Committee hears bill to create two-tier certification for educational interpreters

The House Education Committee on a public hearing on Substitute Senate Bill 5025 heard testimony that the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) should adopt separate, tiered certification standards for educational interpreters who serve students who are deaf, deaf-blind, or hard of hearing.

Megan Wargacki, counsel to the committee, summarized the bill's provisions and timeline. She said the PESB would be required to establish both a full performance standard and a limited performance standard for each educational interpreter assessment, and to create two certificates: one limited and one full. Wargacki noted that interpreters employed by school districts were already required to take assessment(s) and that the bill would formalize limits on how long someone who has not yet met a standard can continue providing services while attempting to meet it.

The bill sets deadlines for schools and certification: educational…