Dexter’s Town Council considered an ordinance on Thursday evening that would bar private school employees or parents operating homeschool co-ops from holding a school board seat after a June recall vote that removed a board member who ran a homeschooling group.
The Dexter Town Council sent the proposed ordinance to their legal council for review after receiving a letter from Heidi Sampson, director of the Maine Education Initiative, warning the town that the ordinance could expose them to lawsuits.
“It should be clear that the “conflict of interest” justification for the proposed ordinance
will fail First Amendment scrutiny and expose the Town to significant liability. We sincerely hope that the Town Council will reject this proposal and support the right of all Dexter citizens to serve their local public schools,” read Sampson’s letter.
The ordinance would expand the town’s conflict of interest policies to bar anyone who “operates” a home school group from serving on the Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 46 school board. Dexter, along with Exeter, Garland, and Ripley, is a part of MSAD 46.
The definition of a homeschool co-op used in the ordinance appears to leave room for a broad interpretation.
“An organized group of parents or guardians who collaborate to provide educational instruction or services to children who are being educated at home,” says the definition laid out in the ordinance.
It is unclear how large or how “organized” a group must be to constitute a homeschool co-op, leaving the door open for any small group of collaborating homeschool parents to be barred from seeking office on the local school board. Anyone with any leadership or administrative role would be considered an “operator” of a homeschool co-op.
“This prohibition is breathtakingly overbroad, covering individuals who have no pecuniary interest in a co-op or private school (such as volunteer directors or administrators), as well as individuals who may not even still be associated with such a co-op or private school (such as founders),” said Sampson’s letter.
The Maine Education Initiative argued that the ordinance would not, in reality, be dealing with any traditional monetary understanding of a conflict of interest, since it would also apply to volunteers.
“The ban therefore appears to be based not on any traditional concerns
regarding pecuniary conflicts of interest, but to rather be based on an assumption that anyone involved with a private school or homeschool co-op cannot possibly also desire the best interests of their local public schools. To speak frankly, such an assumption is baseless and narrowminded at best,” the letter said.
Under the new ordinance, Dexter residents would also be barred from running for a school board position if they are employed in any capacity by a private school within the town.
Both new prohibitions apply regardless of whether a person has children attending Dexter’s public schools. A parent operating a homeschool group for their younger children whose older kids attend public high-school would nevertheless be barred from running for a school-board position.
Violations of the ordinance could result in possible unspecified “civil penalties.”
The proposed ordinance appears to be a direct response to a situation involving former school board member Alisha Ames who was recalled from her position along with another board member, Judy Saunders, following a June 10 vote.
Both Ames and Saunders came under fire prior to the vote from a group calling itself Stop the Power Trip, which gathered enough signatures to put the recalls on the ballot.
The organization pushed to recall Ames because, among other reasons, she operates a homeschool group through the church she and her husband founded, called Power Source Ministries.
Stop The Power Trip claimed that Ames’ real priorities lay with her homeschool group rather than the school district, and accused her of trying to lure students away from the public schools into her co-op.
Sampson warned that a prohibition on homeschool co-op operators could be seen as specifically intended to target Ames’ group, which is the only organized homeschool co-op in the town.
“It is also disturbing that, to our knowledge, there is currently only one homeschool co-op in Dexter, and no private schools in operation,” she said.
“The faith-based co-op that does exist does not charge for services, and everyone involved in tutoring or administration there is an unpaid volunteer. This fact raises the specter that this ordinance is intended to target the leaders of this specific entity because of their association with this faith-based co-op. Therefore, the proposed ordinance further implicates freedom of association and freedom of religion concerns,” she added.
Sampson further argued that, by barring homeschool co-op operators from running for school board seats, Dexter could be in violation of the First Amendment rights of both prospective candidates and voters.
“As the Law Court has held, the act of running for school board is unquestionably a First Amendment activity that implicates both a citizen’s ability to express their ideas through candidacy, and the rights of voters to express support for the candidates of their choice,” wrote Sampson.
“While the ability to run for school board or public office is not an absolute right, ‘an interest in candidacy, and expression of political views without interference from state officials who wish to discourage that interest and expression, lies at the core of values protected by the First Amendment,’” she added.
According to the Maine Education Initiative, citing legal precedent, any restrictions to political candidacy must be the least restrictive means to achieve a vital government.
“Here, the proposed ordinance is clearly not the least restrictive means of furthering the
Town’s asserted interest in preventing conflicts of interest on the school board,” said Sampson.
Stop the Power Trip pushed for the other board member, Saunders, to be recalled due to an alleged violation of the board’s nepotism policy, which prevents the school board from employing immediate family members of board members or the superintendent.
Saunders defended her position, claiming that her membership did not violate the policy because her adult daughter was employed by the school before she took office and was protected by a contract.
Ultimately, Dexter residents voted 387-131 to recall Ames and 382-186 to unseat Saunders.
The Town Council sent another ordinance for legal counsel on Thursday. That proposal was seemingly inspired by Saunders, and would codify the school board’s nepotism policy and prohibit anyone with an immediate relative employed by the school from running for board membership.
Both Saunders’ and Ames’ seats were filled earlier this month following an August 5 special election that put Carol Sherburne and Dale Jackson in their seats.
Dexter Town Councilor Elijah Ames told The Maine Wire that the town is pushing for their lawyers to review the proposed ordinances this month so they can be taken up again at the next meeting, which falls on the second Thursday of September.
