Providing Access in Rural Areas
The 10 charter schools currently operating in Maine are largely concentrated in southern and central Maine, leaving wide swaths of the state without access to an alternative public education. With the overall cap on charter schools in place, it is unsurprising and understandable that those looking to establish a charter school would seek to do so in locations that would allow them to serve the greatest number of potential students. Consequently, however, students in more rural areas of Maine are unable to realistically attend a charter school due to transportation, effectively barring students struggling to succeed within “traditional school settings” from accessing the alternative educational models made possible by the charter system, such as “project-based” and “place-based” learning. By removing the cap on charter schools, there would be a greater incentive to establish charter schools in areas where they may only serve a handful of students, allowing more children in rural areas the opportunity to access the same quality and diversity of education as those living in the highest-populated areas.
Although some argue that an expansion of rural charter schools would do harm to existing public schools in the area, charter schools present a unique opportunity for rural communities to offer students a higher quality of education than may be otherwise accessible. Furthermore, there are a number of localities in Maine that do not operate their own public school, meaning that the charter system may be an avenue by which these areas could become home to a locally-run public schooling option that may be more convenient or appropriate for students living in such districts than participating in the Town Tuitioning program.