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Department says teacher certification team staffing increased after REEDS implementation; senators hear reasons for processing delays
Summary
DEED told senators that teacher certification staffing expanded after workload increases tied to the REEDS Act and a move to fully electronic certification; the department said earlier assumptions that no additional staff were needed proved optimistic and that staff reassignment, receipts funding, and overtime helped cover new workloads.
Jake Almeda and Commissioner Bishop described staffing changes in the teacher certification unit after the department implemented new workload elements tied to the REEDS Act and a transition to electronic certification processing.
Almeda said the teacher certification team maintained a budgeted complement of five positions over the past five fiscal years: four technical positions responsible for processing certification applications and one administrative position overseeing the program. He told senators three of the four technical positions were consistently filled while the fourth experienced intermittent vacancies because of promotions and recruitment delays.
Commissioner Bishop told the subcommittee that opening certification to multiple external course providers (so that partners and the University of Alaska could offer qualifying courses under the science-of-reading requirements) increased review workload for certification staff. "We actually...decided to open it up to those partners as well for this coursework. So in doing so, we actually...that's also more work on the department and the technician there to...look into the naming of the courses," Bishop said, adding that broadening allowable coursework will better serve educators but did increase administrative processing.
Almeda and department staff said the department reassigned an existing education specialist position, used receipts funding and overtime, and converted a long-term nonpermanent computer science specialist role to permanent in FY25 to expand capacity. Senators said they would have preferred earlier notice of anticipated administrative strain when the REEDS Act was implemented so legislative oversight and support for additional staff could be considered sooner.
The department committed to providing additional follow-up and to working with the Legislative Finance Division and the committee to refine staffing and operational responses to workload changes.
