The Maine Charter School Commission will vote at its March 3 meeting on whether to move forward the applications of three public charter schools proposed to open in Maine this fall.
The Commission’s March business meeting was originally scheduled for March 4, but was moved to 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 3 in Conference Rooms C and D of the DHHS Building at 35 Anthony Ave. in Augusta.
Earlier this month, the Commission held public hearings on applications for Lewiston-Auburn Academy Charter School, Lewiston; Maine Connections Academy; and Maine Virtual Academy. Now the Commission will vote whether to enter into contract negotiations with each applicant or deny their application.
In 2011, Governor Paul R. LePage signed legislation making Maine the 41st state to allow charter schools and establishing the seven-member Commission as an authorizer of up to 10 public charter schools through June 30, 2022. Local school boards can additionally authorize public charter schools.
Currently, there are five charter schools effectively serving more than 400 Maine students including Cornville Regional Charter School, the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Hinckley, Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland, Fiddlehead School of Arts and Science in Gray and Harpswell Coastal Academy.
For more information about the Maine Charter School Commission or to see the current applications under review, visit www.maine.gov/csc.
I find it hard to believe that the Maine Charter Commission would approve of any of the last three charter schools applications. The two virtual charter schools applicants have been under investigation in over a half a dozen states. Please read the Portland Press Herald article about K-12 Inc and .Connections Inc. of last summer to verify these facts. These are for-profit shareholder operations to take our hard earned public school tax
money and send it out of state. Our monies would be better spent for a Maine state virtual school for all Maine students.
The third charter school in Lewiston appears to be religious in nature and taught by teachers on visa from Turkey. What is going on? We are taking monies from public education to travel this charter school road. Please deny all three of these applications.
Carl Beckett
Retired Teacher
Retired RSU 16 School Director