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(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HB439

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

State Department of Public Education (SDE)

Commission on Higher Education (CHE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HFl Amendment #1

The House Floor amendment strikes language from the original bill which increased the age requirement for substitute teachers to 21 years.

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 409 amends a section of the Public School Code to allow the State Board of Education (SBE) to issue a substitute teacher license for a more than one year. In addition, it raises the age requirement for substitute teacher licensure from 18 to 21.

Significant Issues

The following are significant issues raised by SDE:

• •Current statute requires substitute licenses to be issued on a yearly basis. The department complies with statute by approving certified lists of substitute teachers submitted by districts on an annual basis. Recent advice from the Attorney General's Office indicated that full compliance with statute would require the SBE to issue individual licenses to each substitute teacher based on an application process similar to that used for other licensed school personnel. This would require substitute teachers to complete an application and pay an application fee every year. This may create a financial and paperwork burden on substitute teachers.



• •The SBE is in the process of revising rules and regulations pertaining to substitute teachers in order to raise standards, especially in the area of professional development. The SBE is creating a licensure structure for substitute teachers similar to the licensure structure for all other licensed school personnel. The current structure is a three-tiered framework with the initial licensure issued for 3 years and nine year license issued thereafter.



• •Due to the teacher shortage and increasing reliance on the services of substitute teachers, the SBE would like to implement a licensure structure for substitute teachers similar to all other licensed school personnel.



• •Since substitute teachers have full responsibility for a classroom in the absence of the teacher and control of the classroom, the SBE believes that the minimum age of substitute teachers should be at least 21 years old. This will ensure that substitute teachers will be older than the students they teach.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

SDE indicates they will be required to implement a licensure structure for substitute teachers. However, the ability to issue licenses for more than one year will reduce the administrative impact over time. The majority of the impact will be during the first year the license is issued, when criminal background checks will be necessary for approximately 6000 substitute teachers. It is anticipated that this will more than double the current workload in the Professional Licensure Unit.

CONFLICT/DUPLICATION/COMPANIONSHIP/RELATIONSHIP

Relates to SB439.

CTF/gm