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An Act To Facilitate the Certification of Teachers
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §13012, sub-§2-A, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 534, §2 and amended by PL 2005, c. 397, Pt. D, §3, is amended to read:
 
2-A. Qualifications.   State board rules governing the qualifications for a provisional teacher certificate must require that a certificate may only be issued to an applicant who meets the requirements of subsection 2-B and:
 
A. For elementary school, has met academic and preprofessional requirements established by the state board for teaching at the elementary school level and has graduated from an accredited, degree-granting educational institution upon completion of:
 
(1) A bachelor's degree from a 4-year accredited college or university;
 
(2) A 4-year program in liberal arts and sciences; or
 
(3) An approved 4-year teacher preparation program and has majored in the subject area to be taught or an interdisciplinary program in liberal arts;
 
B. For secondary school, has met academic and preprofessional requirements established by the state board for teaching at the secondary school level and has graduated from an accredited, degree-granting educational institution upon completion of:
 
(1) A bachelor's degree from a 4-year accredited college or university;
 
(2) A 4-year program in liberal arts and sciences; or
 
(3) An approved 4-year teacher preparation program and has majored in the subject area to be taught;
 
C. Is otherwise qualified by having met separate educational criteria for specialized teaching areas, including, but not limited to, special education, home economics, agriculture, career and technical education, art, music, business education, physical education and industrial arts, as established by the state board for teaching in these specialized areas; or
 
D. Has completed 6 credit hours of approved study within 5 years prior to application, has met entry-level standards and has held either a professional teacher certificate that expired more than 5 years prior to the application date or a provisional teacher certificate issued prior to July 1, 1988 that expired more than 5 years prior to the application date.
 
In accordance with rules adopted by the state board, semester hours of academic study that are required for certification pursuant to this subsection may be earned at a 2-year accredited college or institution of higher learning.
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §13039  is enacted to read:
§ 13039. Nonrenewable transitional teacher certificate
An individual who has 3 months left in a 4-year teacher preparation program approved by the state board may be issued a nonrenewable transitional teacher certificate as long as other criteria as required by the state board have been met. The transitional teacher certificate expires when the individual completes the teacher preparation program and is issued a provisional teacher certificate pursuant to section 13012 by the state board.
Sec. 3. Rules. The Department of Education shall amend its rules to implement the provisions of that section of this Act that amends the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 13012, subsection 2-A. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
 
SUMMARY
This bill allows an individual who has 3 months left in a 4-year teacher preparation program to be issued a nonrenewable transitional teacher certificate by the State Board of Education. The certificate expires upon the individual’s completion of the program and the issuance of a provisional teaching certificate.
The bill also provides that semester hours of study that are required for teacher certification may be earned at a 2-year accredited college or university.