Code of Maine Rules › 05 - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION › 071 - EDUCATION - GENERAL › Chapter 140 - PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS › Section 071-140-3 - CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
1.
Notice of
				charter school openings
A charter school must give reasonable public notice that it
				  has openings for student enrollment, at least 30 days before the enrollment
				  application deadline. Notice must be provided in a manner designed to give
				  notice to all eligible students and must include, at a minimum, publication on
				  two consecutive weekends in the State Paper designated in Title 1, section 551
				  and notice to interested parties as provided in Section
				  2, subsection
				  2. Notice must also be submitted to
				  the department, and the department shall include the notice on the Department's
				  charter school Website on the Internet. Notice must also be provided to any
				  person who has asked the authorizer of the school for notice of school
				  openings.
2.
Enrollment
A.
Declaration of
				student intent
. A charter school shall require a written declaration of
				intent to enroll in the charter school in the upcoming school year from each
				student who wishes to enroll in the charter school, including students who have
				an enrollment preference. The written declaration must be signed by the
				student's parent, guardian or legal guardian and submitted to the charter
				school within the deadline established by the charter school. The charter
				school must set the deadline so that sufficient time is allowed to conduct a
				lottery within the time frame set forth in this rule if the number of
				declarations of intent to enroll exceeds the number of seats available in a
				grade, level or division of the charter school. The declaration of student
				intent may request only such information as is needed to determine which grade,
				level or division of the school the student wishes to enter, whether the
				student is eligible for a preference, and the identity of the student's
				resident school administrative unit (SAU).
B.
Enrollment commitments when
				declarations do not exceed openings
. If the number of students
				submitting declarations of intent by the submission deadline is smaller than
				the number of openings in any grade, level or division of the school, the
				charter school shall notify each student and his or her parent, guardian or
				legal guardian of the right to enroll in the upcoming school year, and shall
				seek a written commitment to enroll signed by the student and the parent,
				guardian or legal guardian. The charter school may enroll students to fill
				remaining openings, on a rolling basis or by other means specified in the
				charter application or contract, once all students who filed a declaration of
				intent prior to the deadline have been offered the opportunity to enroll or
				commit to enroll.
C.
Random
				selection process
. If the number of students submitting a declaration of
				intent to enroll exceeds the number of openings in a school, grade, level or
				division, the charter school must notify students with preferences of their
				right to enroll and then shall conduct a random selection process to fill
				remaining openings.
(1) The selection process
				must be conducted not later than April 1st, unless
				the authorizer, for compelling reasons, sets a different date. For purposes of
				this section, the term "compelling reasons" includes, but is not limited to,
				the need for a date later than April 1st in the
				first year of implementation of the charter school law and the need for
				flexibility for at-risk students and their families. Any date set by an
				authorizer under this subparagraph (1) must be designed to ensure that students
				will have an equal opportunity to seek enrollment in the school and that
				information is provided to each student's resident SAU in as timely a manner as
				possible.
(2) The selection must be
				conducted in public and must be designed to ensure that each student has an
				equal chance of being selected for enrollment. If the process is a lottery
				involving drawing of names or other objects to make a selection, a
				disinterested party must perform the drawing of names or objects.
(3) Reasonable public notice must be given at
				least one week prior to the lottery or other selection process.
(4) The names of students and the order in
				which they were selected must be recorded. All names must be placed in the
				order of selection, and any names that exceed the enrollment limit for a grade,
				level or division of the charter school must be placed on a waiting list for
				that grade, level or division. The charter school shall use eligible students
				on the waiting list to fill any openings that occur in the grade, level or
				division during the school year for which names were selected. If all students
				on the waiting list have been offered enrollment, the charter school may enroll
				students on a rolling basis, or such other basis as may be set forth in the
				charter application or charter contract.
(5) If the number of students selected for
				enrollment from any school administrative unit exceeds the applicable 5% or 10%
				limit set forth in Title 20-A, section 2404, subsection
				2, paragraphs D and E, the excess
				names must be moved from the enrollment list to the top of the waiting list, in
				the order selected. If an opening occurs after the initial selection process, a
				student placed on a waiting list under this subparagraph may be selected for
				enrollment from the waiting list only if the student's enrollment is within the
				5% or 10% limit; otherwise, the student's name remains on the waiting list. For
				purposes of the 5% and 10% limits, the charter school shall use enrollment
				figures for a school administrative unit (SAU) as determined by the most recent
				October subsidizable pupil count, excluding students who are attending any
				charter school on the date of the October pupil count.
D.
Commitment to enroll
. Within
				14 days of being notified of the right to enroll in a charter school, each
				student must submit to the charter school a written form committing to enroll
				in the charter school in the upcoming school year, signed by the student's
				parent, guardian or legal guardian. The commitment to enroll form must
				authorize the resident SAU to release to the charter school the student's
				unique identifier number in the state's student information system.
E.
Student information form
.
				After a student files a commitment to enroll form, a charter school may require
				the student to complete a form to gather information about a student's
				interests, abilities and experiences. Information on the form may be used in
				discussions with a student or parent regarding enrollment in the charter
				school, but may not be used to prevent or discourage a student from enrolling.
				A charter school may encourage potential enrollees or their parents to attend
				informational meetings or interviews, but may not require such attendance as a
				condition of enrollment or continued enrollment. A charter school may not
				condition enrollment on the results of any test of ability or
				achievement.
F.
Notice to
				resident SAU
. Within 5 school days of receiving a commitment to enroll
				form, a charter school must notify the resident SAU of the student who has
				submitted the form. The resident SAU, within 5 school days of receiving notice
				from the charter school, provide the charter school with the student's unique
				identifier number so that the charter school may access the student information
				needed to determine the amount that will be due from the resident
				SAU.
G.
Date of
				enrollment
. Notwithstanding the commitment to enroll made under
				paragraph D, a student is not considered to have enrolled in a charter school
				until the date after July 1st of each school year
				that the charter school enters the student as an attending student in the
				state's student information system.