AUGUSTA – A legislative committee moved quickly Monday to kill a pair of bills sponsored by Rep. Brian Bolduc, D-Auburn, after hearing testimony on the proposals earlier in the day.

One bill sought to prevent people from getting hired by school systems where a relative would be serving in a supervisory capacity. The other would prohibit schools from accepting placement of a teaching intern who is enrolled in more than one academic course at the same time. Each proposal was unanimously opposed by committee members present for the vote.

Both bills were inspired by specific personal experiences, Bolduc said.

“I’ve seen with my own eyes someone who got a job, but was not certified to teach,” said Bolduc, who recently received his certification to be a secondary school social studies teacher. “It was the wife of a teacher already in the science department. It was very discouraging to see that occur, especially as I was struggling through school to get my ducks in a row to get certified.”

David Connery-Marin, spokesman for the Department of Education, said it doesn’t matter if you know someone or not, if you don’t have a state teaching certificate, you cannot be legally hired.

Representatives of the Maine Principals’ Association and the Maine School Management Association testified against the bill, stating that local school boards have control over teacher hirings and it should stay that way.

The second bill, dealing with teaching internships, was prompted by Bolduc’s experience while enrolled in the Extended Teacher Education Program at the University of Southern Maine. The graduate-level teacher certification program combines teaching internships with course work at the same time. Bolduc transferred to the University of New England to finish his degree because the combination was too much.

“I never wanted to see anyone else go through that; it was a scam, a form of hazing,” he said of the experience at USM. “It’s like medical school, they try and weed out the weak, I guess. If gets you (certified) faster, and if you can do it, more power to you, but that shouldn’t be the only option at the state university.”

His bill, had it been approved, would have forced USM to change how it administers graduate-level teaching certification because it requires students to be enrolled in more than one class while they are also conducting their teaching internship.

Ann Weisleder, chair of the state Board of Education, who opposed the measure, said students enroll in the program by choice and it’s not the state’s place to limit successful options currently available.

“This mode of preparation is well recognized as an effective model that provides immediate opportunity for the application of teaching concepts in a real classroom with direct support from the higher education program,” she said.

Bolduc also presented a third bill to the committee on Monday, which would require that a campus of the University of Maine System accept credits earned at another campus from within the system, based on a constituent complaint.

James Breece, vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Maine System, testified in opposition to Bolduc’s measure.

“The Board of Trustees policy states that ‘All undergraduate courses successfully completed with a C- or better at one University of Maine System institution will transfer to another,'” he said.

Bolduc said the university had updated its transfer policy in recent years and he’d have to check with the constituent, whose problem stemmed from a transfer attempt several years ago, to see if the newer policy resolved the issue.

Bolduc said one thing he’s learned this session is that proposing legislation might not be the best way to accomplish a goal.

“For example, it might have been better to go straight to the university’s board with my concerns,” he said.

Bolduc said he was disappointed with the committee’s votes, but not altogether discouraged.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen unless you try and even if you don’t get a bill passed, you put the spotlight on the issue,” he said. “I get the sense that the education committee respects me for my efforts.”

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