School overview
How Unity's public charter school is funded, who runs it, and what the board is working on
The Ecology Learning Center is a free public charter school in Unity, Waldo County, with a Bridge Program and the Clifford Arts and Student Center (the 'Cliff'). The Maine Charter School Commission approves its charter, and a volunteer board governs it. Most of its money is state aid paid for each student. It cannot raise local taxes, so it relies on grants, events and donations to close the rest of its budget. Enrollment is capped at about 132. Every few students more or fewer changes its funding.
131 students on October 1, 2025. Enrollment was 129 in September 2026, three under the three-year plan, about $30,000 short.
About $133,000 of 2026-27 income was not secured when the budget passed. About $123,000 was still open in September.
A new teacher and ed tech pay scale adds about $79,000. Administrator raises are 1.8%.
An unbudgeted sprinkler repair of $30,000 to $40,000. No maintenance reserve, and the Annex lease is ending.
The school met its fundraising goals in 2025-26, its monthly financial measures were mostly acceptable, and Panorama surveys put parent and student climate around the 90th to 99th percentile. The board adopted the 2026-27 budget with a small planned surplus of about $22,000.
Described as 'roughly $22,000' in the May 20, 2026 minutes. The budget itself is not posted.
The school will stop leasing its Annex, which houses offices, woodworking, outdoor gear and the Bridge Program. A facilities committee with one board member was chartered in early 2026. No replacement space has been announced.
Not set
The board formed a fundraising working group in August 2026 and aims to grow monthly donors from 5 to 25. It reports monthly progress on closing the unsecured-income gap.
Unsecured 2026-27 income target
There is no public election for this charter school's board. The sitting board votes in new directors and renews terms, as it did with Beth Arnold (November 2025), Lauren Giroux and Jennifer Albee (January 2026), and Randy Fox's second term (May 2026, by email vote). The board removed a director for absences in October 2025, and another resigned in May 2026.
Official source · verified Oct 30, 2026
Practical guides to school phone policies, district budgets, and administrator hiring.
Explore resources →Built from Ecology Learning Center board agendas and minutes from October 2025 to October 2026. They are posted through the Epicenter charter transparency portal and linked from the school's Board Meetings & Policies page. Also used: the 2026-27 board meeting schedule and the posted student handbook.
We read every agenda, packet, recording, and set of minutes, and write up the decisions that affect families — each one linked to the document it came from.
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