An Act To Establish the Summer Success Program Fund
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 0502
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: PIERCE, BREEN, DAUGHTRY, GATTINE, HANDY, JORGENSEN, MORALES, PERRY, DIAMOND, MILLETT
Amends: 20-A MRSA §15688-A

Legislative Document
No. 502
H.P. 359
House of Representatives, January 31, 2019
An Act To Establish the Summer Success Program Fund
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative PIERCE of Falmouth.
Cosponsored by Senator BREEN of Cumberland and
Representatives: DAUGHTRY of Brunswick, GATTINE of Westbrook, HANDY of Lewiston, 
JORGENSEN of Portland, MORALES of South Portland, PERRY of Calais, Senators: 
DIAMOND of Cumberland, MILLETT of Cumberland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA c. 317, sub-c. 2 is enacted to read:
SUBCHAPTER 2
SUMMER SUCCESS PROGRAM FUND
§8811.  Definitions
As used in this subchapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following 
terms have the following meanings.
1.  Program fund.  "Program fund" means the Summer Success Program Fund 
established in section 8812.
2.  Social impact bond.  "Social impact bond" means a performance-based bond that 
operates over a fixed period of time and for which repayment to an investor is contingent 
upon a specific social outcome being achieved.
3.  Summer success program.  "Summer success program" means a program offered 
by a public school that provides traditional and alternative teaching methods to ensure 
that every student has access to a high-quality extended school year program that helps 
the student improve the student's academic achievement and addresses the needs of the 
student to demonstrate content area proficiency based on the student's grade level.
§8812.  Summer Success Program Fund
1.  Establishment.  The Summer Success Program Fund is established as a 
nonlapsing, dedicated fund to be directed and administered by the commissioner within 
the department and held by the Treasurer of State.  The State Controller shall set up and 
maintain an account for the money received from social impact bonds and other money 
paid into the program fund.  The Treasurer of State shall invest and reinvest the program 
fund for the benefit of summer success programs.
2.  Sources of money.  The following sources of money may be paid into the 
program fund:
A.  Money appropriated from the General Fund;
B.  Any grants, gifts and other money from the State and from any unit of federal, 
state or local government or from any person, firm, partnership or corporation for 
deposit to the program fund;
C.  All money received from a social impact bond; and
D.  All interest, dividends or other pecuniary gains from investment of money in the 
program fund.
3.  Social impact bond.  A social impact bond may involve the department or a 
school administrative unit partnering with a service provider or outside investor that 
provides the financing for the summer success program that is the object of the bond, 
which the department or a school administrative unit is not required to repay unless 
student achievement in the summer success program is demonstrated by a measurable 
outcome.
4.  Application of program fund.  Money in the program fund must be continuously 
applied by the commissioner to carry out this section and may not be used for any other 
purpose.  School administrative units must ensure that program funds made available to 
provide grants for expanded access to summer success programs for elementary and 
secondary school students supplement and do not supplant federal funding.
§8813.  Standards; approval
The commissioner shall use the program fund to encourage the facilitation of high-
quality summer success programs in school administrative units throughout the State.
1.  Standards.  The commissioner shall establish standards for summer success 
programs consistent with the basic school approval requirements as set forth in 
subchapter 1 for summer school programs offered at elementary or secondary schools in 
the State.  In establishing standards for summer success programs, the commissioner may 
also consider the following:
A.  Guidelines similar to, but not identical with, the requirements of the community 
learning centers program authorized under Title IV, Part B of the federal Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the federal Every Student 
Succeeds Act, 20 United States Code, Chapter 70 to help students improve their 
academic achievement by providing educational opportunities that close the 
achievement gap between high-performing and low-performing students, including 
the gap between economically disadvantaged students and their peers;
B.  Effective models of summer success programs that improve student achievement, 
including model programs that involve networking and partnerships with community-
based organizations that provide a range of high-quality services to support student 
learning and development.  In order to partner with a summer success program, a 
community-based organization must be exempt from federal income taxation under 
the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 501(a), pursuant to the 
United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 501(c)(3); and
C.  Implementation of the formative and summative assessment methods used by a 
school administrative unit during the school year to measure student achievement in 
order to monitor the progress of students in that school administrative unit who are 
participating in the summer success programs.
2.  Approval.  A summer success program may be offered by a school administrative 
unit with the approval of the commissioner.  The commissioner may inspect a summer 
success program, after which the commissioner shall approve and grant a certificate to a 
school that maintains approval standards under subsection 1.  The department shall pay 
the expense of the inspection.
§8814.  Program fund grants; eligibility; calculation
Beginning in fiscal year 2020-21 and each subsequent year, the department, through a 
grant application process, shall provide from the program fund funding to cover 90% of 
the costs of summer success programs in school administrative units with greater than 
50% student participation in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program pursuant to 
section 6602, subsection 1, paragraph A.  Any remaining available funds must be 
provided to school administrative units with greater than 35% student participation in the 
federal free and reduced-price lunch program.
