Comments Sought on Maine’s IDEA Part B Application

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is seeking comments from the public on its annual application for federal funds under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which covers services to children with disabilities ages 3-22.

The application, which covers Maine fiscal year 2024 (starting July 1, 2023) is posted on the Maine DOE’s webpage at https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/specialed/ideapublic. The Part B budget is estimated/projected on the basis of Maine’s award for the State’s current award, pending the State’s receipt of the finalized federal award for the coming year. Both documents will be posted from March 24, 2023, through May 23, 2023.

Written comments will be accepted from, March 24, 2023, until 4 p.m. on Friday, April 28, 2023. Please send comments to Erin Frazier at erin.frazier@maine.gov or 23 State House Station, Augusta, ME. 04333.

Filing of Chapter 101: Maine Unified Special Education Regulation Emergency Rulemaking

The Maine Department of Education has identified a barrier to its obligation pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Maine Unified Special Education Regulation (MUSER) to ensure the provision of a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) to all eligible students, including the availability of a continuum of educational placements. The current funding structure outlined in Section XVIII.3.C(2) of MUSER for private schools that serve exclusively students with disabilities (referred to throughout as “special purpose private schools”) is causing those schools to limit or cease operations, leaving some of Maine’s most significantly impacted children without the educational placements they are entitled to by law. Further breakdown of this critical component of the continuum of educational placements will leave the State unable to maintain compliance with IDEA and MUSER. 

The Department has determined that a rule change is necessary on an emergency basis in order to protect the public health, safety and general welfare by ensuring that there is a continuum of placements available for all students with individualized education programs (IEPs) in accordance with federal and state law as follows: 

  • Change #1: Section XVIII.3.C(2) is amended to change the required number of instructional days to the “sum of the days on which instruction was provided in accordance with the school’s calendar” rather than the actual days of student attendance for the year.  Rationale:  The current funding formula penalizes the private school when a student is unable to attend, even if the lack of attendance is due to a disability-related reason, despite the obligation of the private school to have staff and supports available for the student every day of the school year. 
  • Change #2: adds a section (2A) to allow the Department to “recalculate the number of student days for the remainder of the fiscal year 2023 and the entirety of fiscal year 2024 using the number of days on which instruction was provided in accordance with the school’s fiscal year 2022 calendar and recalculate each school’s allowable expenditures and 2023 tuition rate using the revised number of student days.  The Department shall notify each special purpose private school of its revised tuition rate, which shall be effective immediately and applies to the remainder of fiscal year 2023 and the entirety of fiscal year 2024.”  Rationale:  The current funding formula operates on a one-year delay – this change ensures that additional monies will flow to the impacted schools now, to prevent closures or cutbacks.    
  • Change #3: adds a section (4A) which provides that “nothing in subparagraph (4) shall limit any increase in the tuition rate resulting from the change in calculating the number of student days in subparagraph (2) from the actual days of student attendance to the days on which instruction was provided in accordance with the school’s calendar.”  Rationale:  This change ensures that any increase in tuition resulting from the change in 2023 does not get reduced by the cap on the percentage of increase from year to year. 

A period of public comment opens today, March 24, 2023. Due to the need to prevent imminent harm to the students who depend on these educational placements and the emergency status of this rule change, the public comment period has been reduced to 10 days.  

Written comments may be submitted to DOE Legislative Team member Laura Cyr, State House Station #23, Augusta, Maine 04333; 207-446-8791 or laura.cyr@maine.gov until 5:00 p.m. on April 3, 2023. 

In addition, a public hearing for the proposed new rule will be suspended due to the emergency nature of this change. As an emergency filing, the proposed changes become active upon filing and are in effect for a period of one year from the filing date.  

Timeline for Rulemaking for Chapter 101 – Emergency, Major Substantive  

Comment Period Begins: March 24, 2023 

Comment Period Ends: April 3, 2023 

Anticipated Date of Adoption: April 10, 2023 

The proposed amendment to Chapter 101 can be found here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/about/laws/rulechanges   

 

 

 

Maine DOE Update March 24, 2023

From the Maine Department of Education

Reporting Items

| Visit the DC&R Reporting Calendar |

News & Updates

Are You Ready for the Week of the Young Child?

The Week of the Young Child, a national event sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to celebrate the importance of high-quality early learning, takes place April 1st -7th. The Maine Department of Education (DOE) and Maine’s Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) are excited to celebrate the event with early childhood educators across the state. |  More

Making Math Meaningful For All: Math4ME is Accepting Applications for Newest Cohort

Math4ME is a free, three-year, whole-school project designed to support all educators (classroom teachers, special educators, ed techs, and interventionists) to strengthen math proficiency for all learners with a specific focus on increased math proficiency for students with math IEP goals. The project will focus around building positive math school communities and classrooms, mathematical content and pedagogical skills, supporting inclusionary practices through MTSS, and formative assessment including the Early Mathematics Diagnostic Interview (EMDI). |  More

Maine DOE Child Nutrition Kicks off 2023 Farm-to-School Cook-off on March 27

The Maine Department of Education, Child Nutrition team is kicking off their annual Farm to School Cook-off this month! The cook-off is a statewide culinary competition for teams of school nutrition professionals and students to promote local foods in school meals. This voluntary competition is made available to all school districts in Maine. |  More

Exciting MLTI Student Conference Updates!

