Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Bid for charter schools fails again

By Matthew Stone mstone@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — A legislative committee has once again turned back a bid to legalize charter schools in Maine, opting instead for a more measured proposal to allow so-called “innovative” schools in existing districts.

In a discussion Monday morning that largely mirrored last spring’s legislative debate on charter schools, members of the Legislature’s Education Committee called on educators looking to try out new ideas to work within the state’s existing school infrastructure.

The “innovative” schools measure could help along that process, they said.

The committee members were debating the measure as part of a package of bills aimed at strengthening Maine’s position in the national Race to the Top competition for $4 billion in federal funds aimed at education reform. Rep. Alan Casavant, D-Biddeford, last week introduced a charter school amendment to consider along with “innovative” schools.

Maine is one of 11 states that don’t allow charter schools, which are heavily favored by the Obama administration.

“We haven’t done a great job of promoting what we have the ability to do right now,” said Sen. Elizabeth Schneider, D-Orono. The innovative schools bill “will, I think, raise the level of knowledge out there that there are potential resources and ways to incorporate (innovation) into the infrastructure that we have.”

And it can be done without jeopardizing funds for local school districts, said Rep. Stephen Lovejoy, D-Portland.

“Where we are right now is, we’re looking at another major drop in education funding,” he said. “I would be very reluctant to do something that spreads dollars out even more.”

That impact, after all, would be felt most in Maine’s smallest school districts, said Rep. Patricia Sutherland, D-Chapman, since a particular amount of funds would follow each student who chooses to attend a charter school.

“It’s hard to pull a few people out of that (local public) school,” she said. “That’s how they pay the bills.”

Charter schools are independently run, public schools that are free of many of the restrictions that govern traditional public schools. They have more flexibility with their curriculum and school calendar setup, and their staffs rarely work under union contracts.

The “innovative” schools allowed in the committee-approved measure would have more autonomy than their traditional counterparts over budgets, curriculum, staff assignments and scheduling. The schools, however, would still be district-run and subject to the same collective bargaining agreements as other district schools.

Charter school advocates on Monday said Maine needs more options on its educational landscape to serve those students who struggle in traditional public schools.

“I’ve seen students fail not because they weren’t smart, but because the public school model didn’t fit them,” said Casavant, a Biddeford High School teacher. “I thought there should have been something better.”

“To say that they have to stay in their district because they bring money to their district doesn’t seem to me to be answering what we’re supposed to be doing,” said Rep. Mary Nelson, D-Falmouth, “and that is educating the children the best we can.”