Maine lawmakers appear prepared to pass a Republican-backed bill aimed at increasing transparency in Maine’s public school transfer program.
In a rare move, members of the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee are poised to unanimously approve this measure despite its being sponsored and cosponsored only by members of the current minority party.
Should the unanimous Ought to Pass As Amended vote be finalized and reported out to the full Legislature, this legislation can be expected to be sent to Gov. Janet Mills (D) for final approval, unless extraordinary action is taken by lawmakers on the chamber floor.
Through what is known as a Superintendents Agreement, Maine families can request to have their children attend a public school outside of their home district.
Both superintendents from the home district and the one to which the student is moving must agree, however, that the transfer is “in the student’s best interest” and may only be completed with the approval of a student’s parent or guardian.
All it takes for a student to be denied a transfer, however, is a thumbs-down from one of the superintendents involved.
The governing statutes do not specify what constitutes a transfer being “in the student’s best interest,” leaving this language almost entirely up to a given superintendent’s interpretation.
The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) website recommends some additional factors that superintendents may consider when deciding whether or not to approve a transfer, including the availability of space and the potential impact of the transfer.
For example, the MDOE suggests that “consistency may be in the best interest of students” nearing the end of their high school career, meaning that superintendents may want to approve or deny transfer requests or renewals on this basis.
A parent or guardian may appeal the denial of a transfer to the Maine Commissioner of Education and, ultimately, to the Maine Board of Education.
These agreements are only valid for one year and must be renewed annually for a student to continue attending an out-of-district school.
As originally drafted, LD 1588, sponsored by Rep. Barbara A. Bagshaw (R-Windham), would require all school administrative units throughout the state to produce an annual report by July 1 detailing how many transfers were approved and denied.
Districts would also be required to identify whether a given student requested to transfer in or out of the district. For any denials, the school administrative unit would need to explain why they rejected the family’s request.
All information included in these reports would be de-identified, meaning that “any potential personal identifying information of a student” would need to be redacted.
The Maine Department of Education would then be required to publish this data online, including the de-identified explanations of any rejections.
Although the legislative website indicates that it was an amended version of this bill that received approval from the Committee, the text of that amendment is not yet publicly available.
A copy of the amendment obtained by the Maine Wire, however, shows that the more controversial aspects of this bill — including the requirement that a superintendent’s reasons for denying a particular request be reported publicly — have now been removed.
Under the amended version of LD 1588, only data regarding the number of transfer requests — both to and from a school district — that were accepted and denied during a given year would need to be reported online.
It is this version of the bill that the Committee appears poised to unanimously support.
Cosponsoring LD 1588 are Senate Republican Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook), Rep. Roger Clarence Albert (R-Madawaska), Rep. Alicia Collins (R-Sidney), Rep. Abigail W. Griffin (R-Levant), Rep. Tammy L. Schmersal-Burgess (R-Mexico), Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips), Sen. Matt Harrington (R-York), Sen. Jim Libby (R-Cumberland), and Sen. Marianne Moore (R-Washington).
“Today, this process is opaque and has limited oversight,” said Rep. Bagshaw during a May 6 public hearing. “With reporting requirements like the ones contained in LD 1588, We can better understand the student transfer process from both sides of the equation: families, and superintendents.”
“This bill promotes good governance, accountability, and, most importantly, trust in the public education system,” suggested Jacob Posik on behalf of Maine Civic Action and the Maine Policy Institute (MPI). “In a state where educational options are mostly limited by geography and rigid district lines, parents deserve to understand how decisions regarding transfer requests are made, particularly when these decisions may significantly impact their child’s academic trajectory.”
Posik went on to argue that this requirement would help provide insight into where “the demand for alternative educational options is high.”
Not everyone who offered testimony earlier this month expressed support for the bill, however.
“While we support transparency in public education, this level of disclosure raises serious concerns about student privacy — particularly in Maine’s smaller communities,” argued a representative of the Maine Principals Association (MPA). “Student transfers are often deeply personal, involving family situations, academic or behavioral needs, and considerations of school resources and capacity.”
The MPA went on to suggest that this bill would “impose a burdensome and potentially harmful mandate without delivering meaningful benefits to students or families.”
Similar concerns were also raised in testimony presented by the Maine School Management Association (MSMA).
It is not immediately clear how the proposed changes in the amendment now before the Committee would impact these organizations’ opposition to the bill.
LD 1588 is expected to be sent to the House and Senate calendars at some point in the near future, at which point lawmakers are likely to continue ushering this bill through the legislative process and to enactment.
Disclosure: The Maine Wire is a project of the Maine Policy Institute.
