An Act To Create Community Schools
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0956
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: MILLETT, KORNFIELD, EDGECOMB, LANGLEY, FARNSWORTH, HUBBELL, MAKER, PIERCE, POULIOT, TIPPING-SPITZ
Amends: 20-A MRSA §15689-A

Legislative Document 
No. 956 
S.P. 336 
In Senate, March 17, 2015 
An Act To Create Community Schools 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator MILLETT of Cumberland. 
Cosponsored by Representative KORNFIELD of Bangor and 
Senators: EDGECOMB of Aroostook, LANGLEY of Hancock, Representatives: 
FARNSWORTH of Portland, HUBBELL of Bar Harbor, MAKER of Calais, PIERCE of 
Falmouth, POULIOT of Augusta, TIPPING-SPITZ of Orono. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA c. 333 is enacted to read: 
CHAPTER 333 
COMMUNITY SCHOOLS 
§9921.  Definitions 
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms 
have the following meanings. 
1.  Community partner.  "Community partner" means a provider of one or more of 
the following services to students, families or community members: 
A.  Primary medical or dental care; 
B.  Nurse home visitation services; 
C.  Mental health treatment and counseling services; 
D.  Developmentally appropriate physical education activities; 
E.  Academic enrichment activities; 
F.  Specialized instructional support services; 
G.  Teacher home visits; 
H.  Programs designed to improve student attendance at school, including programs 
that provide assistance to students who are truant or who have been suspended or 
expelled; 
I.  Mentoring and other youth development programs, including peer mentoring and 
conflict mediation; 
J.  Community service and service-learning opportunities; 
K.  Early childhood education; 
L.  Programs that promote parental involvement and family literacy; 
M.  Parenting education activities; 
N.  Parenting leadership development activities; 
O.  Child care services; 
P.  Youth and adult job training, internship opportunities and career counseling 
services; 
Q.  Nutrition education; 
R.  Adult education, including instruction in English as a second language; 
S.  Remedial education and enrichment activities, including expanded learning time; 
T.  Summer or after-school enrichment and learning experiences; 
U.  Legal services; 
V.  Juvenile crime prevention and rehabilitation programs; 
W.  Homelessness prevention services; or 
X.  Any appropriate services and programs authorized by a community school that 
are consistent with the services and programs specified in paragraphs A to W. 
2.  Community school.  "Community school" means a public elementary or 
secondary school that: 
A.  Participates in a community-based effort to coordinate and integrate educational, 
developmental, family, health and other comprehensive services through community-
based organizations and public and private partnerships; and 
B.  Provides access to services under paragraph A to students, families and the 
community, such as access during the school year to services before school hours, 
after school hours and during the weekend, as well as access to such services during 
the summer. 
§9922.  Establishment of a community school 
Beginning October 1, 2015, a school board may designate an existing school or 
establish a new school as a community school. 
1.  Community school plan goals.    A community school shall collaborate with 
community partners to provide services to students, families and community members 
that promote student success while addressing the needs of the whole student.  A school 
board may designate or establish a community school as long as the community school 
plan developed by the school board is consistent with the following goals: 
A.  Improving student learning and development by providing support for students to 
enable them to graduate college-ready and career-ready; 
B.  Improving the coordination and integration, accessibility and effectiveness of 
services for children and families, particularly for students attending high-poverty 
schools,  including high-poverty rural schools; 
C.  Enabling educators and school personnel to complement and enrich efforts to 
improve academic achievement and other results related to student learning and 
development; 
D.  Ensuring that children have the physical, social and emotional well-being to come 
to school ready to engage in the learning process every day; 
E.  Promoting and enabling family and community engagement in the education of 
children; 
F.  Enabling more efficient use of federal, state, local and private sector resources that 
serve children and families; 
G.  Facilitating the coordination and integration of programs and services operated by 
community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations and state, local and tribal 
governments; 
H.  Engaging students as resources for their communities; and 
I.  Engaging the business community and other community organizations as partners. 
2.  Audit.  Following the designation or establishment of a community school, but 
prior to the opening of a community school, a school board shall conduct: 
A.  A community needs audit to identify the academic, physical, social, emotional, 
health, mental health and civic needs of students and their families that may affect 
student learning and academic achievement; 
B.  A community resource assessment of potential resources, services and 
opportunities available within or near the community that students, families and 
community members may access and integrate into the community school; and 
C.  For an existing school that has been designated as a community school, an 
operations and instructional audit. 
3.  Plan.  A school board shall develop a community school plan for each school 
designated or established as a community school. 
