An Act to Codify Minimum Instructional Hours in the State's
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 1639
Sponsors: GROHOSKI
Amends: 20-A MRSA §4801-A

Legislative Document
No. 1639
S.P. 647
In Senate, April 15, 2025
An Act to Codify Minimum Instructional Hours in the State's 
Schools
Received by the Secretary of the Senate on April 11, 2025.  Referred to the Committee on 
Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator GROHOSKI of Hancock.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §4801-A is enacted to read:
§4801-A.  Minimum instructional hours
1.  Minimum instructional hours.  A school administrative unit shall ensure that each 
school within the unit provides at least 900 instructional hours per school year.
For purposes of this section, "instructional hours" means hours during the school day during 
which students are engaged in regularly scheduled instruction, educational activities or 
academic programs under the supervision of school staff. Instructional hours do not include 
extracurricular activities, lunchtime or recess. Time spent on an organized field trip related 
to academic programs may be considered instructional hours, but the instructional hours 
counted for a field trip may not exceed a regular school day for each day of the field trip.
Instructional hours include educational activities provided outside of the regular school day 
to a student enrolled in a program described in section 4703 or any other academic program 
outlined in a school administrative unit's comprehensive education plan under section 4502.
2.  Waivers.  The commissioner may grant a waiver to a school administrative unit for 
a school to be exempted from the minimum instructional hours requirement under 
subsection 1 for extraordinary circumstances, including but not limited to natural disasters, 
public health emergencies and other unforeseen events that significantly disrupt school 
operations. A school administrative unit requesting a waiver under this subsection must 
submit a written application to the department that details the circumstances and a proposed 
plan to address the loss of instructional hours.
3.  Compliance and reporting.  A school administrative unit shall submit an annual 
report to the department certifying that the school administrative unit is in compliance with 
the requirements of this section. The department shall monitor compliance and may take 
corrective action, including withholding state subsidies, for noncompliance.
4.  Rules.  The department shall adopt rules to implement this section. Rules adopted 
pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, 
subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 2.  Application. This Act applies to all school administrative units in the State 
beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.
SUMMARY
This bill requires each school administrative unit to ensure that each school within the 
unit provides at least 900 instructional hours per school year.  The bill allows the 
Commissioner of Education to grant a waiver for a school to be exempt from the minimum 
instructional hours requirement for extraordinary circumstances. The bill also establishes 
annual reporting requirements for school administrative units to certify that they are in 
compliance with the minimum instructional hour requirement.