‘An Act To Provide for School Enrollment and an Appeal Process in Specific Cases in Which Students Do Not Reside with Parents’
| HP0722 LD 978 |
Second Regular Session - 125th Maine Legislature C "A", Filing Number H-720, Sponsored by
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LR 812 Item 3 |
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| Bill Tracking, Additional Documents | Chamber Status | ||
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Provide for School Enrollment and an Appeal Process in Specific Cases in Which Students Do Not Reside with Parents’
Amend the bill by inserting after the title and before the enacting clause the following:
‘ Mandate preamble. This measure requires one or more local units of government to expand or modify activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues but does not provide funding for at least 90% of those expenditures. Pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, 2/3 of all of the members elected to each House have determined it necessary to enact this measure.
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the summary and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §5205, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1991, c. 365, §1, is further amended to read:
If a person who is not the student's parent or legal guardian requests that a student be considered a resident under this subsection, the school administrative unit shall take reasonable steps to attempt to notify a parent or legal guardian of the request.
In determining whether it is in the best interest of the student to enroll in the school administrative unit, the superintendent shall consult with knowledgeable employees of relevant school administrative units that the superintendent considers appropriate.
The superintendent shall send written notice of the enrollment determination to the person making a request within 10 calendar days of receiving the request to enroll a student pursuant to this subsection. If the determination is to deny enrollment because the superintendent determines that enrollment in the school administrative unit is not in the best interest of the student as provided in this subsection, the superintendent shall send to the person who made the request written notice of the denial of enrollment, the reason for the denial and the right to appeal to the commissioner.
The commissioner shall review the superintendent's determination on the request of appeal by the student's parent or legal guardian or the person with whom the student is residing and shall make a decision within 7 calendar days of receiving the appeal. The commissioner's decision is final and binding. Upon request of the superintendent of schools in the unit in which a student is placed in accordance with this subsection, the state share percentage for subsidized educational costs for that student is equivalent to the state share percentage of the unit in which the student's parent or legal guardian resides or the average state share percentage, whichever is greater. If the parent or legal guardian does not reside in the State or can not be located, the subsidy is the state average subsidy.
Sec. 2. Model explanation. The Commissioner of Education shall prepare and distribute a model for superintendents of schools to use to explain the appeal process when a superintendent determines attendance by a student in the superintendent's school administrative unit is not in the student's best interest under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 5205, subsection 2.’
SUMMARY
This amendment adds a mandate preamble to and changes the title of the bill.
It replaces the bill, which addresses the duration of powers of attorney concerning minors, Probate Court orders that provide transition arrangements that are in the best interest of minors and the application for enrollment in a school administrative unit for students living with kinship families rather than their parents. Public Law 2011, chapter 43 addresses the first 2 issues.
It amends the current law to provide that a student's safety in a parent's home is a basis for a superintendent to determine that it is in the best interest of the student to enroll in that school administrative unit when the student is residing in that unit with someone other than a parent or guardian. Current law provides that, for a superintendent to determine that a student's enrolling in that school administrative unit is in the student's best interest when the student is not living with a parent, 2 requirements must be met: first, that it is undesirable and impractical for that student to reside with the student's parent or that other extenuating circumstances exist that justify residence in the unit; and, second, that the person with whom the child is living is residing in the school administrative unit for other than just education purposes. This amendment restructures the language to still require that the person with whom the child is living must be residing in the unit for other than education purposes, and then provides that one of 3 conditions, one of them the new safety requirement, must also be met. The other, existing conditions are that it is undesirable and impractical for that student to reside with the student's parent and that other extenuating circumstances exist which justify residence in the unit.
It requires the school administrative unit to take reasonable steps to notify the student's parents or legal guardian if a request for enrollment is made by a person other than the parent or legal guardian.
It provides that a superintendent is required to consult with knowledgeable employees of relevant school administrative units that the superintendent considers appropriate in order to determine if enrollment is in the student's best interest. The superintendent must notify the person requesting enrollment within 10 calendar days of the request whether the student may enroll in that unit. If the determination is to deny enrollment because the superintendent determines that enrollment in the school administrative unit is not in the best interest of the student, the superintendent must send written notice to the person with whom the student is residing of the denial of enrollment, the reason for the denial and the right to appeal to the Commissioner of Education.
It provides that, if the person appeals the superintendent's denial of enrollment, the Commissioner of Education must decide within 7 calendar days whether to overturn the superintendent's decision.
It provides that the Commissioner of Education must develop a model written explanation of the appeal process when the superintendent determines that attendance in that school administrative unit is not in the best interest of the student and distribute it to superintendents.