter School Commission has 
approved, authorized or executed a contract for a virtual public charter school prior to the 
effective date of this section, a virtual public charter school that has not commenced 
operations as of the effective date of this section may not commence operations until 
expressly authorized by the Legislature. 
Sec. 7.  Review.  The Maine Charter School Commission shall review the 
requirements of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 112 and the virtual 
public charter school models that have been implemented in other states and shall 
develop a model for virtual public charter schools that will best serve the academic and 
developmental needs of students in the State.  The virtual public charter school model 
developed must apply only to part-time students in grades 9 to 12 and must place 
emphasis on effective models of blended learning for high school students that integrate 
online and on-site instruction.  For the purposes of this section, "blended learning" means 
learning associated with a formal education program in which a student learns, at least in 
part, through face-to-face instruction facilitated by a teacher in a classroom setting away 
from the student's home and, at least in part, through the online delivery of content and 
instruction outside of the classroom with the student having some control over the time, 
place, path or pace of the student's learning. 
Sec. 8.  Report.  The Maine Charter School Commission shall submit a report on 
the review of virtual public charter schools required by section 7 to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs no later than December 1, 2015.  The 
report must include the commission's findings and recommendations and any necessary 
implementing legislation regarding the authorization and operation of virtual public 
charter schools in the State.  The committee is authorized to report out a bill to the 
in this report. 
Emergency clause.  In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this 
legislation takes effect when approved. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides that the Maine Charter School Commission may not authorize the 
operation of any virtual public charter school until the Legislature enacts legislation that 
expressly authorizes the operation of virtual public charter schools in the State.  The 
moratorium applies to the operations of any virtual public charter school that has not 
commenced operations as of the effective date of this legislation, regardless of whether 
the commission has approved, authorized or executed a contract for the virtual public 
charter school. 
The bill amends the definition of "virtual public charter school" to specify that virtual 
public charter schools provide education services through an online learning program that 
enrolls students on a part-time basis in grades 9 to 12.  The bill also requires the Maine 
Charter School Commission to review the law and the virtual public charter school 
models that have been implemented in other states and develop a virtual public charter 
school model that will best serve the learning needs of students.  The virtual public 
charter school model developed must apply only to part-time students in grades 9 to 12 
and must place emphasis on blended learning models for high school students.  
The Maine Charter School Commission is directed to report its findings, 
recommendations and any necessary implementing legislation with respect to the 
authorization or operation of virtual public charter schools to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs no later than December 1, 2015 and 
authorizes the joint standing committee to report out a bill to the Second Regular Session 
of the 127th Legislature related to the recommendations included in this report.