Charter school advocates hopeful

AUGUSTA – Efforts to establish charter schools in Maine have failed to gain legislative support, but proponents of a bill allowing the new type of alternative education said Monday that this year could be different.

Sponsored by Sen. Carol Weston, R-Montville, LD 1391, “An Act to Approve Public Charter Schools in Maine,” stands a better chance of being enacted than in other years, say supporters. That’s because the bill answers questions posed previously by lawmakers. It also represents a movement that’s rapidly gaining momentum, according to members of the Maine Association for Charter Schools who testified during a public hearing before the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.

A deeper and wider grass-roots demand for charter schools is starting, said Judy Powers, a former state representative from the Camden-Rockport area who sponsored an unsuccessful bill in 1997.

Thirty-nine states already have passed legislation to develop charter schools, which typically are small, individualized schools for students who don’t fare well in a traditional setting. The schools, which are nonsectarian and tuition-free, may focus on serving a specific student population and try different approaches to education.

Under the proposed bill, a limited number of charter schools could be developed by local school boards, community groups or four-year colleges and universities each year over five years. No price tag is attached to the legislation since it stipulates that the average per pupil funding on both the state and local level would follow each child.

The bill would help the state encourage new ways to improve academic achievement and expand free education options. Federal funds for charter schools are available to help with construction and curriculum, they said.

But some legislators said during a break that they had some qualms.

“It’s still a difficult sell,” said committee co-chair Rep. Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, who was concerned that charter schools would drain revenue and resources from public schools and interfere with their mission of putting the state’s Learning Results into place by 2006-07.

Other legislators said they liked the idea of more school choice but were uncomfortable with some aspects of the bill.

Concerned with tight finances, Sen. Betty Lou Mitchell, R-Etna, said she might offer an amendment to eliminate state funding.

Rep. Mary Ellen Ledwin, R-Holden, said she “didn’t like the idea” that a charter school could have only one certified teacher.

“Maine statutes already allow considerable flexibility in parents’ choice and alternative education,” said Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron.

The proposal doesn’t authorize charter schools to levy taxes, she pointed out, wondering how they would raise the required local share.

Rob Walker, president of the Maine Education Association, the state teachers’ union, voiced other objections. “The demand that charter schools must remain separate from other bargaining units in the district makes one question the motivation for such a request,” he said. “Do they intend to work the charter school teachers harder and pay them less?”

Anne Perry of Calais, vice president of the Maine School Boards Association’s legislative committee, said innovation and reform “should be available to all Maine schools, not a selected few.”

Superintendent Mark Eastman of Oxford Hills, representing the Maine School Superintendents Association, said the bill would create more schools and duplication and would work counter to Gov. John Baldacci’s plan to conserve resources. The state needs to “find ways to regionalize, not proliferate,” he said.