AUGUSTA — The national push for school choice is gaining momentum, and Maine is no exception.

Nearly a dozen bills have been presented to the Legislature that would expand school choice or allow the creation of charter schools — schools that are, in large part, free from state regulations.

On Wednesday, the Education Committee held public hearings on the first spate of choice and charter bills.

The proposal that experts say has the best chance of passage is a modest public school choice bill sponsored by Sen. Jane Amero, R-Cape Elizabeth. Her bill, LD 623, is similar to a choice bill the senator presented to lawmakers last year. That bill was passed by the Senate but defeated by the House.

This year’s bill would allow students to attend a public school outside the district where they live. This choice, however, would be subject to some limitations. For example, a school board may vote to close its district to students from other districts. The number of students who choose to go to school elsewhere may be limited if a district can show that the loss of students creates a hardship.

Amero told committee members that her bill would extend to all families choices that some already have. Parents with the financial means already have choices, she said, because they can send their children to private schools or move to another school district. In addition, about 10,000 students have some choice in where they go to high school because the town where they live has no high school. Her bill would extend new educational options to all parents without regard to financial standing.

“The same evironment of business competition that causes companies to create a better product can improve the business of education as well,” said Randy Thibeau, a school choice supporter who spoke in favor of several of the proposed bills. Thibeau organized a petition drive in Dover-Foxcroft to give vouchers to residents that would enable them to send their children to schools other than Foxcroft Academy. The petition was ignored by the town’s Board of Selectmen.

Competition, fostered by choice or charter schools, will improve education, said Frank Heller of the Maine School Choice Coalition. Based on test scores, he said, three of the state’s best high schools are in Bangor. He surmised that Bangor High, John Bapst and Bangor Christian do so well because they are located within a few miles of each other and therefore must compete for students.

Opponents of the bills, which included the Department of Education as well as the state’s teachers, superintendents, principals and school board associations, disagreed.

“School choice is based on the assumption that our public schools are failing,” said Jack McKee, a member of the SAD 58 board of directors and a former member of the State Board of Education. “There is ample evidence to refute that.”

These proposals would divide communities and take scarce resources from some public schools and give them to a few select students who choose to attend other school systems or charter schools, said Tim Humphrey, president of the Maine Education Association, the state’s teachers union.

Critics also warned that allowing school choice would exacerbate the already large gap between school districts that have a lot of resources and those that do not. In addition, they said, many school choices already exist. For example, students can take courses over interactive television or at local colleges and universities.

One of the other bills being considered by the committee would give vouchers to parents to be used to send their children to public or private alternative schools.

Many educators worried about the constitutionality of using state tax dollars to fund private schools. The Maine Civil Liberties Union questioned whether such a proposal violated the U.S. Constitution’s mandate of a separation of church and state.

Another bill proposes to create a study committee to investigate school choice. While such an option was supported by proponents of choice and religious schools, educators were upset that the proposed committee was loaded with pro-choice supports. The bill’s sponsor, Judy Powers, R-Rockport, said she was willing to consider a different makeup of the study group but she urged the committee to go ahead with the investigation. She said Maine has opened the door on choice with the math and science magnet school in Limestone and by allowing families to home-school their children while retaining access to some public school activities.

The charter school bill, sponsored by Rep. Al Barth, R-Bethel, would allow teachers and parents to turn a current public school into a charter school. This would allow them to change the school calendar, hire noncertified teachers and, therefore, improve the school.

In his State of the Union speech last month, President Clinton said expanding charter schools was one of his top educational priorities during his final term in office. About half the states in the nation already allow some types of charter schools. The president said he would like to see 3,000 charter schools in operation by the year 2000.

Gov. Angus King supports public school choice but is opposed to the use of vouchers to fund private school education.