Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §3253-A, sub-§3, as amended by PL 1985, c. 603, §1, is further amended to read:

3. Tuition. The commissioner shall pay tuition for each tuition student in an amount equal to the official tuition rate approved pursuant to sections 5805, subsection 1; 5806,; 5809; or 7302 for the receiving school for nonresident students enrolled in secondary schools or special education or vocational education programs, provided that the student maintains a satisfactory standard of deportment and scholarship.

SUMMARY

Under current law, the Commissioner of Education is required to pay for each tuition student from the unorganized territory attending public secondary schools in the State either an amount calculated to represent the sum of expenditures for public secondary education divided by the number of students or the state average per public secondary student cost, whichever is lower. This bill eliminates the state average cost as a possible tuition rate in these circumstances, and requires instead that the commissioner pay the amount calculated to represent the sum of expenditures divided by the number of students.