A.  When developing a community school plan for the establishment of a new 
community school, the school board shall use the results of the community resource 
assessment under subsection 2, paragraph B to address the specific needs identified in 
the community needs audit under subsection 2, paragraph A. 
B.  When developing a community school plan for the designation of an existing 
school as a community school, the school board shall use the results of the 
community resource assessment under subsection 2, paragraph B to address the 
specific needs identified in the community needs audit under subsection 2, paragraph 
A and the operations and instructional audit under subsection 2, paragraph C. 
C.  A community school plan must coordinate, integrate and enhance services for 
students, families and community members at the community school to improve the 
academic achievement of students and increase family and community involvement 
in education. 
D.  A community school plan must include cost estimates or an operational budget 
for the specified educational, developmental, family, health and other comprehensive 
services to be provided by the community school. 
E.  When developing a community school plan for the establishment of a new 
community school, a school board shall designate a community school coordinator to 
manage the partnerships with community partners participating in the community 
school plan. 
4.  Funding.  The commissioner may provide state funding to the school 
administrative units in which community schools are located pursuant to section 
15689-A, subsection 25.  In providing funds under this subsection, the commissioner 
shall give priority to a qualified school administrative unit in which at least 40% of the 
students are economically disadvantaged students as determined pursuant to section 
15675, subsection 2 and that has more economically disadvantaged students than other 
qualified school administrative units under this subsection. 
5.  Gifts, grants and donations.  A school administrative unit may seek and accept 
public and private gifts, grants and donations to offset the costs of developing and 
implementing a community school plan under subsection 3.  A gift, grant or donation 
received pursuant to this subsection must be approved by the school board prior to the 
receipt of the gift, grant or donation. 
6.  School board report.  A school board that has established a community school 
shall at the conclusion of each school year submit a report to the department, in a form 
and manner prescribed by the department, regarding the community school.  The report 
must: 
A.  Include an evaluation of the effectiveness of the community school in providing 
services to students, families and community members, including, but not limited to, 
whether the implementation of the community school plan under subsection 3 has 
improved student academic achievement and increased family and community 
involvement in education; 
B.  Measure the development and implementation of partnerships with community 
partners; 
C.  Provide information regarding the degree of communication between schools and 
families, neighborhood safety, school climate, the degree of parental participation in 
school activities, student health, student civic participation, the number of students, 
families and community members receiving services at the community school and 
any other information that is relevant to evaluating the community school; and 
D.  Analyze, as appropriate, how student learning and academic achievement, 
graduation rates, attendance rates, school readiness, the number of suspensions and 
expulsions and graduate enrollment in institutions of higher education have been 
affected by the coordination of services at the community school. 
7.  Commissioner's report.  Not later than January 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, 
the commissioner shall submit a report on community schools to the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters.  The annual 
report must include an evaluation of the community schools in operation during the prior 
school year and provide information regarding: 
A.  State and federal barriers to implementation and effective coordination of services 
at the community schools; 
B.  The extent of coordination between state agencies providing services at the 
community schools; and 
C.  The efficiency and adequacy of local and state programs and policies with respect 
to student and family services provided at the community schools. 
§9923.  Pilot project for community schools 
The department is authorized to designate 5 community schools established in 
accordance with this chapter as part of a 5-year pilot project beginning in the 2016-2017 
school year.  The commissioner shall provide state funding to the school administrative 
units in which the designated community schools are located and may employ a state 
community school coordinator to implement this pilot project.  Annual state allocations 
for this pilot project may not exceed $250,000. 
This section is repealed July 1, 2021. 
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §15689-A, sub-§25 is enacted to read: 
25.  Community schools.  The commissioner may expend and disburse funds for the 
establishment of community schools in accordance with the provisions of chapter 333. 
SUMMARY 
This bill authorizes a school board to designate an existing school or establish a new 
school to be a community school that participates with community partners to provide 
various educational and social services to students, families and community members.  
The bill provides the steps a school board must complete in order to establish a new 
community school, including conducting a community needs audit, conducting a 
community resource assessment and developing a community school plan, and requires 
that a school board that designates an existing school as a community school must also 
conduct a school operations and instructional audit. 
The bill requires a school board that establishes a community school to report 
annually to the Department of Education on the school's progress and provides that the 
Commissioner of Education must submit an annual report to the joint standing committee 
of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters that includes an evaluation 
of the community schools in operation during the prior school year.  The bill also 
authorizes the Department of Education to provide funding, including funds allocated for 
a 5-year pilot project beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, to support the 
implementation of community schools.