An Act Regarding School Board Members and Their Spouses
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §1002, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1999, c. 128, §2, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
(1) The spouse of the member is employed in the school as a part-time substitute teacher or a coach or in some other extracurricular position; and
(2) The school administrative unit has a policy in place, approved by the commissioner, to address potential conflicts of interest.
(1) The school administrative unit has a policy in place, approved by the commissioner, to address potential conflicts of interest; and
(2) The commissioner determines there is adequate reason to waive the restrictions imposed in paragraph A. In making this determination, the commissioner shall consider the size of the school administrative unit, the rural or isolated nature of the school administrative unit and the difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified individuals to the school administrative unit.
SUMMARY
Current law prohibits a member of a school board or the spouse of a member of a school board from being an employee in a school that is within the jurisdiction of the school board on which that member serves.
This bill provides for an exception to that prohibition if the spouse is employed as a part-time substitute teacher or a coach or in some other extracurricular position and the school administrative unit has a policy to handle conflicts of interest. This bill also, in other cases, allows the Commissioner of Education to waive the prohibition if the school administrative unit has a conflict of interest policy in place and can demonstrate, based on the size of the school administrative unit, the geographic location of the school administrative unit and the difficulty in getting employees, that the waiver is appropriate.