DEED says certification processing has stabilized; districts urged to use TeachAK portal

Kelly Manning, deputy director for innovation and education excellence at the Department of Education and Early Development, briefed the House Education Committee on April 29 about teacher certification operations, recent system changes and remaining bottlenecks.

Manning said DEED moved fully to the TeachAK online application hub in June 2024 and stopped paper applications after a pilot in 2023. "We now have gotten down to the standard processing time of about 4 to 6 weeks," she said, adding that a new district portal lets districts view a candidate's application immediately so HR staff can identify missing items before DEED begins formal review.

Manning gave application volume figures for Feb. 25 through Feb. 2026: 4,267 certificates issued in total, including 1,688 professional teacher certificates, 482 special‑education endorsements and 780 Alaska Reads Act endorsements. She described common delays — unofficial transcripts, missing dates on continuing‑ed documents and incomplete applications — and urged districts to use the portal to reduce routine inquiries.

On customer service, Manning said limited phone hours are available (10 a.m.–noon and 2–4 p.m.) and messages left outside those windows are checked and returned within a couple of days. She said DEED meets biweekly with its vendor to resolve system glitches and receives feedback from Alaska School Business Officials and district HR offices.

Committee members pressed on portability of district‑sponsored (Type M) certificates, emergency certificates, background‑check timing for rural candidates and backdating pay/retirement implications. Manning explained that district sponsorship is required for Type M routes but transfer to another district is easier once the process has been completed, that emergency certificates may be renewed annually while districts typically require demonstration of progress toward full certification, and that DEED backdates certificates to the date a complete application is submitted.

Manning and Commissioner Dina Bishop acknowledged that a Department of Public Safety system transition earlier in the year created delays in fingerprint/background processing; Manning said typical DPS turnaround is 36–72 hours and that DEED has coordinated to resolve records caught in the transition. Bishop said Alaska sits "in the middle" compared with other states on reciprocity and described a working group of superintendents reviewing regulations and assessments to ease interstate transferability.

Manning also reviewed staffing: recent retirements removed long‑time employees, leading to a short learning curve for newly hired processors; DEED said it is recruiting and training replacements and emphasizes district use of the portal to reduce application errors.

The committee followed with operational questions about call response times, feedback channels for the TeachAK system and whether districts can backdate pay and retirement — points Manning and Bishop said are shaped by collective bargaining agreements at the district level as well as by DEED processing practices.