AUBURN – In a perfect world, the state’s proposed requirements for a high school diploma would be great, local educators said Tuesday. But they blasted what would be required of high schools beginning in two years, calling some “absurd” and saying the state “needs a reality check.”

Among the pages of proposals by Maine Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron, requirements to receive a Maine high school diploma include that:

• by 2012 all graduates would have to be proficient in a foreign language, which means studying a foreign language for about two years.

• by 2011 all graduates would have to produce a project in science, including physical and biology.

• by 2010, all graduates would have to show they know advanced math, including some algebra II.

There would not be any one single test students would have to pass to get their diploma. Instead there would be a series of tests, portfolios and projects students would have to do during their four years. Starting next year, every high school class would have a syllabus describing the course so students are clear on what’s expected.

The goal is to ensure every Maine graduate receives a rigorous education that prepares them for college or work.

Most high school students are now taking college preparatory courses and should do well meeting the proposed diploma requirements. But those taking the easier general or basic courses, or those not taking a foreign language, may not.

A forum on the proposals was held Tuesday at the Auburn Middle School by Maine Education Department officials. Gendron was not there, but in a prepared video that was played she went over the requirements, asking educators to give her feedback.

“OK, who pays for this?” Lewiston school Superintendent Leon Levesque said during an interview before the meeting. Sometimes state government “needs a reality check,” he said.

“In a perfect world what is being proposed is great. We’d like to strive to meet those ends,” he said. What’s being proposed from the state “is laden with fiscal notes and legal issues. It will cost a lot more money.”

Requiring all students to take foreign language would mean, for instance, Lewiston High School would have to hire eight new teachers. In addition to paying their salaries, “where do you find all the space?” Levesque asked. Plus foreign language teachers are in short supply, he said.

Some students need the easier classes in high school, Levesque said. If a student arrives with little formal education, “I would hate to think of them in an algebra II class. … We live in a community with a great deal of transients. We take care of the kids who come to us as they are,” he said.

Poland Regional High School Principal Bill Doughty said there are some good ideas in the proposal. When examining pieces of the diploma requirements, they seem good, he said. But Doughty cautioned that when taken together they could create an “overload” for schools. “That’s what destroyed the local assessment system. Without some changes this could do the same thing. … You can’t do it in the time period that’s here.”

David Das, chairman of the Auburn School Committee, was frustrated by what he heard. He said he doesn’t know educational jargon and found Gendron’s recorded talk “confusing.” Throughout the presentation he wondered, “What’s the point? What possible advantage is this giving to my children coming out of high school in Maine?”

It’s hypocritical of the state, Das said, “to demonize administration saying they’re unnecessary, and putting a greater workload on central office.”

Das said he agrees that Maine students need to know foreign language, “but to wave the magic wand and say that by 2012 students will graduate meeting a standard in foreign language is absurd when you don’t have the resources.”

Peter Geiger said he doesn’t see how the requirements will happen as proposed. Geiger is executive vice president of Geiger in Lewiston and chairs the Maine Coalition on Excellence in Education. Geiger said the diploma proposals lack clear deadlines, and too much is being unveiled at once.

“Meanwhile kids are graduating from systems and they’re not prepared. … For the taxpayers, all that money that’s gone into those 12 years of educating one child should be good for something,” Geiger said. “I’m not sure where we are yet.”

After hearing feedback from educators, then holding public hearings later this year, Gendron plans to give proposed diploma requirements to the Legislature for its approval in January of 2009.