An Act To Establish the Summer Success Pilot Program Fund
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0044
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: PIERCE
Amends: 20-A MRSA §15688-A

Legislative Document
No. 44
H.P. 10
House of Representatives, January 13, 2021
An Act To Establish the Summer Success Pilot Program Fund
Received by the Clerk of the House on January 11, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative PIERCE of Falmouth.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA c. 317, sub-c. 1 is enacted by adding before section 8801 the 
following to read:
SUBCHAPTER 1
SUMMER SCHOOLS
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA c. 317, sub-c. 2 is enacted to read:
SUBCHAPTER 2
SUMMER SUCCESS PILOT 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 Pilot Program Fund 
established in section 8812.
2.  Summer success pilot program.  "Summer success pilot program" means a pilot 
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 Pilot Program Fund
1.  Establishment.  The Summer Success Pilot Program Fund is established as a 
General Fund carrying account within the department to be directed and administered by 
the commissioner and held by the Treasurer of State.
2.  Sources of money.  Money appropriated from the General Fund may be paid into 
the program fund. 
3.  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.  A school administrative unit shall ensure that program funds made available to 
the school administrative unit to provide grants for access to summer success pilot 
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 pilot programs in school administrative units throughout the State.
1.  Standards.  The commissioner shall establish standards for summer success pilot 
programs consistent with the basic school approval requirements as set forth in subchapter 
for summer school programs offered at elementary or secondary schools in the State.  In 
establishing standards for summer success pilot 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 pilot 
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 pilot programs.
2.  Approval.  A summer success pilot program may be offered by a school 
administrative unit with the approval of the commissioner.  The commissioner may inspect 
a summer success pilot 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
1.  Program fund grants.  Beginning in fiscal year 2021-22 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 pilot programs in school 
administrative units.  Those 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 must be given priority in the distribution of funding from the 
program fund.
2.  Eligibility.  To receive program fund money, a school administrative unit must be 
in compliance with any applicable standards and program requirements for summer success 
pilot programs established by the commissioner pursuant to section 8813.
§8815.  Report
The department shall report by June 30, 2022 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 pilot 
programs, the nature of the summer success pilot programs receiving money from the 
program fund, the amount of money distributed and the number of children participating 
in a summer success pilot program.  The report must also include a recommendation on 
whether the summer success pilot program should continue as a pilot program, be modified 
or become a permanent program.
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §15688-A, sub-§10 is enacted to read:
10.  Summer success pilot programs.  Beginning in fiscal year 2021-22 and for each 
subsequent fiscal year, the commissioner may expend and disburse funds to provide grants 
for access to summer success pilot 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 pilot 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. 4.  Appropriations and allocations.  The following appropriations and 
allocations are made.
EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF
Summer Success Pilot Program Fund N311
Initiative: Provides ongoing funding for the Summer Success Pilot Program Fund.
GENERAL FUND
2020-21
2021-22
All Other
$0
$243,000
__________
__________
GENERAL FUND TOTAL
$0
$243,000
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Summer Success Pilot Program Fund and requires the 
Commissioner of Education to use the fund to encourage the facilitation of high-quality 
summer success pilot programs in school administrative units throughout the State and does 
the following:
1.  It provides that the fund is established as a General Fund carrying account within 
the Department of Education to be directed and administered by the commissioner and held 
by the Treasurer of State and that only General Fund appropriations may be paid into the 
fund;
2.  It requires the commissioner to establish standards and approval for the allocation 
and use of fund money for summer success pilot 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 those of 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 pilot programs;
3.  It provides that, beginning in fiscal year 2021-22, the department is required to 
provide grant funding from the fund, through a grant application process, to cover 90% of 
the costs of summer success pilot programs and that the department must prioritize 
distribution of funding to 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; and
5.  It requires the commissioner to annually report 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 pilot programs, the nature of the 
summer success pilot programs receiving money from the fund, the amount of money 
distributed and the number of children participating in a summer success pilot program.  
The report must also include a recommendation on whether the pilot program should 
continue as a pilot program, be modified or become a permanent program.