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State board extends emergency educator endorsements for 2026'027 school year
Summary
The board approved continuation of emergency educator certification endorsements for 2026'027, a temporary measure the department says helps districts fill part-time and hard-to-staff positions while the department explores longer-term regulatory changes and pathways to certification.
The State Board approved a continuation of emergency educator certification endorsements for the 2026'027 school year, a step department staff said is intended to help districts fill critical vacancies while broader system changes are developed.
Talent office staff told the board these emergency authorizations have been in place since 2021 and "have been critical in supporting public school districts" to fill positions that would otherwise remain vacant, especially fractional (.2 or .4) assignments. The presenter said several hundred emergency authorizations have been issued across multiple years.
Board members and a classroom teacher who spoke during the discussion described the endorsements as valuable short-term tools but cautioned they are not a substitute for building pipelines into teaching fields such as STEM and CTE. A teacher serving under an emergency certificate said she volunteered to cover three chemistry sections this semester after vacancies and described the endorsements as "a huge value to districts."
Staff said the department will explore regulatory changes with the educator-preparation and certification boards to create stronger pathways from emergency authorization to full certification while maintaining safeguards; they did not present a numerical estimate of how many open positions were directly filled by the emergency authorizations. A board motion to approve the extension was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote.
The approval continues an administrative flexibility that the department and several board members said is intended as a temporary measure while system-level steps to expand pipelines are considered.
