An Act To Require the State To Meet the Mandatory 55 Percent Contribution to Schools
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1114
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: MIRAMANT
Amends: 20-A MRSA §5806, 20-A MRSA §15671

Legislative Document
No. 1114
S.P. 377
In Senate, March 22, 2021
An Act To Require the State To Meet the Mandatory 55 Percent 
Contribution to Schools
Received by the Secretary of the Senate on March 18, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator MIRAMANT of Knox.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §5806, sub-§2, as repealed and replaced by PL 2013, c. 497, 
§1, is amended to read:
2.  Maximum allowable tuition.  The maximum allowable tuition charged to a school 
administrative unit by a private school is the rate established under subsection 1 or the state 
average per public secondary student cost as adjusted, whichever is lower, plus an insured 
value factor.  The insured value factor is computed by dividing 5% of the insured value of 
school buildings and equipment by the average number of pupils enrolled in the school on 
October 1st and April 1st of the year immediately before the school year for which the 
tuition charge is computed.  From school year 2009-2010 to school year 2013-2014, a 
school administrative unit is not required to pay an insured value factor greater than 5% of 
the school's tuition rate or $500 per student, whichever is less, unless the legislative body 
of the school administrative unit votes to authorize its school board to pay a higher insured 
value factor that is no greater than 10% of the school’s tuition rate per student.  For the 
2014-2015 school year, a school administrative unit is not required to pay an insured value 
factor greater than 6% of the school's tuition rate per student, unless the legislative body of 
the school administrative unit votes to authorize its school board to pay a higher insured 
value factor that is no greater than 10% of the school's tuition rate per student.  Beginning 
in the 2015-2016 school year, a school administrative unit is not required to pay an insured 
value factor greater than the amount of the prior school year's insured value factor adjusted 
by a percentage equal to the percentage change in the state share percentage of the total 
cost of funding public education in the prior school year as determined by section 15671, 
subsection 7, paragraph C B as compared to the applicable percentage for the current school 
year.  In no case may the insured value factor be less than 6% or greater than 10% of the 
school's tuition rate per student, unless the legislative body of the school administrative 
unit votes to authorize its school board to pay an insured value factor that exceeds the 
amount otherwise permitted by this subsection by no more than 5% of the school's tuition 
rate per student.  For the 2013-2014 school year only, the maximum allowable tuition 
charged to a school administrative unit by a private school that participates in the Maine 
Public Employees Retirement System must be increased above the amount otherwise 
permitted under this section by an amount equal to the calculated normal cost of teacher 
retirement for that school divided by the number of enrolled students as of October 1, 2012.
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §15671, sub-§7, ¶B, as amended by PL 2019, c. 616, Pt. C, 
§1, is amended by enacting a new subparagraph (17) to read:
(17)  For fiscal year 2021-22, the target is 55%.
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §15671, sub-§7, ¶C, as amended by PL 2019, c. 616, Pt. C, 
§2, is repealed.
SUMMARY
This bill increases the target for the state share percentage of the statewide adjusted 
total cost of the components of essential programs and services to 55%, as required by law, 
beginning in fiscal year 2021-22 and continuing at that rate annually.  The bill also repeals 
the provision of law containing the annual targets for the state share percentage of the total 
cost of funding public education from kindergarten to grade 12 that include the cost of 
components of essential programs and services plus the state contributions to the unfunded 
actuarial liabilities of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System that are attributable 
to teachers, retired teachers' health insurance and retired teachers' life insurance.