Maine Revised Statutes Title 20-A. Education § 7302. Tuition rates

A. All tuition rates are subject to approval by the commissioner.

B. The tuition rates may not exceed the actual per student cost incurred in the operation during the preceding school year.

C. The commissioner shall adopt or amend rules to define allowable expenditures used to determine per student costs.

D. An agency shall file an annual financial report detailing the allowable expenditures and the computation of the tuition rate at such time and in the form the commissioner may require.

E. Increases in the tuition rate from one year to the next may not exceed the tuition rate established through negotiation unless evidence is presented to the commissioner that a hardship will exist if a higher rate of increase is not approved, and this evidence is determined sufficient by the commissioner.

F. The commissioner shall establish a tuition rate for new special education programs in special purpose private schools and private general purpose agencies based on the estimated allowable costs of these schools.

G. A special purpose private preschool that provides both educational and medically necessary behavioral health services to children with disabilities who have not attained 6 years of age is entitled to receive payment for the educational services the preschool provides for the Child Development Services System. Before the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the Child Development Services System shall collaborate with special purpose private preschools to establish a funding formula that provides appropriate daily tuition rates for the educational services provided by each special purpose private preschool. The funding formula for the daily tuition rates must include, but is not limited to, the costs of supporting each preschool's site director and teachers and allocations for agency support staff, supplies, equipment, curricula, staff development, technology and noninstructional expenses such as heating, insurance, maintenance, occupancy costs, office supplies, phones and utilities.