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Committee adopts substitute allowing local school boards to issue teaching certificates with limits and sunset
Summary
Committee members adopted an H‑1 substitute to House Bill 4153 to allow local school boards, ISD boards or public school academy boards to issue a local teaching certificate valid only in the issuing district with a five-year limit, a 3.0 GPA requirement, and a 10‑year sunset (07/01/2035).
The committee took up House Bill 4153 and an H‑1 substitute that adds a 10‑year sunset (set to 07/01/2035), requires a minimum 3.0 GPA in the candidate’s degree, and limits a local teaching certificate’s validity to five years. The sponsor (read into the record by a committee designee/staff member) said the bill would amend the Revised School Code to permit a school district board, an intermediate school district board, or a public school academy board to issue a local teaching certificate to an individual who holds at least a bachelor’s degree or higher in the subject area the individual will teach and who meets any local requirements the issuing board sets.
The sponsor said a local certificate would be valid only in the issuing district and cannot be issued for special education. The H‑1 substitute also requires local-certified individuals to be trained in first aid and CPR. The sponsor framed the proposal as a permissive, local-control tool to address acute staffing shortages, especially to staff career and technical education (CTE) courses and skilled-trades instruction without relying on long-term substitutes.
Representative Burns asked specifically about mentor requirements: the bill, as written in the committee, would exempt locally certified teachers from the statutory requirement that new teachers be placed with a master teacher mentor for the first three years. Burns said she was concerned about removing that mentoring requirement and asked whether there is a shortage of master teachers; the sponsor and witnesses suggested local boards could require mentorship as part of local approval and that CTE instructors were the primary target of the tool.
The committee adopted the H‑1 substitute (clerk recorded 11 yeas, 0 nays) and later voted to report the bill as substitute H‑1 to the House Committee on Rules; the clerk recorded the roll call for the referral as “Madam Chair, you have 7 yeas, 4 nays, 0 pass. The motion prevails.” Support cards were filed by Dan Quisenberry (MAPSA) and Beth Deshone (GLP Education Fund); Olivia Ponte (MDE) filed opposition on the record.
The sponsor and members emphasized the bill is permissive, local boards do not have to issue local certificates, and local boards can set their own requirements if they choose to use the authority.
