An Act to Update the Laws Regarding Education
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 0086
Sponsors: SARGENT
Amends: 20-A MRSA §1, 20-A MRSA §1651, 20-A MRSA §1653, 20-A MRSA §1751-A, 20-A MRSA §2951, 20-A MRSA §3804, 20-A MRSA §6051

Legislative Document
No. 86
H.P. 50
House of Representatives, January 8, 2025
An Act to Update the Laws Regarding Education
Submitted by the Department of Education pursuant to Joint Rule 204.
Received by the Clerk of the House on January 6, 2025.  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 SARGENT of York.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §1, sub-§13-A, ¶B-1, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 477, §2, is 
amended by amending subparagraph (1) to read:
(1)  Who is sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing or economic 
hardship or a similar reason; is living in a motel, hotel, trailer park or camping 
ground due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodation; is living in an 
emergency or transitional shelter; or is abandoned in a hospital; or is awaiting 
foster care placement;
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §1651, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 1981, c. 693, §§5 and 8, is 
amended to read:
4.  District school committee to act as district board of trustees.  A community 
school district may vote at any time on the article in section 1602, subsection 1, paragraph 
C, to see determine if the district school committee shall be is authorized to perform the 
function of the district board of trustees.  If the municipalities vote affirmatively on that 
article, the district school committee shall must perform the duties of the district board of 
trustees under this chapter.
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §1653, sub-§1, ¶C, as amended by PL 1993, c. 668, §1, is 
further amended to read:
C.  Notwithstanding paragraphs A and B, the voters of a district may vote on an 
appropriate article at meetings called by the municipal officers of the respective 
member towns, in accordance with section 1602, to establish a fixed common date for 
all newly elected school committee members to assume their terms of office.  The 
common date must be subsequent to the last annual municipal election within the 
district, but may be no later than July 1st of the next fiscal year.  The adoption of such 
a common date is conditional upon the favorable passage of this article at each of the 
meetings of the member towns.  This paragraph does not apply to commencement of 
terms of office of members elected to fill vacancies.  Vacancies are filled for the 
remainder of the unexpired term as provided in subsection 2, paragraph A.
Sec. 4.  20-A MRSA §1751-A is enacted to read:
§1751-A.  Withdrawal from community school district
The residents of a participating municipality within a community school district may 
petition and vote to withdraw from the district in the same manner as a participating 
municipality within a regional school unit may petition to withdraw in accordance with 
section 1466.
Sec. 5.  20-A MRSA §2951, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1981, c. 693, §§5 and 8, is 
repealed.
Sec. 6.  20-A MRSA §3804, as amended by PL 2019, c. 219, §3, is further amended 
to read:
§3804.  Audit
An education service center shall adhere to generally accepted accounting principles 
and shall annually engage an external auditor to do an independent audit of the education 
service center's finances. The education service center shall submit the audit to its members 
and to the department. The audit must be conducted in the same manner as a school 
administrative unit audit in accordance with chapter 221, subchapter 2.  An education 
service center under the fiscal authority of a school administrative unit may be included in 
the audit of that school administrative unit and is not required to file an additional audit 
under this section.
Sec. 7.  20-A MRSA §6051, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2007, c. 668, §32, is further 
amended to read:
4.  Initial report to commissioner.  On or before November 1st, An initial report to 
the commissioner must be included as part of the audit under subsection 1. In the report the 
school board shall provide the commissioner with:
C.  Written determination of whether or not proper budgetary controls are in place;
D.  A written determination of whether or not the annual financial data submitted to 
the department is correct, including submission of an audited reconciliation of the 
annual financial data prepared and certified by the auditor; and
E.  A written determination as to whether the school administrative unit has complied 
with applicable provisions of the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act.
Sec. 8.  20-A MRSA c. 608, as amended, is repealed.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the education laws as follows. 
It updates the definition of "homeless student" to match the federal definition.
It updates the community school district statutes to allow for reorganization without a 
private and special law.
It updates statutes regarding private schools' receipt of public funds for tuition purposes 
to reflect the United States Supreme Court's decision in Carson v. Makin.
It updates statutes regarding education service centers to clarify that audits of centers 
under the fiscal authority of a school administrative unit may be included in the financial 
audit of that school administrative unit.
It clarifies that a school administrative unit's initial report to the Commissioner of 
Education must be included as part of the unit's official audit.
It repeals the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 608, the School Finance Act 
of 2003, which has been superseded by Title 20-A, chapter 606-B, the Essential Programs 
and Services Funding Act.