School Choice Now!
Lawmakers on Maine’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee are set to debate bills that would expand school choice in Maine amid the pandemic. LDs 380 and 430 would remove the cap on the number of public charter schools allowed to operate in Maine, as well as the cap on enrollment at Maine’s virtual public charters.
Last session, lawmakers passed a pair of bills that placed a permanent cap on the number of charter schools allowed to operate in Maine and capped enrollment at virtual charters, preventing these schools from expanding their services to different grade levels. Nobody could have predicted a pandemic was on the horizon, but now that it’s here, these actions must be undone to give families flexibility and to respond to the urgent needs of Maine students.