Committee considers two-tier certification for educational interpreters to expand qualified access

Senate Bill 5025, which would create a two-tiered certificate structure for educational interpreters who provide sign-language interpretation and transliteration in schools, was presented to the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee.

Committee staff Elena Becker explained that the bill directs the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) to identify full and limited performance standards for educational interpreter assessments and to grant certificates consistent with those standards. “Limited certificates…would have a period of validity of no more than 5 years,” Becker said, and “with limited exceptions, educational interpreters employed by school districts must have obtained either a full or limited certificate by the 2027 to 2028 school year.” The bill also…