Wyoming Senate Education Committee approves alternative teaching certification bill after amendment

Senator Larson, sponsor of Senate File 86, told the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 27 that the bill would require the Professional Teaching Standards Board to promulgate rules allowing alternative teacher certification programs that meet requirements set in statute.

The bill’s sponsor said the goal was to ensure alternative certification pathways are available across Wyoming after an effort to secure the same result through board rule-making did not succeed. “This is the alternative teaching certificate,” Senator Larson said, describing alternative programs as a way to expand the pool of qualified teachers without replacing traditional pathways.

The committee heard extended testimony from school-district and education stakeholders who urged caution. Brian Farmer, Executive Director of the Wyoming School Boards Association, said the bill as drafted read like it was written for a single provider and expressed concern about creating a de facto monopoly for one program. Nick Belak of the Wyoming School Boards Association and former national testing…