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Maine Joins Education Compact for Military Children

AUGUSTA – Maine today became the 18th state to join the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, a fast-growing movement to ease school-to-school transfers for children of service personnel.

In a ceremony in his State House office, Governor John Baldacci signed into law LD 1324, which passed the Legislature with unanimous support in the final days of the session. State Rep. Jarrod Crockett (R-Bethel), the sponsor of the bill, was on hand for the signing, together with State Rep. Pete Johnson (R-Greenville), a cosponsor.

Also attending were Jeri and Jerry Greenwell, of Bethel, who initiated the legislation; Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Kerry Birmingham, manager of Family Assistance for the Maine Army National Guard; and Maj. Phil Trevino, also of the Maine Army National Guard.

Rep. Johnson is retired from the Army after a 30-year career as a military officer. Rep. Crockett is an infantry captain in the Maine Army National Guard who served an 18-month tour in Afghanistan before being elected to the Legislature.

“Soldiers are willing to sacrifice by going on an overseas deployment, but they want to make sure their families are being fairly treated while they’re gone,” said Rep. Crockett. “If a soldier is going overseas to a combat zone for a long period of time, the families often move back home for the duration of the deployment, which usually means changing schools for their kids.”

Rep. Johnson said the Compact provides parity among schools. “If a child is in a gifted and talented program in one state, he or she will receive the same kind of placement in a new school in another state,” he said. “The Compact also addresses such common considerations as transfer of records, course sequencing, graduation requirements and kindergarten and first-grade entrance age variations.”

Military families move between postings on a regular basis, which can bring disruption in the lives of children. The average military student faces transition challenges more than twice during high school, and most of them will attend six to nine different school systems from kindergarten through 12th grade. With more than half of all military personnel supporting families, the impact of reassignments and long deployments are key considerations for service members. Approximately 1.5 million children of military families attend schools other than those sponsored by the Department of Defense.

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