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An Act To Expand Educational Opportunities for Students Attending Public Secondary Schools with Enrollments of 300 or Fewer Students
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §4730  is enacted to read:
§ 4730. Academic opportunity programs
 
1.  Secondary schools with more than 300 students.     A private or public secondary school with more than 300 students shall enter into an agreement with any secondary school with 300 or fewer students to establish an academic opportunity program at the smaller school that makes available to students of that school courses and academic programs at the larger school, including, but not limited to, advanced placement courses, international baccalaureate programs and early college programs.
 
2.  Secondary schools with 300 or fewer students.     A secondary school with 300 or fewer students shall establish an academic opportunity program in accordance with the agreements entered into pursuant to subsection 1 and inform its resident students of the program.
 
3.  School administrative units; policies and procedures; report.     The school administrative unit of a secondary school with 300 or fewer students shall develop policies and procedures for the school's academic opportunity program. The school administrative unit shall report annually to the department the number of students participating in the program and the number of courses and academic programs accessed through the program.
 
4.  Rates; rulemaking.     The department shall establish tuition rates for students participating in an academic opportunity program under this section and shall publish the rates on the department's publicly accessible website. The department shall adopt rules to implement this section. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
 
5.  Transportation.     A secondary school with an academic opportunity program under this section and the school providing access to its courses are not responsible for providing transportation for a student in the academic opportunity program who requires transportation to a secondary school outside the student's resident school administrative unit in order to participate.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires private and public secondary schools with more than 300 students to enter into contracts with secondary schools with 300 or fewer students to establish academic opportunity programs that make available to resident students of the smaller schools the courses and academic programs of the larger schools, including, but not limited to, advanced placement courses, international baccalaureate programs and early college programs. The bill also requires the secondary schools with 300 or fewer students to inform their resident students of the academic opportunity program and provides that the schools participating in an academic opportunity program are not responsible for providing transportation to participating students.