AUGUSTA – Supporters of public charter schools in Maine say they are optimistic that the fight isn’t over yet despite a defeat Monday in the state Senate.
By a vote of 18-16, with one senator absent, a bill that would allow a pilot program of 20 charter schools during the next decade failed.
The proposal faced a difficult task to overcome opposition from the majority of members of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee and particularly its chairman, Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro.
“It’s hard for Democrats to go against the will of the chairman of the education committee,” said Judith Jones, chairman of the Maine Association for Charter Schools.
The vote on charter schools has been postponed several times as the party leaders, particularly Democrats, worked to make sure they had enough votes to prevail. Despite intense lobbying, two Democrats broke ranks and supported the bill, Sen. Bill Diamond, Windham, and Lynn Bromley, South Portland.
“If we win in the House, we might be able to turn it around,” Jones said. The bill will go to the House for consideration, perhaps as soon as next week.
According to Jones, Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, who was absent Monday supports the legislation, meaning they would have to persuade only one senator to change his or her vote to win.
“It’s extremely close,” Jones said. “We have quite a few people on both sides of the aisle and we’re working hard to consolidate that support.”
The bill, L.D. 1640, would allow public charter schools that serve at-risk students, particularly those with high absenteeism, who are more than a year behind in their studies or who have been identified as having special needs. The pilot program is limited to 10 years.
Supporters of the legislation said during Senate floor debate that the pilot program would be able to attract federal money in its early years and would fulfill a critical need for students who aren’t well-suited to traditional classrooms and current education alternatives.
“Now more than 40 states have enacted charter school regulations,” said Sen. Karl Turner, R-Cumberland. “At last, we have a bill that this body and the other chamber should support.”
According to Turner, the charter schools would focus on the 1,600-1,700 students who drop out of public schools every year, hopefully enticing them to continue their education.
Opponents countered that there are already 81 alternative education programs around the state that target at-risk students, making charter schools an unnecessary duplication that threatens to draw funding away from other public schools.
“This issue is about more than at-risk kids,” Mitchell said. “It means not siphoning off our kids” into new schools.
The money, Mitchell said, follows the students. As the charter schools draw from the student population, there will be less money left to finance the operations of schools the kids leave.
“You still have to pay the teacher who has 18 students left. You still have to pay for the building. You still have to pay for the buses,” Mitchell said.
And while there’s a promise of federal funding to begin charter schools, there’s no guarantee that the money will be available down the road. “Look at No Child Left Behind and special education funding,” she said.
Sens. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, and Chandler Woodcock, R-Farmington, both candidates running for governor, spoke in support of charter schools.
Woodcock, citing 26 years in the classroom, said that at-risk students need alternatives. “I’m not sure charter schools are enough. Home schooling might not be enough. What we need is to not focus so much on funding, but to focus on the students.”
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