An Act to St1e11gthe11 Mame's Elementary and Secondary Educat10n System by Clat rfymg Pm poses and Procedures for Reviews of Schools
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1420
Committee Amendment CA_B_H582 (House)
Amends: 20-A MRSA §258-A, 20-A MRSA §4504

COMMITIBE AMENDMENT .E, " 
to HP 916, L D 1420, "An Act to St1e11gthe11 
Mame's Elementary and Secondary Educat10n System by Clat rfymg Pm poses and 
Procedures for Reviews of Schools" 
Amend the bill by stnkmg out everything after the enactmg clause and msertmg the 
followmg 
'Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §258-A, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1983, c 859, Pt A, §§3 
and 25, is amended to read 
2. Periodic reviews. The commissioner shall periodically review all pubhc schools 
and all private schools wlHeh that receive pub he funds; to determme their compliance with 
the applicable prov1s10ns of this Title and the Mame Human Rights Act 
Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §258-A, sub-§5 1s enacted to read 
5. Comprehensive reviews. Begmnmg 111 the 2024-2025 school year and every 2 
yeais the1eafter, the comn11ss1oner shall conduct a comprehensive iev1ew of 5 schools, 
school admm1strative umts or private schools approved foi tmt10n purposes selected at 
random If a school, school admm1strat1ve umt or private school approved for tmt1011 
purposes 1s selected, and at the time of selection 1s w1thm 2 yeai s of an acct ed1tat10n review 
by the New England Associat10n of Schools and Colleges or its successor orgamzat10n or 
has been through a comprehensive review under this subsect10n m the last 10 years, the 
comm1ss1oner shall randomly select a different school, school adm1mstrat1ve umt or pnvate 
school approved for tmt1on purposes m its place For selected schools, school 
administrative umts and pnvate schools app1 oved for tmt10n purposes 
A 
The commiss10ner shall notify the school, school adm1msti at1ve umt 01 private 
school approved for tmtion purposes no later than 14 days before the date the review 
is to take place, 
B On receipt of the notice desciibed m paragraph A, the school, school admimstratlve 
umt or pnvate school approved for tmtion purposes shall ensure that the physical site 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
~os 
COMMfITEE AMENDMENT "i" to HP 916, L D 1420 
of the school or schools under review are available for mspect1on and make available 
to the commissioner documents related to 
(1) Basic school approval standards under this Title, 
(2) Compliance with the Mame Human Rights Act, 
(3) The statewide assessment program established under section 6202, 
(4) Implementation of the system of leammg results established m section 6209, 
and 
(5) Health and safety reqmrements. and 
C 
The comm1ss1oner shall provide a school, school admmist1at1ve umt or puvate 
school approved for tuition purposes that 1s unable to demonstrate compliance with 
basic school approval standards or other reqmrements of this Title with a con ecttve 
action plan 
Sec. 3. 20-A MRSA §258-A, as amended by PL 1985, c 142, § 1, is fmther amended 
by addmg at the end a new paragraph to read 
If the comm1ss1one1 finds that a school, school admm1strat1ve umt or private school 
approved for tmt1on purposes 1s not m compliance with the Mame Human Rights Act, the 
comm1ss1oner shall refer the finding to the Mame Human Rights Commission 
Sec. 4. 20-A MRSA §4504, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1983, c 859, Pt A, §§20 
and 25, 1s amended to read 
1. Implementation. The comnuss1oner shall dete1mme which schools and school 
adm1n1strat1ve umts are m compliance with the baste school approval standards, m 
accordance with the procedures of the basic school app1oval rules and the p1ov1s1ons of this 
Title, and the Mame Human Rights Act 
If the commissioner finds that a school or school adm1mstiat1ve umt 1s not m comphance 
with the Mame Human Rights Act, the comm1ss1one1 shall refer the finding to the Mame 
Hmnan Rights Comm1ss1on ' 
Amend the bill by relettermg or renumbermg any nonconsecutive Part letter 01 sect10n 
number to 1ead consecutively 
SUMMARY 
This amendment, which ts the mmonty report of the committee, replaces the bill 
As m the bill, the amendment 1 eqmres the Comm1ss10ner of Education to pe110d1cally 
review all pubhc schools and all pnvate schools that receive public funds to determme their 
compliance with the applicable provis10ns of the Mame Revised Statutes, Title 20-A and 
the Mame Human Rights Act 
The amendment provides fot a comprehensive review of schools, school admm1st1 at1ve 
umts and private schools approved for tmtton purposes Every 2 years, the comm1ss1oner 
1s reqmred to select 5 schools, school admm1strative umts or private schools approved for 
tmtton pm poses at random, except that 1f at the time of the select10n a school, school 
admm1strattve umt or p11vate school 1s w1thm 2 years of an acct ed1tat1on 1 eview by the 
New England Association of Schools and Colleges or has been through a comprehensive 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ,j,, to HP 916, L D 1420 
review w1thm the last 10 years, the com1111ss10ner must randomly select a different school, 
school admimstratlve umt or private school m its place The amendment requn es the 
comm1ss1oner to notrfy the selected school, school admm1stiatlve umt or private school 
approved for tmt10n purposes no late1 than 14 days before the 1 eview and requu es the 
school or schools to ensure the physical site 1s available for review and make available to 
the comm1ss10ner documents 1elated to basic school approval, compliance with the Mame 
Human Rights Act, the statewide assessment p1ogram, implementation of the system of 
learnmg 1esults and health and safety reqmrements If the commiss10ner finds that a school 
or schools are not 111 compliance with basic school approval standards or othei reqmrements 
of Title 20-A, the comm1ss10ner 1s reqmred to provide the school or schools with a 
corrective action plan If the commissioner finds that a school or schools are not m 
compliance with the Mame Human Rights Act, the commissioner is requu ed to refer the 
fmdmg to the Mame Human Rights Comm1ss10n 
As m the bill, the amendment reqmres the comm1ss1oner to determme which schools 
and school admmistrattve umts are in compliance with basic school approval standards and 
compliance with the Mame Human Rights Act, but it reqmres the comm1ss10ner to refet 
any findmgs of noncompliance with the Mame Human Rights Act to the Mame Human 
Rights Comm1ss1on 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Revised 06/12/23 ;:k,ae 
LD 1420 
LR249(03) 
An Act to Strengthen Maine's Elementary and Secondary Education System by Clarifying Purposes 
and Procedures for Reviews of Schools 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment t• {N-S &1}) 
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs 
v-
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Addit10nal costs to the Department of Educat10n and the Mame Human Rights Commission associated with the 
prov1s10ns of this bill are expected to be 1mnor and can be absorbed w1thm ex1stmg budgeted resources 
LR0249(03) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1