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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1588H.P. 1046House of Representatives, April 10, 2025
An Act to Ensure Transparency in Student Transfer Requests
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative BAGSHAW of Windham.
Cosponsored by Senator STEWART of Aroostook and
Representatives: ALBERT of Madawaska, COLLINS of Sidney, GRIFFIN of Levant,
SCHMERSAL-BURGESS of Mexico, SOBOLESKI of Phillips, Senators: HARRINGTON of
York, LIBBY of Cumberland, MOORE of Washington. Page 1 - 132LR1176(01)
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2 as amended by PL 2013, c. 456, §1, is
3 further amended by enacting at the end a new last blocked paragraph to read:
4 By July 1st of each year, a school administrative unit shall report to the commissioner
5 the total number of transfer requests presented to the school administrative unit in the
6 last year, including requests to transfer to or from the school administrative unit. The
7 report must also state the number of transfers accepted, state the number of transfers
8 denied, include the written description for each denial and specify for each transfer
9 request presented whether the school administrative unit was requested to send or
10 receive the student requesting the transfer. The commissioner shall annually publish a
11 de-identified version of the data on the department's publicly accessible website. For
12 the purposes of this paragraph, "de-identified" means that any potential personal
13 identifying information of a student has been removed.
14 as amended by PL 2013, c. 456, §2, is
15 further amended by enacting at the end a new first blocked paragraph to read:
16 The commissioner shall publish on the department's publicly accessible website the
17 number of transfer determinations, the number of transfers accepted and the number of
18 transfers denied, including a de-identified version of the written decision required
19 pursuant to this paragraph. For the purposes of this paragraph, "de-identified" has the
20 same meaning as in paragraph A.
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22 This bill modifies the education laws governing student transfers to require greater
23 transparency by school administrative units and the Commissioner of Education. The bill
24 requires school administrative units to report information pertaining to requests by students
25 to transfer either to or from that school administrative unit within the past year. The bill
26 also requires the commissioner to make a de-identified version of that information available
27 on the Department of Education's publicly accessible website, including information
28 related to any transfer request reviewed by the commissioner.
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