An Act to Provide Transparency and Public Access to Public School Curricula

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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST REGULAR SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 660
H.P. 428 House of Representatives, February 25, 2025
An Act to Provide Transparency and Public Access to Public School
Curricula
Received by the Clerk of the House on February 20, 2025. Referred to the Committee on
Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative CARUSO of Caratunk.
Cosponsored by Senator HAGGAN of Penobscot and
Representatives: COLLINS of Sidney, DAIGLE of Fort Kent, LYMAN of Livermore Falls,
PERKINS of Dover-Foxcroft, SMITH of Palermo, THORNE of Carmel, WALKER of Naples,
Senator: LIBBY of Cumberland.

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1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §4710-D is enacted to read:
3§4710-D. Curriculum and professional development transparency
41. Short title. This section may be known and cited as "the Curriculum Transparency
5 Act."
62. Policies and procedures. The school board for a school administrative unit shall
7 adopt policies and procedures to ensure that the approved curriculum presented is
8 implemented in the classroom without change.
93. Class offerings and curriculum materials. The choice of academic class offerings
10 and curriculum materials:
11 A. May not be based on surveys, inventories or other evaluations, analyses or
12 assessments of:
13 (1) The immutable and other identifying characteristics of a student, family or
14 community, including, but not limited to, such characteristics as race, sex, gender,
15 religion, disability and income;
16 (2) Psychological or social-emotional data; or
17 (3) Trauma and other psychological and emotional problems; and
18 B. Must ensure schools meet the purpose of education as provided in the Constitution
19 of Maine and disseminate the knowledge needed to ensure the rights and liberties of
20 United States citizens in the State.
214. Posting and availability of data. A school administrative unit shall post on the
22 school administrative unit's publicly accessible website, in the section of the website related
23 to curricula, at least 3 years of data showing numbers and percentages of total student
24 capacity at each school and enrolled students by grade level, academic subject and
25 percentage level of proficiency based on state assessment scores. The school administrative
26 unit shall make the data available for inspection at each school within the school
27 administrative unit.
285. Professional development and instructional programs. All administrator, teacher
29 and staff professional development and instructional programs offered to schools that are
30 paid for with state funds, whether offered directly by the department, another state agency
31 or a 3rd-party contractor, must be fully transparent and available to the public as follows:
32 A. The department shall make all program materials, videos, links and resources
33 publicly available at no charge on the department's publicly accessible website;
34 B. All program offerings must be open for public attendance to residents of the State;
35 C. All program offerings must be listed in one location on the department's publicly
36 accessible website by date and show the title of the program, program description,
37 location and time. Programs must be publicly posted at least 30 days in advance, with
38 exceptions applying only when the program is added with fewer than 30 days before
39 the date of the program based on an emergency as detailed by the school;
40 D. The school administrative unit shall make audio and video recordings of these
41 programs and make the recordings accessible to the public free of charge for at least 3
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42 years after the event date. If a program recording was not made or maintained, the
43 program date, name and description must still be listed on the school administrative
44 unit's publicly accessible website for 3 years after the event date has passed with a clear
45 explanation as to why a recording is not available;
5 E. A school administrative unit shall maintain a list showing the date of attendance,
6 name and position of each attendee employed by the school administrative unit,
7 program name and program description for the prior 3 years. The school administrative
8 unit shall provide this list upon request and free of charge to residents of the State;
9 F. A school administrative unit may not provide an on-site program prior to the local
10 school board approving a program available statewide; and
11 G. The department shall maintain on the department's publicly accessible website a list
12 of school boards that have approved a program available statewide.
136. Programs provided by 3rd-party contractors. For professional development and
14 instructional programs offered to schools by 3rd-party contractors, the department shall
15 maintain data and information on the department's publicly accessible website related to
16 those programs, including, but not limited to, a breakdown by school administrative unit
17 for each state-funded program showing the amount paid to the 3rd-party contractor by year
18 and by program and detailing the public funds spent on program promotion, development,
19 training, local implementation and other miscellaneous costs for the prior 3 years.
207. Online portal. A school administrative unit shall create an online portal to act as the
21 single source for all student information and data that can be accessed by 3rd-party
22 contractors. The portal must consist of an easy-to-search database, including, but not
23 limited to, the following:
24 A. All curricula taught by the school administrative unit;
25 B. All source materials used to develop a school administrative unit's curricula;
26 C. All documents, and the source materials used to develop those documents, used by
27 a school administrative unit in the professional development of the school
28 administrative unit's faculty and staff;
29 D. All speakers and guests used by a school administrative unit in its professional
30 development activities; and
31 E. The costs associated with speakers and guests used by a school administrative unit
32 in its professional development activities.
33SUMMARY
34 This bill requires school administrative units to adopt policies and procedures to ensure
35 that the approved curriculum presented is implemented in the classroom without change,
36 to post at least 3 years of data regarding certain student enrollment and performance, to
37 maintain lists regarding participation in and development of professional development
38 programs and to create an online portal that will act as the single source for all student
39 information and data that can be accessed by 3rd-party contractors, including curriculum
40 materials and information regarding speakers and guests. The bill requires the Department
41 of Education to list and make available to the public all administrator, teacher and staff
42 professional development and instructional programs offered to schools that are paid for
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43 with state funds and maintain a list of school boards that have approved a statewide
44 program. The bill places restrictions on the choice of academic class offerings and
45 curriculum materials and on-site professional development programs. Certain provisions
46 of this bill are designed to satisfy federal law related to parental access to information and
47 protection of pupil's rights.
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