FINDINGS
Out of more than 900 localities, be they municipalities like cities and towns, or unorganized townships, 575 provide some information on SAU designation. In more than 85% of the jurisdictions with information available, resident students do not have an option to be reimbursed for their educational choices. They may attend another district or private school only if their families pay all costs of attendance, including tuition and transportation.
Only 87 jurisdictions offer some measure of school choice, found largely in rural areas, often small towns in counties with low percentages of school-age children. Twenty municipalities offer full choice at every grade level. High-schoolers in 48 towns have full choice. In two towns, students in grades six through 12 have full choice. Seventeen jurisdictions give students a limited pool of options across various grade levels. Four among those provide limited choice for all grades, five do so for high-schoolers, six for elementary schoolers (either K-5 or K-6), and one each for grades K-8 and grades 6-12.
Local school boards could allow broader public school options for their resident students by negotiating with other nearby SAUs, or reorganizing themselves to open up choice. What if the state expanded town-tuitioning to all public school students through a sort of “open enrollment” policy, similar to that in place in Minnesota, Florida, or Texas? An analysis of student transfer data in Texas over the 2018-2019 school year found that while only 3% of students transferred to a traditional public school outside of their home district, 45,000 students utilized their option to enroll in a higher-performing school district as measured by state standards.
Under open enrollment, Maine’s public school system would likely see an explosion of competition between schools and districts within relative geographical proximity, as SAUs and schools work to attract families through voluntary choice instead of assuming enrollment based on residency. This may offer greater challenges for school administrators, but it would no doubt benefit students’ education and the state’s future. With public school enrollment on a steady decline, allowing open enrollment for every Maine student could bolster local school budgets by helping to keep students in the public school system.