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An Act To Allow for Collaboration in Public Charter Schools
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §2404, sub-§2, ¶J, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 414, §5, is amended to read:
 
J. A public charter school may enroll students from outside the State if space is available because the public charter school did not reach its full capacity under the public charter school's application under section 2407 or if the public charter school's proposed vision or plans according to the public charter school's application under section 2407 would be enhanced by the attendance of students from outside the State.
Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §2412, sub-§4, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 414, §5, is amended to read:
 
C. A public charter school may not charge tuition and may only charge such fees as may be imposed by other noncharter public schools in the State. A public charter school may charge tuition to an out-of-state student admitted to the school on a space-available basis because the public charter school did not reach its full capacity under the public charter school's application under section 2407 or if the public charter school's proposed vision or plans according to the public charter school's application under section 2407 would be enhanced by the attendance of students from outside the State.
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §2412, sub-§8  is enacted to read:
 
8.  Association with a private school.     A public charter school may operate in association with a private school under chapter 117 or a comparable private school from outside the State if:
 
A.  The operations of the public charter school comply with this chapter;
 
B.  The public charter school complies with its charter contract under section 2408; and
 
C.  The finances of the public charter school are accounted for separately from the finances of the private school.
 
SUMMARY
This bill clarifies that a public charter school may enroll students from outside the State and accept tuition for those students if there is space available because the public charter school did not reach its full capacity under the public charter school's application. This bill provides that a public charter school also may admit out-of-state students if the public charter school's proposed vision or plans according to the public charter school's application would be enhanced by the attendance of students from outside the State. This bill also allows a public charter school to operate in association with a private school if the public charter school complies with the provisions in law concerning public charter schools, the public charter school's operations comply with the public charter school's contract and the public charter school's finances are accounted for separately from the finances of the private school.