Republicans Attempt to Block Charter School For “New Mainers” Aiming to Recruit a “Diverse by Design Student Body”

Republicans on the Maine Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee reversed course on a bill last Tuesday that would have initially increased the number of charter schools in the state, but instead proposed an amendment to lower the cap to prevent the establishment of a school aimed primarily at “new Americans.”

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The original bill, LD 282, submitted by Rep. Gary Drinkwater (R-Milford), would have indefinitely increased the maximum number of public state-funded charter schools in the state from the current ten.

There are currently nine charter schools in the state, with one currently being considered to fill the last available slot. During the work session, Maine Charter School Commission Chair Norman Higgins revealed that the school under consideration, the MOXIE School, will be particularly directed at immigrant students.

In response to committee questions, Higgins claimed that the school, though specifically directed at “new Americans,” will allow and even “encourage” other students to attend.

“All of our charter schools are based on school choice, so we don’t have any selection criteria, and so we would anticipate that there would be students other than New Americans, we would hope there would be, we certainly will encourage that,” said Higgins during the work session.

According to Higgins, the MOXIE School won out over another proposal because the Charter School Commission determined that the other application, submitted by the Calais-based Maine Indian Education, was not fiscally viable.

Shortly before the committee was set to vote on its recommendation for the bill, the legislators broke for a lengthy caucus to discuss the work session bills privately within their respective parties.

After the caucus, all committee Democrats voted to send the bill to the broader legislature with an “ought not to pass” recommendation, while the five Republicans voted “ought to pass as amended,” with an amendment to reduce the charter school cap from ten to nine, contradicting the bill’s original purpose.

If the amendment were to pass into law, it would prevent the MOXIE school from being established.

According to the MOXIE School’s application, reviewed by The Maine Wire, it would specialize in teaching students “who are new to our communities, are multilingual, highly mobile, and/or cognitively diverse.”

The school will “recruit a diverse by design student body,” apparently preparing to give preferential admission based on race, immigration status, or some other factor when recruiting students, despite Higgins’s claim that it will encourage other students to attend.

The school’s explicit desire to recruit a “diverse” student body could put it at odds with federal directives issued by the Trump administration, which has worked to crack down on racially discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in K-12 education.

MOXIE intends to ultimately establish 3-5 physical locations, all operating under their umbrella and single charter school slot, with each location serving up to 420 students between 6th and 12th grades.

Higgins believed that the first location for the school would be in Westbrook, and MOXIE aspires to open in the fall of next year.

Beth Rabbitt of Portland, the CEO of the non-profit education consultancy The Learning Accelerator, is heading up the effort to create the new school.

The school will partner with multiple left-wing activist groups, including the Maine Association for New Mainers, Portland Empowered—headed by far-left Portland City Councilor Pious Ali—and the New England Arab American Association.

Despite efforts by Republicans to block the school, it appears likely to be approved for the remaining charter school slot.