Committee advances bill to reduce licensing tests, expand pathways into special education and early childhood

Representative Alyssa Hamrick and sponsors brought Senate Bill 25-154 to the House Education Committee to address Colorado’s teacher shortage by changing how the state verifies subject-matter competency for certain endorsements. The committee voted 8 to 5 to send the bill to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation.

The bill narrows the number of required competency assessments for initial or additional endorsements in early childhood education, elementary education and special education and creates alternative ‘‘multiple measures’’ pathways — including coursework, portfolio review or an approved assessment — for candidates to demonstrate content competency. "This bill does not lower the bar for becoming a teacher. Rather, it modernizes our system to evaluate readiness based on meaningful teaching skills, not test taking ability," Hamrick said.

Why it matters: Colorado reported nearly 7,000 teaching positions left vacant during the 2023–24 school year, with more than 1,500 still unfilled or covered by emergency measures, testimony at the hearing said. Committee witnesses — including classroom teachers, university and district representatives, the Colorado Department of Education and teacher‑preparation advocates — argued the existing battery of licensure exams is a financial and logistical barrier that disproportionately affects candidates for special education and early childhood endorsements.

State Department of Education official Marita Tovar told the committee that the State Board of Education will move under existing authority to remove several currently required subject-matter competency tests and that the board must vote to approve a standalone elementary math test. "The language in the bill creating statutory mandates for the number of competency tests was removed," Tovar said, describing the compromise reached with the bill sponsors and the State Board.

Several educators described personal and staffing impacts. Alexandra Manasco, a fourth-year special education teacher in Cherry Creek, said she lost her job after months attempting to use the existing multiple-measures pathway to transfer an out-of-state license. "Regardless of my flawless reviews and observations ... I was non-renewed," Manasco said. Other witnesses, including the Consortium of Directors of Special Education and the Colorado Association of School Boards, said the measure would create additional, practical routes for qualified candidates to fill high‑need classrooms.

Key provisions and clarifications: - Reduces the number of assessments required for a special education generalist endorsement from five to three (a reading assessment, a special-education generalist assessment and a math assessment in the amended approach), according to testimony by CDE staff. - Enables currently licensed teachers to add endorsements by demonstrating competency through coursework or multiple measures in some cases, with a separate capped process for other endorsements described as a 1,000-applicant limit for initial multiple-measures reviews. - Requires institutions participating in the Teacher Recruitment and Preparation (TRAP) program to offer certain courses at community-college tuition rates to lower costs for prospective candidates.

Dissent and procedural notes: Several committee members expressed concern about removing some subject tests (particularly science/social studies) from statutory requirements and urged caution that universities and educator-preparation programs must ensure candidates’ subject knowledge. Representative Garcia Sander said she was "concerned about deleting science" and emphasized that preparation programs will need to improve to cover those content areas. Other members pressed for clarity on whether additional endorsements for already-licensed teachers would be available via multiple measures or only by coursework; the bill language distinguishes the pathways depending on the endorsement sought and whether the applicant already holds a Colorado professional license.

Votes at a glance: The final committee roll call on the motion to send SB 25-154 to the Committee of the Whole was recorded as 8 in favor, 5 opposed.

What’s next: The committee advanced the bill to the Committee of the Whole. If the bill moves forward it will proceed through the regular House floor process and may be subject to further amendment.

Ending note: Sponsors and multiple stakeholders framed the bill as a targeted attempt to expand the pipeline into high‑need classrooms while retaining demonstrated competency requirements; opponents focused on risks to content mastery and urged safeguards for subject knowledge in teacher-preparation programs.