NONCERTIFIED CTE TEACHERS S.B. 909 & 910:
SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED BILL
IN COMMITTEE
Senate Bills 909 and 910 (as introduced 3-15-18)
Sponsor: Senator Marty Knollenberg
CONTENT
Senate Bill 909 would amend the Revised School Code to do the following:
-- Allow school districts to engage a noncertificated, nonendorsed teacher to teach in a career and technical education program if that teacher held a State-issued license or certification on the subject matter he or she was to teach.
-- Require noncertificated, nonendorsed teachers teaching in a career and technical education program to meet pedagogical skill development and mentorship experience requirements.
-- Establish alternative qualifications for a noncertified, nonendorsed teacher.
-- Include public school academies in provisions that allow school districts to hire noncertificated, nonendorsed teachers.
-- Require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to grant an interim teaching certificate to a teacher who had taught as a noncertified, nonendorsed teacher for three years.
Senate Bill 910 would amend the State School Aid Act to exclude individuals engaged as noncertificated, nonendorsed teachers under the School Code from a requirement that State aid be reduced for the employment of teachers who are not legally certificated or licensed.
The bills are tie-barred to each other. Each bill would take effect 90 days after enactment.
Senate Bill 909
Section 1233b of the Revised School Code allows the board of a local school district or intermediate school district (ISD) to engage a full-time or part-time noncertificated, nonendorsed teacher to teach a course in computer science, a foreign language, mathematics, biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, or robotics, or in another subject area determined appropriate by the State Board of Education, or any combination of these subject areas, in high school. The bill would extend these provisions to the board of directors of a public school academy (PSA).
In addition to the subjects listed above, the bill would allow the board of a school district or ISD or the board of directors of a PSA to engage a full-time or part-time noncertificated, nonendorsed teacher to teach in a career and technical education (CTE) program.
The Code provides that a noncertificated, nonendorsed teacher is qualified to teach if he or she meets all of the following minimum requirements:
-- Possesses an earned bachelor's degree from an accredited postsecondary institution.
-- Has a major or a graduate degree in the field of specialization in which he or she will teach.
-- If the teacher desires to teach for more than one year, has passed both a basic skills examination and a subject area examination, if a subject area examination exists, in the field of specialization in which he or she will teach.
-- Except for individuals engaged to teach a foreign language, has, in the five-year period immediately preceding the date of hire, at least two years of occupational experience in the field of specialization in which he or she will teach.
Under the bill, a noncertified, nonendorsed teacher also would be qualified if he or she met either of the following requirements:
-- Possessed an earned doctoral degree from an accredited postsecondary institution and was a faculty member employed full-time by an accredited institution who had been granted institutional tenure, or had been designated as being on tenure track, by the postsecondary institution.
-- Held a current teaching certificate or license issued by a department, board, or authority in another state or the District of Columbia.
In addition, a noncertificated, nonendorsed teacher could teach a CTE program if he or she held a professional license or certification issued by the State in the subject matter in which he or she was engaged to teach.
Currently, if the board of a school district or ISD is able to engage a certificated, endorsed teacher to teach a course, the board may employ or continue to employ a noncertificated, nonendorsed teacher only if that teacher meets both of the following:
-- Is annually and continually enrolled and completing credit in an approved teacher preparation program leading to a provisional teaching certificate.
-- Has a planned program leading to teacher certification on file with the employing school district or ISD, his or her teacher preparation institution, and the Department of Education.
Under the bill, if the board of a school district or ISD or board of directors of a PSA were able to engage a certificated, endorsed teacher to teach a course, the board or board of directors could employ or continue to employ a noncertificated, nonendorsed teacher only if he or she either met the current requirements or, to teach in a CTE program, met both of the following requirements:
-- During the first two years of his or her employment as a teacher, completed a program of instruction on pedagogical skills that was approved by the board of the school district or ISD or the board of directors of the PSA employing the teacher.
-- Engaged in a comprehensive and ongoing mentorship experience, as determined by the board of the school district or ISD or the board of directors of the PSA employing the teacher.
Senate Bill 910
The State School Aid Act requires the Department of Education to deduct from a district's or ISD's State aid allocation the amount paid to educators not legally certificated or licensed for the period of noncertificated, unlicensed, or illegal employment.
Under the bill, this would not apply to the employment of educators not legally certificated, licensed, or engaged to teach under Section 1233b of the School Code.
MCL 380.553a et al. (S.B. 909) Legislative Analyst: Nathan Leaman
388.1606 & 388.1763 (S.B. 910)
FISCAL IMPACT
The bills would have an indeterminate impact on the Department of Education and local schools.
State: The Department of Education likely would see some increased administrative costs related to developing a process to track noncertificated, nonendorsed teachers in CTE programs who met the requirements prescribed in the bill. The Department likely would
see increased certification fee revenue related to additional noncertificated, nonendorsed teachers in CTE programs. Additional revenue could be used to offset increased administrative costs. It is currently unknown how many additional noncertificated, nonendorsed teachers would join CTE programs as a result of these bills.
Local: The potential fiscal impact on local school employers is indeterminate. On one hand, broadening the list of noncertificated teachers allowed to teach in schools to include CTE teachers would likely would increase the pool of potential employees, which reduce salary costs compared to the costs of hiring certificated teachers. On the other hand, local school employers would need to provide veteran teachers to work as mentors to employees hired under the bill, which could increase costs.
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.