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An Act To Maintain the Integrity of the Department of Education by Prohibiting Its Promotion of Policies and Practices That Are Not Based on Rigorous Peer Review and Analysis, Limiting Acceptance of Private Funding in Implementing and Influencing State Policy and Retaining the Home Rule Powers to School Administrative Units
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §256, sub-§11  is enacted to read:
 
11.  Limit on authority.     Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commissioner may not:
 
A.  Promote policies, programs, procedures or experiments in public schools that do not adhere to rigorous standards of peer review and established statistical procedures for determining the effectiveness in producing clearly identified outcomes;
 
B.  Contract with or accept funding from private entities to implement state policies; or
 
C.  Maintain membership in regional or national educational organizations or associations that are funded by private entities, including, but not limited to, a consortium of New England secondary schools.
Sec. 2. Withdraw from New England Secondary School Consortium. The Commissioner of Education shall withdraw the State from the New England Secondary School Consortium on the effective date of this Act.
Sec. 3. Return to home rule powers; report. The Department of Education shall, in consultation with school administrative units and the Maine Municipal Association, study how to return home rule powers granted to municipalities by the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, chapter 111 and by the Constitution of Maine, Article VIII, Part Second to school administrative units. The department shall report to the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs on the department's findings and recommendations, including recommended legislation, no later than January 1, 2020. The committee may report out legislation related to the subject matter of the report to the Second Regular Session of the 129th Legislature.
 
SUMMARY
This bill prohibits the Commissioner of Education and Department of Education personnel from promoting policies, programs, procedures or experiments in schools that do not adhere to rigorous standards of peer review and established statistical procedures for determining the effectiveness in producing clearly identified outcomes and from contracting with and accepting funding from private entities to implement state policies. This bill also directs the commissioner to withdraw from the New England Secondary School Consortium and prohibits the commissioner from maintaining membership in regional or national groups that are funded by private entities. The bill also directs the Department of Education, in consultation with school administrative units and the Maine Municipal Association, to study how to return home rule powers to school administrative units.