Amid the cacophony of special interests fighting to be heard in statehouses and on Capitol Hill, a cadre of current and former chief state school officers is elbowing its way into the nation's education debate at a time when states are taking more control of K-12 education. A little more than a year old, Chiefs for Change is an invitation-only…

Explores the issue of school choice as it pertains to town tuitioning in Maine. Includes the historical development of town tuitioning and current patterns by region and school type. Argues that town tuitioning provides substantial numbers of rural high school students and their parents with opportunities to choose high schools. (KS)

In 43 rural Maine communities that pay tuition to send their students to high schools in larger towns, achievement test scores appeared to influence parental school choice but explained only 20% of the variability in enrollment trends. Enrollment trends were not related to school socioeconomic status or expenditure per pupil. Contains 40…