1.  Eligibility.  To receive program fund money calculated pursuant to subsection 2, a 
school administrative unit must be in compliance with any applicable standards and 
program requirements for summer success programs established by the commissioner 
pursuant to section 8813.
2.  Program fund grants; calculation.  The commissioner shall calculate one 
amount of program fund money that may be made available as a grant to the elementary 
school level and another amount of program fund money that may be made available as a 
grant to the high school level in accordance with the following.
A.  For fiscal year 2020-21, the commissioner shall establish a per-pupil amount for 
program fund grants.
B.  For fiscal year 2021-22 and each subsequent year, the commissioner shall 
recalculate the per-pupil amount by using the amount calculated under paragraph A 
as a base and adjusting for appropriate trends in the Consumer Price Index or other 
comparable index.
3.  Budget recommendation.  By December 15, 2019 and prior to December 15th of 
each subsequent year, the commissioner shall recommend to the Governor and to the 
Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of the Budget the funding 
levels for the program fund for payment in the next fiscal year.  The commissioner shall 
include these funding levels in the department's request to the Legislature for 
appropriations from the General Fund, allocations from federal funds and authorizations 
of Other Special Revenue Funds and social impact bonds to carry out the purposes of this 
subchapter.
4.  Appropriations and allocations.  The commissioner shall provide funds 
authorized by the Legislature to carry out the purposes of this subchapter as grants to 
eligible school administrative units.
§8815.  Report
The department shall report by June 30, 2021 and annually thereafter to the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural 
affairs on the number of school administrative units administering summer success 
programs, the nature of the summer success programs receiving money from the program 
fund, the amount of money distributed and the number of children participating in a 
summer success program.
§8816.  Rules
The commissioner shall adopt rules for the standards, approval and administration of 
the program fund, including the establishment of program fund requirements and 
specifications and procedures for the application and distribution of available funds, and 
to otherwise carry out the purposes of this subchapter.  Rules adopted pursuant to this 
section are routine technical rules as defined by Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §15688-A, sub-§9 is enacted to read:
9.  Summer success programs.  Beginning in fiscal year 2020-21 and for each 
subsequent fiscal year, the commissioner may expend and disburse funds to provide 
grants for expanded access to summer success programs for elementary and secondary 
school students pursuant to chapter 317, subchapter 2.  The amounts of the grant funding 
provided to qualified school administrative units pursuant to chapter 317, subchapter 2 
are limited to the amounts appropriated, allocated or authorized by the Legislature for the 
operation of summer success programs.  Any balance of funds appropriated, allocated or 
authorized by the Legislature remaining at the end of a fiscal year do not lapse and are 
carried forward to the next fiscal year to carry out the purposes of chapter 317, subchapter 
2.
Sec. 3.  Maine Revised Statutes headnote amended; revision clause.  In the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 317, before section 8801, the headnote 
"subchapter 1, summer schools" is enacted and the Revisor of Statutes shall implement 
this revision when updating, publishing or republishing the statutes.
Sec. 4.  Report.  The Commissioner of Education shall submit a report to the Joint 
Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs by December 15, 2019 containing 
an outline of the routine technical rules proposed by the Department of Education to 
implement the Summer Success Program Fund, established in the Maine Revised 
Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 317, subchapter 2, by the 2020-2021 school year.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Summer Success Program Fund, a dedicated fund to be 
directed and administered by the Commissioner of Education and held by the Treasurer 
of State, to encourage the facilitation of high-quality summer success programs in school 
administrative units throughout the State.  The bill accomplishes the following.
1.  It provides that money paid into the fund may include General Fund 
appropriations, as well as grants, gifts and other money from any unit of federal, state or 
local government or from any person, firm, partnership or corporation for deposit to the 
fund, money received from a social impact bond and interest, dividends and other 
pecuniary gains.  It requires that school administrative units ensure that grants provided 
from the fund for expanding access to summer success programs supplement and not 
supplant federal funding.
2.  It requires the commissioner to administer the fund within the Department of 
Education and to establish standards and approval for the allocation and use of fund 
money for summer success programs offered at elementary and secondary schools in the 
State.  It also allows the commissioner to include the following in the standards:
A.  Guidelines similar to the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers 
program to close the achievement gap between high-performing and low-performing 
students;
B.  Effective models of summer success programs that involve networking and 
partnerships with community-based organizations that provide a range of high-quality 
services to support student learning and development; and
C.  Implementation of the formative and summative assessment methods to measure 
student achievement in order to monitor the progress of students participating in 
summer success programs.
3.  It provides that, beginning in fiscal year 2020-21, the department is required to 
provide grant funding, through a grant application process, to cover 90% of the costs of 
summer success programs in school administrative units with greater than 50% student 
participation in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. 
4.  It adds the fund to the enhancing student performance and opportunity provisions 
of the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act.
5.  It requires the commissioner to submit a report to the Joint Standing Committee 
on Education and Cultural Affairs by December 15, 2019 that outlines the proposed rules 
to implement the fund by the 2020-2021 school year.