LD 2103
pg. 2
Page 1 of 2 An Act Regarding Essential Programs and Services LD 2103 Title Page
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LR 3430
Item 1

 
C.__Specialized services, including professional
development, instructional leadership support, student
assessment, technology and cocurricular and extracurricular
programs; and

 
D.__School administrative unit services, including system
administration and operation and maintenance of plant.

 
3.__Specialized student populations. In recognition that
educational needs can be more costly for some student populations
than for others, modified per-pupil guarantee amounts or weighted
pupil counts must be calculated for specialized student
populations.__The specialized student populations to be addressed
are:

 
A.__Special education students;

 
B.__Limited English proficiency students;

 
C.__Economically disadvantaged students; and

 
D.__Students in kindergarten to grade 2.

 
4.__Educational cost components outside the per-pupil
guarantee. A per-pupil guarantee is not a suitable method for
allocation of all educational cost components.__These components
may include, but are not limited to, debt service,
transportation, bus purchases, vocational education, small school
adjustments, teacher educational attainment and longevity of
service and adjustments to general purpose aid.__The funding
methodology of these educational cost components must be
established based on available research.

 
5.__Local control of expenditures. Except for those
components that are targeted funds, funds provided for the
essential programs and services described in this section must be
distributed as general purpose aid for local schools, and each
school administrative unit shall make its own determination
regarding the configuration of resources best suited for its
pupils and how to allocate available funds for these resources.

 
6.__Targeted funds. Funds for technology, assessment and the
costs of additional investments in educating children in
kindergarten to grade 2 must be provided as targeted grants.__
School administrative units shall submit a plan for the use of
these funds and shall receive funding based on approval of the
plan by the commissioner.

 
Sec. 2. Recommended funding levels for fiscal year 2003-04. In addition to
the fiscal year 2003-04 funding level

 
that is recommended by the Commissioner of Education to the
Governor as prescribed in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A,
section 15605, the Commissioner of Education shall also recommend
at the same time an alternative funding level for fiscal year
2003-04 for consideration by the State Board of Education, the
Governor and the Legislature.

 
1. Basis. The alternative funding level for fiscal year
2003-04 must be based on the essential programs and services
funding model, as described in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title
20-A, chapter 606-B, and must contain the elements described in
more detail in the report issued by the State Board of Education
to the 119th Legislature pursuant to Public Law 1997, chapter 24,
Part X, with any refinements and updates to those elements that
have been endorsed by the State Board of Education prior to the
time of the Commissioner of Education's recommendation for fiscal
year 2003-04, provided those refinements and updates are
consistent with the report on school funding issued in January
2002 by the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural
Affairs.

 
2. Public input. Prior to the determination by the State
Board of Education of the elements of essential programs and
services to be used in the Commissioner of Education's
recommended alternative funding level for fiscal year 2003-04,
the State Board of Education in conjunction with the Commissioner
of Education shall hold such public forums on the proposed
elements as are appropriate to inform and solicit input from key
stakeholders and the public.

 
3. Issues identified by Commissioner of Education. If the
Commissioner of Education, in developing the recommended
alternative funding level for fiscal year 2003-04, identifies
issues that have not been sufficiently addressed by the prior
reports and actions of the State Board of Education, then the
commissioner may recommend resolutions to these issues in the
presentation of the alternative funding level for fiscal year
2003-04.

 
4. Revisions to school finance laws. With the recommended
alternative funding level for fiscal year 2003-04, the
Commissioner of Education shall present to the State Board of
Education and to the Legislature any proposed statutory language
necessary to implement the essential programs and services
funding model, beginning in fiscal year 2003-04. This proposed
statutory language must include the consolidation and
simplification of existing laws regarding school finance.

 
Sec. 3. Phase-in. The essential programs and services approach to
school funding must be phased in over a period of time beginning
in fiscal year 2003-04. The essential programs and services
approach must be fully implemented by fiscal year 2007-08. The
details of this phase-in plan must be presented to the State
Board of Education and the Legislature in conjunction with the
Commissioner of Education's recommended alternative funding level
for fiscal year 2003-04. The phase-in plan must address the
relation between the essential program and services funding model
and the levels of state funding necessary to reach a state share
of funding of at least 50% of eligible general fund education
costs statewide, exclusive of federal funds accounted for under
the model.

 
Sec. 4. Subsidy cushions. During the phase-in period described in
this Act, the impact of any reduction in subsidy between
consecutive years for any school administrative unit must be
cushioned. Because such cushions are inequitable, the level of
the cushion must decline each year, with cushions related to the
phase-in of the essential programs and services approach to
school funding ending no later than fiscal year 2007-08.

 
Sec. 5. Best practices. The State Board of Education shall provide
for ongoing research to identify those best practices in schools
that increase student performance or improve efficient operation
and use of resources. The State Board of Education, in its
report on essential programs and services to the joint standing
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education
and cultural affairs, shall provide information about best
methods for promoting the use of these practices in school
administrative units.

 
Sec. 6. Report. By January 15, 2003, the State Board of Education
and the Commissioner of Education shall report to the joint
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over
education and cultural affairs with recommendations and proposed
statutory language for full implementation of a system of school
funding and accountability for resources based on essential
programs and services, including comprehensive revisions to the
current school finance laws. In conjunction with the State Board
of Education, the Education Research Institute shall examine what
basis there may be for recognizing legitimate regional
differences. The report and the accompanying proposed statutory
language must include, but are not limited to, recommendations on
methods of determining costs for each of the components described
in this Act; periodic adjustments to these component and to the
calculated costs; strategies for implementing the findings and
recommendations of follow-up studies on essential programs and
services previously directed by the Legislature; findings and
recommendations on the feasibility and appropriateness of a
regional cost adjustment for legitimate regional differences in
the cost of components; findings and recommendations on the
appropriateness and feasibility of adjustments for educator
recruitment and retention through equitable compensation; and a
transition plan to full implementation of this new funding system
beginning in fiscal year 2003-04 and completed no later than
fiscal year 2007-08. The State Board of Education and the
Commissioner of Education may introduce legislation related to
their report to the First Regular Session of the 121st
Legislature at the time of submission of their report.

 
SUMMARY

 
The Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs
is reporting out this bill to the House pursuant to Joint Order
H.P. 1579.

 
The committee bill proposes to accomplish the following.

 
1. It establishes a timeline for a transition to a new school
funding approach, based on essential programs and services, in
order to provide all children with an equitable opportunity to
access the resources necessary to achieve the high standards of
Maine's system of learning results.

 
2. It defines essential programs and services, including
those elements to be funded on a per-pupil basis, addresses
resources for specialized student populations, defines major cost
components to be determined on other than a per-pupil basis and
provides for targeted grants.

 
3. It provides that funding essential programs and services
is a state-local partnership, and that local school
administrative units retain the authority to determine how to
expend funds once they are received from the State, with the
exception of the targeted grants.

 
4. It directs the Commissioner of Education and the State
Board of Education to prepare an alternative recommended funding
level based on essential programs and services for fiscal year
2003-04, in addition to the recommended funding level for fiscal
year 2003-04 as provided under current law.

 
5. It provides for a report from the State Board of Education
and the Commissioner of Education on a comprehensive transition
plan, including proposed revisions to the school finance laws, to
be submitted to the joint standing committee of the Legislature
having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs in
January 2003.


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