AUGUSTA — The Senate on Tuesday moved Maine one step closer to joining 40 other states that allow public charter schools.

The Senate voted 21-13 to give preliminary approval to a bill that allows the state to create 10 charter schools over the next 10 years.

The bill now heads to the House.

Proponents say charter schools would bring flexibility and innovation to Maine education, offering students and parents the choice of a private school-like education without having to pay tuition.

Sen. Garrett Mason, R-Lisbon Falls, the bill’s lead sponsor, said charters can tailor their curricula to create specialized schools, such as an arts-based elementary school or one that focuses on agriculture.

Mason described Maine’s current public education system as “one size fits all” that doesn’t work for every student.

“Sometimes, we have square pegs that don’t fit in the round holes,” he said.

Opponents have countered that charters aren’t the panacea to education problems. They said charters, which are publicly funded, take students and resources from traditional public schools that are already underfunded. If successful, critics say, charters can destroy the public schools in their communities.

Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, said charters in other states such as Massachusetts were “hoovering up” high-performing students from public schools, leaving them with fewer students but the same costs to keep the facilities running.

Opponents also say other states’ experiences have demonstrated that charters offer education that’s often no better than regular schools, but with risks that are far greater.

Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, said the bill was a “leap of chance” that would allow charter schools autonomy over certain requirements for traditional public schools, including special education mandates and exemption from the state’s school budget validation process. 

Alfond also noted that the legislation would increase bureaucracy in the Maine Department of Education by creating the Charter School Commission, a seven-member board charged with approving charter applications and overseeing them.

The debate over charter schools has intensified recently following their rapid adoption and mixed results in other states. 

A 2009 independent study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University looked at charter schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia, covering 70 percent of students in charter schools. It found that 46 percent of charters were no better at educating kids than their traditional public school counterparts. Thirty-seven percent were worse, and 17 percent were better.

Alfond referred to the study during the floor debate, saying the results were “not glamorous.”

National charter school supporters have challenged the study’s findings.

The Maine Legislature’s Education Committee voted 9-4 for LD 1553. Opponents of the bill say only two lawmakers were present during the public hearing because of committee scheduling conflicts.

The bill is the latest in a series of proposals over the past several years that have sought to establish charters in Maine. However, with widespread support from Republicans, the bill appears to have a much better chance of enactment than any of its predecessors.

Gov. Paul LePage is also a charter school supporter.

If the bill passes, traditional public schools could apply to become charter schools, as could private schools. 

The schools can also be new.

Tuesday’s Senate vote mostly broke along party lines. Two Democrats, Sen. Nancy Sullivan of Biddeford and Sen. Joseph Brannigan of Portland voted with the Republican majority.

Sullivan is a public school teacher in the Saco School Department.

One Republican voted against the bill, Sen. Nichi Farnham of Bangor. Farnham serves on the Bangor School Committee.

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