Registration is NOW Open for Virtual and in Person MLTI Conferences We’re excited to announce that registration for the 20th annual student conference is now open! To ensure that you and your students will receive an MLTI t-shirt, please complete the registration form no later than April 4th. We are asking for one lead teacher to complete the registration for the student conference. We’ve streamlined the registration process to ease the task of registering your entire group. Click here to access the registration form. |  More

Family Engagement Grant Opportunity Information Sessions

Through the Centers for Engaging Families across Maine (CEFAM), ParentPowered will be offering an informational session about their evidence-based family engagement messaging curriculum titled Ready4K. In partnership with the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Climate, Culture, and Resilience Team, this five-year grant is slated to provide a limited number of schools the opportunity to implement Ready4K. |  More

Paid Professional Learning Opportunity Provided by Maine DOE

The Maine Department of Education is accepting applications from individuals interested in learning more about the competitive grant process. Selected applicants will be trained to serve as peer reviewers who assist the Department in reviewing, assessing, and scoring competitive grant proposals for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Program. |  More

Get to Know the Maine DOE Team: Meet Selena Brown

Maine DOE team member Selena Brown is being highlighted as part of the Get to Know the Maine DOE Team Campaign. Learn a little more about Selena.. |  More

Maine Schools Sharing Success Stories

Sacopee Valley High School ELO Coordinator Making a Big Impact on Students’ Career Paths

“The best part of my day is working directly with my students,” said Elizabeth Sanborn, Sacopee Valley High School’s Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO) Coordinator. “It is a lot of fun helping them discover their interests and then create opportunities for them to explore careers.” |  More

| Submit your Maine School Success Story |

Professional Development & Training Opportunities

Webinar: How to Utilize Local Historical Societies for Your Project or Place-based Learning Units

Are you planning a project or place-based unit and looking for primary sources? Historical societies throughout the state are available to help you find and utilize these primary sources. To learn more about this, join Kathleen Flynn Neumann from the Maine Historical Society for a webinar that focuses on finding primary sources and how you can partner with historical societies to create authentic learning experiences for students. |  More

Supporting All Students: How the PBIS Framework is Inclusive for All

During this presentation hosted by the Maine Department of Education’s Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education (OSSIE), Heather George, PhD will focus on how to support all students with a PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) framework in schools: |  More

| Visit the Professional Development Calendar |

Latest DOE Career/Project Opportunities:

Seeking Five Distinguished Educators for MLTI Ambassador Positions

Are you passionate about professional growth and technology? Do you want to make a difference in Maine schools? Do you want to join a team of likeminded educators? Are you currently teaching in a Maine public school? This might be the opportunity you’ve been looking for! |  More

View current Maine Department of Education employment opportunities here

 

Maine DOE Child Nutrition Kicks off 2023 Farm-to-School Cook-off on March 27

(Pictured: Caleb Pratt & Gina Bailey from Team Son-Day- competing in last year’s Westbrook Regional Cook-off)

The Maine Department of Education, Child Nutrition team is kicking off their annual Farm to School Cook-off this month! The cook-off is a statewide culinary competition for teams of school nutrition professionals and students to promote local foods in school meals. This voluntary competition is made available to all school districts in Maine.

This year, two regional competitions will be held:

  • March 27th – Teams representing RSU 54 and RSU 21 will compete.
  • April 5th – Teams representing Lewiston Public Schools and RSU 17 will compete.

Both competitions will take place in the Child Nutrition Culinary Classroom in Augusta. The top team from each regional competition will face off at the final’s competition, also in Augusta, to determine the 2023 Farm to School Cook-off State Champion.

2022 Cook-off Champions- McMahon Tigers: Alain Lemesse & Alicia Smith
2022 Cook-off Champions- McMahon Tigers: Alain Lemesse & Alicia Smith

Each team, consisting of one student and one school nutrition employee, is tasked to prepare a breakfast and lunch meal using specific recipe guidelines and time restrictions and will present to a panel of judges. At least three local ingredients and one USDA food must be used in each meal. Local rolled oats donated by Maine Grains and local carrots donated by Emery Farm will be used as “challenge” ingredients in the competition. All recipes will later be shared in a Maine farm-to-school cookbook to be used in future school meals programs.

For questions about the Farm-to-School Cook-off, contact Maine DOE Child Nutrition Supervisor, Stephanie Stambach at stephanie.stambach@maine.gov. For more information on Maine’s Farm and Sea to School program, visit https://www.maine.gov/doe/farmtoschool.

Exciting MLTI Student Conference Updates!

Registration is NOW Open for Virtual and in Person MLTI Conferences

We’re excited to announce that registration for the 20th annual student conference is now open! To ensure that you and your students will receive an MLTI t-shirt, please complete the registration form no later than April 4th. We are asking for one lead teacher to complete the registration for the student conference. We’ve streamlined the registration process to ease the task of registering your entire group. Click here to access the registration form.

Conference Proposals Deadline for Submission – March 28th

We’re still looking for conference proposal submissions for the MLTI student conference! If you are interested but would like to know more, all information for both the virtual and in-person student conferences can be found on our website. Click here to access the submission link.

USM Location Cancelled

We are not having an MLTI Conference at the University of Southern Maine due to limitations of parking and conference space.  Unfortunately, the campus doesn’t have space for the agenda we have planned for this exciting conference.  Our conference schedule is now: Virtual Conference on May 18th and In-person Conference on May 25th at the University of Maine in Orono.