Charter school commission
to hold public input session
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA — The Maine State Charter School Commission will travel to Presque Isle in early April to hear from the public about regional educational needs that could be addressed by charter schools.
A public input session will be held Thursday, April 5 from 6:30-8 p.m. at Northern Maine Community College’s Hunt Lecture Hall in the Christie Building.
The charter school commission has already held sessions in Augusta, Bangor and Portland. A similar meeting will be held April 9 in Machias.
According to the Maine Department of Education’s website, a public charter school is a public school operated under the terms of a contract between an “authorizer” and the school’s governing board. The school’s charter application specifies how the governing board is created.
Under Maine’s public charter school law, an authorizer can issue a request for proposals for a charter school that meets a particular educational need, and any non-profit, non-religious organization can respond.
The State Charter School Commission is considered an “authorizer” under Maine’s new public charter school law, and can authorize up to 10 public charter schools statewide during the law’s first 10 years. Local school boards can authorize additional public charter schools that don’t count toward the commission’s 10-school limit.
Students attending charter schools will be expected to master the same academic standards as all other students attending public schools in Maine; however, charter schools are not subject to the requirement of 175 instruction days or a school day of at least three hours. This enables charter schools to design alternative schedules, which could include elements such as a longer school year or shorter classroom days. However, students must meet at least the same accountability standards as non-charter public school students.
Those who are unable to attend the April 5 public session are invited to offer their input via e-mail at scscmaine@gmail.com.
For more information about the Maine State Charter School Commission and Maine’s public charter school law, log onto www.maine.gov/doe/charterschools/commission.
