MDIschools.net

PUBLIC HEARING TESTIMONY

IN SUPPORT OF

LD 1336: An Act To Preserve School Choice Rights, Senator Weston;

...bill clarifies the obligation and financial responsibility of regional school unit boards of directors for preserving the opportunities for choice of schools for students who reside in a municipality in a regional school unit that was a previous education unit that sent students to another school administrative unit. The bill provides that when one or more member municipalities continue to send students to a school outside of the new regional school unit, the regional school unit is responsible for the tuition expenses for the students who are educated outside of the regional school unit. 

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Senator Alfond, Representative Sutherland, distinguished members of the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs:

My name is Brian Hubbell.  I am the chair of the Mount Desert Island Regional School System, an Alternative Organization Structure constituted of eight municipalities of Bar Harbor, Cranberry Isles, Frenchboro, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Swan's Island, Tremont, Trenton, and the four-town CSD that administers the Mount Desert Island Regional High School.

I am here today in support of LD 1336: An Act To Preserve School Choice Rights,

• Even though the four major MDI towns do not have school choice, four of our member municipalities do.
• As a system, we believe we benefit from the system of choice.  Competing for students from outside the MDI HS CSD keeps us focused on what we do well at our high school and tuition students allow us to keep the broadest range of programs. This benefits all the students.
• We want MDI to remain a real option for the families from Trenton, Lamoine and Hancock who have traditionally sent a great proportion of their students to our high school.  Their becoming part of a different new RSU should not cause them an additional hardship.