Miss. licensure commission begins APA to remove NCLB 'highly qualified' references to protect special-education staffing

The Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education, Certification, and Licensure Development voted June 3 to begin the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) process to amend Mississippi Administrative Code 7-4 Part 4 and remove references to the No Child Left Behind Act’s "highly qualified teacher" standard.

"We'll begin the Administrative Procedures Act process to revise Mississippi admin code 7 dash 4, par 4, licensure guidelines k 12 to remove references to and associated requirements related to the highly qualified teacher status as formally defined or required by No Child Left Behind Act of 02/2001," Chair David Martin said at the start of the discussion.

The change was proposed by staff from the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). Dr. William Murphy of the Department told the commission the amendment would remove outdated federal language tied to No Child Left Behind and align state licensure language with current federal law under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). He said the amendment is intended to protect the state’s staffing capacity in high-need areas.

Murphy told the commission that there are about 1,081 special-education personnel serving in self-contained classrooms statewide, and that roughly 480 of those staff do not meet the dual-licensure requirement embedded in the older "highly qualified" standard. Murphy said removing the NCLB-era references would reduce the number of educators flagged as not meeting licensure requirements to about 16, preserving a substantial portion of the current teaching workforce and helping ensure continued services for students in self-contained special-education settings.

Murphy described the dual-licensure expectation as requiring a special-education license (for example, the 2-21 mild to moderate certificate) and a core-content-area license (he used social studies as an example) for educators who provide direct instruction and assign grades in that subject. He said ESSA affirms that the state education agency must ensure teachers meet applicable state certification and licensure requirements, but that the specific NCLB "highly qualified" language is outdated.

Commission members discussed whether the request should be handled as a single motion covering both initiation of the APA process and a request to the State Board to make the change effective immediately during the APA proceedings. A motion to begin the APA process and to proceed as described was made (mover identified in the transcript as "Free to Poole"). The motion received a second (the transcript indicates a second was offered) and the chair called the question. The commission recorded "Motion carried." The record does not include a roll-call tally or individual yes/no votes in the transcript.

The commission’s discussion and the staff presentation focused on avoiding service disruptions in special-education classrooms while bringing state licensure language into alignment with current federal law. The commission noted that the APA process will provide formal notice and opportunity for public comment before any permanent rule change is adopted.

After the vote the commission moved to adjourn; the meeting was dismissed at 10:10 a.m.