Skowhegan area school officials say they support a bill to create a new funding system for public charter schools that won unanimous support last week from a legislative committee.
The bill would change the way charter schools are funded, and districts such as School Administrative District 59 in Madison and Skowhegan-based SAD 54 — which have had significant financial losses — would no longer have to foot the bill for students who attend charter schools.
The proposed bill, L.D. 131, sponsored by Rep. Brian Hubbell, D-Bar Harbor, would change the current funding arrangement so that the state pays subsidy money and the local share directly to the charter school, not the school district.
It won support from the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, but still faces votes in both the House and Senate.
Supporters say it is a fairer way to fund charter schools.
Under the current formula for school funding, the local district pays the tuition to the charter schools for each student with money from the state subsidy it receives and from the local property tax base.
“For every kid that goes to a charter school we literally have to write them a check — but they’re still counted as being residents here,” said SAD 54 Superintendent Brent Colbry Monday. “What would change under the legislation is that would go away. It wouldn’t happen any more. The state would treat the charter schools like they’re their own school system.”
Colbry said there are 107 students from SAD 54 towns attending the state’s three charter schools, including the Maine Virtual Academy. The district includes Canaan, Cornville, Mercer, Norridgewock, Skowhegan and Smithfield.
SAD 54, based in Skowhegan, has been hardest hit by the current funding arrangement, with losses estimated at $1 million, according to a release from the House Democratic Office.
In 2012, the state’s first two charter schools opened within 20 miles of each other — The Maine Academy for Natural Sciences in Fairfield and the Cornville Regional Charter School. The Skowhegan-based district felt the shock immediately, Colbry said, noting reduced staff, reduced programs and tax increases.
Madison-based School Administrative District 59, which is also near the two charter schools, also stands to benefit from the proposed law, said Superintendent Todd LeRoy. It comes at a time when Madison, the only town in the district, is already under financial stress because of a large drop in property tax value at the Madison Paper Industries mill.
“This would alleviate a lot of the stress we’re dealing with from charter school costs currently,” LeRoy said.
Colby said local school officials have been supporting the legislation for the past two sessions.
Colbry said SAD 54 has budgeted about $995,000 for the charter schools in the coming year. That money would not have to be paid, he said, and the budget would drop by that sum.
“The increase to the taxpayers would be less, substantially,” Colbry said.
The school subsidy from the state would drop in subsequent years because charter school students would no longer be counted as members of the school district, he said.
SAD 59 has about $300,000 budgeted for charter school costs for the 2015-2016 school year, LeRoy said, and enrolls about 20 students at charter schools.
“It would eliminate a very sizable portion of that, and it comes at an ideal time when our schools are really at a crossroads,” LeRoy said.
Ann Kim, communications director for the House Democratic Office, said the intent of the bill is to spread the liability of funding charter schools in Maine equally across the state rather than on the taxpayers who live in the towns near the charter school.
“It wouldn’t be that each district that was a sending district to a charter school would then be the one paying that tuition,” Kim said. “It would be spread around statewide.”
Hubbell, a member of the education committee, said spreading out the spending for the local share statewide is better for both public charter schools and local school districts.
“We cannot continue to put schools in competition for already-scarce resources with a handful of communities bearing the brunt of an unfair funding system,” he said.
House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, said the committee “recognizes that no one wins when we unnecessarily pit school districts and public charters against one another.”
“For years, policymakers have understood that the current system is unsustainable,” he said. “We now have an opportunity to make a difference for students, their schools and their communities.”
Staff writer Rachel Ohm contributed to this story.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
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