Residents from every county will converge on Bangor next month to discuss the future of education in Maine.

In all, 64 volunteers who raised their hand will take part in what is called a “citizens’ assembly,” with a shared goal to debate and arrive at several common priorities for Maine’s pre-K through 12th grade education.

The event is part of an initiative called Maine Education 2050, organized by researcher Jennifer Chace, that hopes to draw on conversations with teachers, students, parents and community members to imagine the future of education in the state. The citizens’ assembly is phase two of that project.

It comes as Maine is dealing with a variety of education challenges. The state’s fourth grade math and reading scores were among the lowest in the country on a federal standardized test in 2024, and while the Legislature made progress on the outdated school funding formula this year, education leaders say there’s more work to be done. Maine has also struggled to keep up with school construction needs and rising special education costs.

Chace got the idea for the project while taking a certificate course in education leadership, and because she noticed Maine lacked a future-looking vision for K-12 education. She worked with the nonprofit Educate Maine in its early days, but her project didn’t have a home until she joined the University of Southern Maine as an assistant director of two education policy research groups.

Maine has never held a citizens’ assembly before, but Chace said the goal is to help lawmakers and state leaders feel empowered to take action based on the will of the people.

“How do we break through and help these institutions that take so long to change?” she said. “How do we at least set the course and have a common understanding of where we’re trying to go, and then start taking action together?”

Chace sat down with the Press Herald to explain the project:

WHAT IS A CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY?

A citizens’ assembly is a forum for deliberation on a topic and a “democratic tool for engaging citizens in government decisions.” A representative group of residents come together to find common ground on a complex topic, like childcare, taxation or education.

“The idea is, ‘How can government be more responsive to the will of citizens while not in any way subverting or ignoring or undermining elected leadership?” Chace said.

She said an assembly differs from public comment or testimony because it has a learning phase to educate participants — who are by design everyday citizens — about the issue, and builds in time for thoughtful deliberation.

The format is popular in Europe, but has a growing presence in the U.S. Connecticut is currently holding a statewide citizens assembly on property taxes.

HOW WILL DELEGATES BEEN CHOSEN?

Any full-time Maine resident 16 and older could volunteer for the assembly by filling out a simple questionnaire. More than 300 people entered their name.

Now, the organizers are selecting a group of 64 delegates, four from each of the state’s 16 counties and each from a different age group. Researchers used an algorithm to pull delegates that reflect the racial and political diversity of the state, as well the mix of educational attainment levels.

A quarter of delegates will be high school students, an approach Chace said she has never seen a citizens’ assembly take before.

Delegates will receive a $750 stipend for their participation, and meals and accommodations are covered.

WHAT WILL THE PROCESS LOOK LIKE?

The delegates will meet at United Technologies Center in Bangor from June 17-18.

On day one, delegates will hear from experts and stakeholders about the issues in Maine education. On the second day, they’ll deliberate in small groups, then convene as a full assembly to decide on a preliminary slate of priorities.

The event will be technology-assisted, Chace said, with tools to record the simultaneous small group discussions in real time and synthesize those conversations to find the areas of agreement.

Chace’s team will draft policy proposals based on the priorities identified on the second day to bring back to the delegates for their final meeting in August.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS?

In August, the delegates will re-convene remotely to settle on no more than five high-level priorities.

Four lawmakers — Democrat Reps. Holly Sargent and Dan Sayre, and Republican Reps. Kim Haggan and Sheila Lyman — have committed to working together to advance legislation based on the defined priorities. Sayre is a chair of the Taxation Committee, while Sargent, Haggan and Lyman are all members of the Education Committee.

“These four legislators are really interested in saying, ‘How can we take the priorities from these and understand them to be the will of the supermajority of these delegates, that really are a representative sample from across Maine,” Chace said.

The assembly is also meant to support the incoming governor. The winners of the major party primaries in June, plus unenrolled candidates running in the general election, will be invited to a live session in September to respond to the priorities.

WHAT IS MAINE EDUCATION 2025?

The citizens’ assembly is part of a bigger project, designed by Chace, to create a compass for educational priorities in the state. The name is meant to reflect the idea of looking forward, rather than looking back at what current or former administrations have or haven’t done.

“It’s not about finger-pointing,” Chace said. “It’s more about imagining and then charting a course to get there.”

The first phase was a four-year effort during which researchers talked to more than 1,000 Mainers about what they need from education in order to thrive, and uploaded those conversations to a website called the Maine School Stories Portal. Chace and her colleagues also published a report on their findings in April. The delegates will draw on material from that research as they discuss their priorities.