As an educational technician at Brewer High School, Bonnie Hand had a full plate even before the new federal guidelines came out requiring many paraprofessionals to have two years of college by January 2006.

Now the mother of three is enrolled part time at Eastern Maine Technical College’s paraeducation program, juggling schoolwork with her home duties and her job working with students with special needs.

“I might not have picked this point in time to go back to school,” she said with a resigned shrug. “But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

In fact, Hand learned Thursday that she’s off the hook – at least temporarily. Educational technicians who work with handicapped children are not required to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act.

Ed techs must comply with the federal law if they are paid with federal Title 1A funds, which typically go to elementary schools where low-achieving pupils have been targeted for remedial services in reading and math. Most districts get Title IA money.

Jim Boothby, Title 1 director in SAD 67 (Lincoln area), wasn’t surprised that Hand mistakenly thought the new regulations applied to her.

“The NCLB law is overwhelming in its complexity, and there has been very little guidance for implementation from the federal and state governments,” he said. “The lack of guidance has contributed to misinterpretations and confusion among educational technicians and administrators.”

Passed in 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act is a sweeping federal education reform law that aims to make schools more accountable. The requirements affect every aspect of schools, from student performance to local assessment plans to teacher qualification.

Under the new law, ed techs hired after 2001 who work with Title 1A students must have attended two years of college, obtained an associate degree, or demonstrated through an assessment that they can assist in teaching reading, writing and mathematics. The assessment hasn’t yet been developed by the state.

Paraprofessionals hired before 2001 have four years to comply, or until 2006.

Seminars, online courses and in-service courses could count “as long as the offerings have the rigor and quality typical of an associate’s degree program,” said Jacqueline Soychak of the Maine Department of Education. Details haven’t yet been worked out with the federal Department of Education, she said.

Ed techs perform a variety of duties. They help out in the office and the cafeteria, prepare instructional materials, and work with students one-on-one or in small groups. Many supervise special needs students, helping them meet their individual education plans.

Some ed techs are even called on to insert catheters and feeding tubes.

There are 13,000 ed techs teaching in Maine schools, nearly as many as the 15,000 or so teachers who supervise them.

The number of ed techs has grown over the years because they are “a very efficient way to meet individual needs of [special education] students,” said Rob Walker, president of the Maine Education Association, the state’s teachers union.

Once known as teacher aides, ed techs were divided into three categories in the late 1980s or early ’90s by state officials, according to Walker.

Ed tech I’s, who number 5,000, now must have a high school diploma and work under the direct supervision of a certified teacher. No one interviewed knew how many of them teach Title 1A students.

On the other end of the spectrum are ed tech III’s, who must have three years’ worth of courses beyond high school and can provide direct instruction and work independently without supervision.

Ed tech II’s, required to have two years’ worth of courses, fall in the middle. They can engage in some direct instruction but require supervision by teachers at times.

Now earning between $6.68 and $10.56 an hour, depending on where they teach and their experience, ed tech I’s who go back to college will effectively become ed tech II’s under the new law. They make between $7.17 and $18.72 an hour. Ed tech III’s earn between $7.26 and $19.05 an hour.

The state’s technical colleges are helping ed techs comply with the new federal law by creating two-year paraeducation programs similar to the one at Eastern Maine Technical College, which includes courses in child development, medical issues in the classroom, and learning disabilities.

For 12 years, Kennebec Valley Technical College has offered an associate degree that prepares ed techs to work with children who have special needs and receive Title 1A services.

More than 140 students are enrolled in the paraeducation programs at EMTC, KVTC and Washington County Technical College. Many more are not enrolled in a program but simply are taking courses, according to Alice Kirkpatrick, spokesperson for the technical college system.

In Presque Isle, Northern Maine Technical College plans to open a program this fall and is expecting around 40 students, Kirkpatrick said. Based on a phone survey of Aroostook County superintendents, there are 112 ed techs in the area who need to get their associate degree, she said.

In a similar survey, EMTC found that in southern Penobscot County alone, 305 ed techs need to earn their associate degrees.

While some districts reimburse ed techs for their education expenses, in Greater Bangor, ed techs such as Hand have their classes paid for with a grant. That’s one reason she plans to continue her education even though the pressure’s off. “It’ll only help me and the kids I’m dealing with,” she said.

That’s a wise idea, according to David Stockford, director of special services at the Department of Education. With the Individuals with Disabilities Act reauthorization pending before Congress, chances are that ed techs working with children with special needs will have to comply with the same requirements as those working with all students, he said.

Some educators made no bones about the qualms they have with the federal requirement.

The MEA’s Walker said ed tech I’s will be “automatically punished” for their upgrade. Since as ed tech II’s they’d become members of the Maine State Retirement System, their Social Security benefits will be offset by their retirement benefits, he said.

“We have such good … test scores that there shouldn’t be anything wrong with the people we have. If we get too prescriptive about how to make them highly qualified, we may lose them,” Walker said.

Pointing out that most districts already train their ed techs, Jim Boothby of SAD 67 called the law “unrealistic and rigid.”

“It assumes you can’t have a competent individual you’ve trained locally to do a good job,” he said. “It makes a broad assumption that just because you don’t have a two-year degree, you’re not capable of working successfully with children.”

The law also will effectively reduce the number of ed techs districts can hire because salaries, which are paid out of Title 1A money, will have to be increased, while the federal money stays the same and isn’t guaranteed from year to year, he said.