The Maine Charter School Commission unanimously approved contracts Tuesday with three public charter schools, including Harpswell Coastal Academy, for which it had already approved applications.

Bob Kautz, executive director of the Maine Charter School Commission, said all seven members of the commission were present and voted in favor of motions authorizing contracts with Harpswell Coastal Academy, Fiddlehead School of Arts and Baxter Academy for Technology.

Signing the contract for Harpswell Coastal Academy was the president of the school’s board of directors, Joe Grady.

Kautz said the commission Tuesday also received the final applications from the schools that included any additions or changes the panel had required.

For example, Harpswell Coastal Academy needed to include its nonprofit certificate, which was added to the application.

The charter schools also needed to provide a pre-opening plan, a performance framework, a monitoring plan and closure plan — all exhibits that get completed after the application is approved, “and then they get into discussions to get everything ready and the body of the contract had been negotiated and everybody was in agreement,” Kautz said, so the commission’s approval “wasn’t necessarily a surprise.”

Kautz said the big hurdle for charter schools is having their applications approved, which Harpswell Coastal Academy achieved in February.

“That’s the big difference between a traditional public school and a public charter school, is that they have contracted to meet a number of requirements and if they meet them, the contract can be renewed and if they don’t, the commission can terminate the contract,” Kautz said Tuesday afternoon.

There is, he said, “a very high level of accountability that comes with being a charter school.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com