Since Maine passed its public charter school law in 2011, the Maine Association of Charter Schools has been working tirelessly to bring new opportunities for students in the Pine Tree State. In the past two years, five charter schools have opened and now serve approximately 400 students. This fall, the Maine Charter School Commission received seven new applications for its remaining five charter slots (it is allowed to authorize 10 schools), and for the first time ever, several local school districts are considering charter applications (there isn’t a cap on district-authorized charters).
Cornville Regional Charter School is the state’s first elementary charter school, where students benefit from proficiency-based learning and 90 minutes a week of agricultural education. Maine’s first charter high school, the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences (MeANS), serves students who have not done well at traditional schools and offers classes in organic agriculture, forestry, and environmental science. According to the Maine Charter School Commission’s findings for the 2012-13 school year, both schools met all of the expectations of their contracts and are excelling at engaging students and families. Parents told commission members there “were no cracks for kids to fall in” at Cornville Regional and that students were “learning like never before” at MeANS. In September 2013, the Federal Charter School Grant Program awarded a total of $1.2 million over the next three years between the two schools. Maine received two of the 17 non-State Education Agency grants awarded nationally, with Cornville Regional Charter School landing the largest grant award. Nevertheless, Maine’s expanding public charter movement has powerful detractors. In the 2013 legislative session, less than 48 hours after the state’s first Charter School Day, the Joint Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs voted to cut funding for Maine’s charter schools. A total of five anti-charter bills passed the Democratic-controlled legislature in the 2013 session. Governor Paul LePage, one of the state’s charter champions, vetoed all of them, something he may be forced to do again in the 2014 legislative session. Despite these detractors, it’s clear that momentum for the state’s young charter movement is building and we expect parents and communities across the state will turn to charter schools in ever greater numbers in the future. Lisa Grover is senior director for state advocacy at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
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