James joined at 1:15

Leigh joined at 2:15

Norm reported that Leigh and Brian have agreed to serve on the New School Application Review Team.

Norm provided an update on legislation the Commission will be monitoring:

• Senator Joe Rafferty will sponsor the bill for DFAS administrative changes pertaining to MCSC.  
• Senator James Libby will sponsor the bill proposing to increase enrollment limits on virtual schools by 20%.
• Representative Sheila Lyman will sponsor the bill addressing an extension of the insured value factor to charter schools.  

Lana and Norm will attend hearings.

Amy will monitor these and other bills that may impact charter schools and will provide periodic updates to the Commission. 

Norm will work to reserve a spot at the Hall of Flags during National Charter School Week.  

Norm will visit the Governer's office to discuss the expiration of current Commissioner's terms and reappointments.

Tori reported the Committee discussed the following:

• The upcoming Mid-Year Meetings.
• Baxter's Innovation Fund Application.
• The Strategic Plan - The Committee reviewed and suggested an amendment to the draft stating the Commission will share its knowledge with other partners. 

In Leigh's absence, Lana reported the Committe discussed the following:

• The Strategic Plan - The Committe reviewed and suggested an amendment to incorporate the addition of financial training in the Board training section.
• The Annual Boards and Commission Report filed in December.
• Baxter's Innovation Fund Application
• School Finances - FY24 audits have come in for some schools. Others have approved extensions. Joe Drago provided a reminder to schools holding debt to be clear on compliance items related to the debt. 
• Baxter' Shark Tank event when students present their Flex Friday projects will be held in the morning on February 7th. 

Norm noted that all Executive Committee items have been discussed in the other Committee meeting reports.

Susan Muzzy building principal at Dimensions Academy, Community Regional Charter School reported on several activities and events at CRCS.

• CRCS will be participating in WinterKids, a State of Maine elementary school competition lasting four weeks. They are representing Somerset County and can win up to $5,000 for their school.  As part of this, on January 29th at 6am, the students will be on Channel 8 news doing the morning weather report.  Travis Works has forwarded information on the event schedule to the Commission and to Lana.
• For school choice week, they will host a school wide ice fishing event, working on parent and board involvement.  They are also holding a contest asking students to write about what school choice means to them and why does CRCS matter.
• To raise awareness of their multiple locations, they will be holding a district wide school dance in Skowhegan.

Lana informed the Commission that she and Commissioner Makin met to go over the report in detail prior to the meeting.

Lana summarized the report highlights as follows: 

Demographics:  

• This year there were 2,717 students enrolled in the Charter School portfolio which is an increase from last year but is less than 2% of all Maine students.  Schools are meeting their contracted enrollments and have wait lists. 
• The Charter School students come from 143 districts and 300 cities, towns and unorganized territories.
• 23% of the students have an IEP and overall, 44% are from economically challenged families while there is variation among schools on this statistic.

Charter School Strengths: 

•  Student retention and persistence is high which is an improvement from past years.
•  Students in 8 of 9 charter schools are meeting expectations for proficiency in reading on the State assessment and are either at or above the state average.
•  6 of 7 schools meet or exceed the State High School Graduation rate goal. 
•  Seniors in 6 of 7 schools meet or exceed the Community College benchmarks for readiness in math and reading on either the Accuplacer or SAT exams.
•  In the annual Panorama survey, family satisfaction is high, scoring in the 90-99% positivity range nationally. 

Charter School Areas to Grow 

• Math - Half the schools are either approaching or not meeting expectations in math, so this is an area of focus for the schools.
• Attendance - Half the schools are above the State average for chronic absenteeism, so the schools are also focused on improving this metric.

Harpswell Coastal Academy has officially dissolved as a 503(c).

Lana reported the staff is on track with activities as presented in the workflow calendar.  Tom inquired about the review of differences between public and public charter school requirements for teacher certifications. Lana confirmed this project is on the work plan.  

Lana reviewed the detailed timeline for the New School Application Review Process.  

Mid-Year Meetings with school administrators and board members have started.  The focus of the meetings is on (1) areas where schools are not meeting expectations on the performance framework and (2) progress on the short-term goals discussed in the fall professional development sessions. Reports will be provided in detail to the School Performance Committee and in summary form to the whole Commission in March.

The November Commission meeting conflicts with Veteran's Day on the 11th, so Lana proposed holding the meeting on November 18th.  This will be a future agenda item for official action in addition to a vote on whether to hold a July meeting.

Amy presented the Annual Boards and Commissions Report which is a summary of all Commission activity for the calendar year due by December 31st each year.       

Lana reviewed the following future topics:

February

• Preview Enrollment Map Update

March

• Performance Framework Minor Clarifications
• Mid-Year Meetings Review
• Summary of New School Applications Received
• 2025 Renewal Timeline

The New School Application deadline is February 13th.

• February 11, 2025 (Cross Office Building, Room #103, Augusta) or Zoom
• March 11, 2025 (Cross Office Building, Room #103, Augusta) or Zoom