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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1626H.P. 1080House of Representatives, April 15, 2025
An Act to Improve Professional Development for Educational
Technicians and School Support Staff
Received by the Clerk of the House on April 11, 2025. Referred to the Committee on
Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative MURPHY of Scarborough.
Cosponsored by Representatives: CRAFTS of Newcastle, KUHN of Falmouth, MACIAS of
Topsham, ROEDER of Bangor, SALISBURY of Westbrook, TERRY of Gorham. Page 1 - 132LR1265(01)
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2 is enacted to read:
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4 A school administrative unit shall provide professional development opportunities for
5 certain school employees in accordance with this section.
6 For the purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise indicates,
7 the following terms have the following meanings.
8 A. "Educational technician" has the same meaning as in section 13001-A, subsection
9 8.
10 B. "School support staff member" means a public school employee who is not an
11 educational technician and who is paid on an hourly basis.
12 A school administrative unit shall annually
13 provide at least 6 hours of paid, in-person professional development opportunities for all
14 educational technicians and other school support staff members. At least 4 of the required
15 6 hours must be completed before the first instructional day of the school year or within 30
16 days of an educational technician's or school support staff member's hiring.
17 Within 60 days of a school support staff
18 member's first day of working with students, a school administrative unit shall train the
19 school support staff member on the following:
20 A. The school administrative unit's emergency procedures and policies;
21 B. The school administrative unit's confidentiality policies;
22 C. The school support staff member's reporting obligations;
23 D. The roles and responsibilities of the school support staff member in addition to the
24 roles and responsibilities of other school employees and administrators;
25 E. The school administrative unit's discipline policies; and
26 F. The relevant school facilities.
27 Prior to or immediately following
28 an educational technician's first day of employment, a school administrative unit shall train
29 the educational technician on the following:
30 A. The school administrative unit's emergency procedures and policies;
31 B. The school administrative unit's confidentiality policies;
32 C. The educational technician's reporting obligations;
33 D. The roles and responsibilities of the educational technician in addition to the roles
34 and responsibilities of other school employees and administrators;
35 E. The school administrative unit's discipline policies;
36 F. The relevant school facilities; and Page 2 - 132LR1265(01)
1 G. Any other relevant topics, including, but not limited to, training on specific
2 disabilities and behavioral needs of the students that the educational technician works
3 with to assist the educational technician with meeting the needs of the students.
4 Within 5 days of an educational
5 technician's beginning to work with an individual student, a school administrative unit shall
6 provide the educational technician with either paid time outside of the school day or time
7 during the school day to review or be briefed by the appropriate school employees on the
8 student's individualized education program.
9 In addition to the annual professional development
10 requirements described in subsection 2, a school administrative unit shall annually provide
11 paid training to educational technicians that enables them to continue to develop knowledge
12 and skills relevant to the students they work with, including, but not limited to, training on:
13 A. Following lesson plans;
14 B. Specific disabilities;
15 C. The individual needs of each student; and
16 D. How individual students' disabilities affect their education and behavior.
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18 This bill establishes requirements for annual training and professional development
19 opportunities that a school administrative unit must provide to educational technicians and
20 other school support staff. School administrative units must provide specific training
21 opportunities for educational technicians and other school support staff, including training
22 on emergency procedures and policies, confidentiality, reporting obligations, roles and
23 responsibilities of school employees, discipline policies and school facilities. A school
24 administrative unit must additionally provide training opportunities for educational
25 technicians on disabilities and behavioral needs of the students the educational technicians
26 work with, following lesson plans, the individual needs of each student and paid time or
27 time during the school day to review or be briefed on a student's individualized education
28 program.
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