SENATE REPUBLICANS FLIP VOTES, SUSTAIN LEPAGE VETO OF BILL TO CREATE STATE-RUN VIRTUAL ACADEMY

Measure originally passed Senate 24-11; veto sustained 23-12

AUGUSTA—After some Senate Republicans flipped their votes, the Senate failed to secure the 24 votes needed to override Governor Paul LePage’s veto of a bill to create a state-run virtual academy and a moratorium on other virtual charter schools in Maine. The veto was sustained in a 23-12 vote.

“This bill would have helped more than 180,000 Maine students access courses they would not otherwise have been able to take. It’s disappointing some of our colleagues felt it was more important to play politics than support their original votes and stand with Maine’s children,” said Democratic Senator Rebecca Millett of Cape Elizabeth, the Senate Chair of the Education Committee.

Republican Senators Ron Collins of Wells, Roger Katz of Augusta, Tom Saviello of Wilton, and Brian Langley of Ellsworth, the sponsor of the bill, originally supported the measure in a 24-11 vote. Today,Senators Katz and Collins flipped their votes and the Senate failed to secure the two-thirds, or 24, votes needed to override a veto.

The measure, LD 1736, “Resolve, To Create a State-run Virtual Academy Providing Maine Students with Access to Online Learning through Their Existing School Districts,” would have created a stakeholder group to develop a state-run virtual charter school and created a moratorium on all other virtual charter schools until July 31, 2014. The bill is now dead.

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