Trevon Milliard

tmilliard@rgj.com

Nevada’s emergency change to teacher licensing simplifies hiring in a state short on public school teachers, but it also opens the door to those who don't meet basic expectations.

An emergency regulation – approved a month ago by Gov. Brian Sandoval – allows the state to immediately license teachers who’ve never taught in a classroom or tested competent in their subject matters, both of which Nevada usually requires to be a licensed teacher.

The regulation lets Nevada ignore up to a dozen of its own requirements per teacher, including that applicants show mastery of “principles and methods of teaching" and basic reading, writing and math skills.

The licenses granted through the new regulation are good for one year of teaching in Nevada public schools, and require at least some college credits in education. After that year in front of students, teachers must meet state standards or lose their licenses.

The emergency regulation is a quick solution to Nevada's teacher shortage but, by law, temporary. State officials want to make it permanent.

“I think this is just frightening,” said Margaret Ferrara, director of teacher education at the University of Nevada, Reno’s College of Education. “We are reacting (to the teacher shortage) without first thinking.”

Nevada public schools started this school year short nearly 1,000 teachers. The shortage, centered in Las Vegas-area schools, has largely remained unchanged.

Schools in 'crisis': Nevada short nearly 1,000 teachers

State education officials emphasized that they don’t have to license all applicants eligible under the relaxed requirements. The Nevada Department of Education retains discretion, according to Dena Durish, deputy superintendent of educator effectiveness and family engagement.

Sandoval press secretary Mari St. Martin said most teachers approved under the emergency regulation would be “fully licensed in other states.” They just haven’t passed Nevada’s competency tests and other state-specific standards yet.

“Those who criticize this regulation should talk to the parents whose children will finally have a full-time teacher,” responded St. Martin in a statement to the Reno Gazette-Journal on Thursday, pointing specifically to Southern Nevada. “Clark County is in a state of crisis.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Canavero also defended the emergency regulation as a “necessary, common sense response to getting additional qualified teachers into classrooms that are currently being filled by substitute teachers.”

Ferrara acknowledged the serious issue of teacher shortages, which the regulation will no doubt reduce on paper, but she questioned the potential cost to students. The emergency regulation, as written by the Nevada Department of Education and approved by Sandoval, goes too far, she said.

State officials have stated their intentions, but they also gave themselves the means to license those with few credentials and no classroom experience as Nevada “teachers,” Ferrara noted.

The Chamber, representing Northern Nevada businesses, generally supports the emergency regulation, according to Government Relations Director Tray Abney. The organization is a vocal advocate for improving public schools and realizes the need for teachers, which the emergency regulation could address.

“Still, there is a legitimate concern over placing someone in the classroom who doesn’t know how to teach,” Abney said. “If someone has never been a student teacher, and all of a sudden they're in a classroom in a permanent way, that's a concern.”

North vs. South

Many teachers and principals from the Las Vegas area are begging for the change, arguing that an almost-teacher is better than a substitute teacher with no educational training.

When Las Vegas-area schools couldn’t find 700 licensed teachers this year, they filled those classrooms with substitute teachers, which are often less qualified, said Dave Wilson, principal of Eldorado High School in Las Vegas.

A chemistry class at his school has gone through four long-term substitutes this year, one of whom had never taken chemistry, not even as a high school student.

“What we have now is much worse,” said Wilson, arguing that temporary licenses would entice teachers short of Nevada standards to apply and take the job.

Before the emergency regulation, many experienced teachers coming from other states couldn't immediately be licensed in Nevada because they hadn't passed the state's competency tests and other requirements. As a result, Nevada schools could only offer substitute positions to these teachers until they met Nevada standards. Substitutes receive lower pay and no benefits.

Teachers usually turned down that offer, according to Emily Ellison, director of talent acquisition for the Washoe County School District.

“No one’s moving here for a long-term substitute job,” said Ellison in a phone interview from the University of Arizona, where she’s recruiting teachers for next school year.

She called the emergency regulation “a definite win.”

But the emergency regulation helps schools in another way – public perception.

Gov. signs emergency regulation for teacher shortage

The change has already reduced Washoe’s teacher shortage by 25 positions, according to Ellison. The substitutes at the head of these 25 classes weren’t replaced. The state just switched their label from substitutes to licensed teachers, under the new regulations.

Nothing changed for these students. But schools can say, on paper, the teacher positions are filled.

Washoe County schools reported 40 teacher vacancies at the beginning of February, down from approximately 80 at the beginning of the school year. Those were filled due to normal recruiting before the emergency regulation.

In the month since Sandoval signed the emergency regulation, the state has issued more than 100 teacher licenses for incoming teachers. Durish said the Nevada Department of Education doesn’t track whether these 100 licenses resulted in new, more qualified teachers for students, or title switches from substitute to licensed.

Local and state education officials agree that the emergency regulation is not ideal. The Nevada Department of Education doesn’t want to license teachers who don’t meet requirements, according to Durish.

“Truly, this is just an emergency process,” she said on Wednesday.

A permanent pass

But state education officials aren’t stopping at the current crisis.

The Nevada Department of Education is requesting that Sandoval’s emergency regulation, expiring June 5, be made permanent in Nevada code. That would allow the department to continue issuing these licenses to incoming teachers – whether there's a shortage or not.

All new hires would be able to teach one year before the state requires them to prove competent and meet Nevada's other standards.

Ruben Murillo, president of the state labor union representing licensed teachers, questioned the need of permanently ignoring standards for teachers new to Nevada schools. He suggested that the state address the root cause of its teacher shortage, not disguise it.

The Reno Gazette-Journal contacted Dana Galvin, president of the the Washoe Education Association representing local teachers, for comment on the emergency regulation. She deferred to the state teachers union.

The state teachers union supports the emergency regulation if the state uses it as promised: licensing experienced out-of-state teachers needing time to meet Nevada standards, and not giving unproven teachers a "short cut" to make the shortage seem smaller, Murillo said.

"We need to maintain our high standards," Murrilo said.

Whether the emergency regulation will be made permanent is up to the state’s Commission on Professional Standards, which mainly consists of public school teachers and principals.

Northern Nevada commissioners voiced concerns similar to Murillo, doubting whether the bar should be lowered for all new teachers hired now and in the future.

“We’re being asked to do this blindly because of the shortage,” said Melissa Burnham, who chairs the Nevada Commission on Professional Standards and also serves as associate dean for UNR’s College of Education.

Southern Nevada representatives, which make up the majority of the commission, pushed for permanency in the group's February meeting. The Clark County School District has faced public criticism every year in memorable history for being short hundreds of licensed teachers.

Sensing her losing position, Burnham offered a compromise. Cement the emergency regulation in state code, but restrict the licenses to teachers who fall short of two state requirements – at most.

Burnham’s counterparts in Southern Nevada didn’t bite.

The commission voted 6-3 in February to make Sandoval’s emergency regulation permanent. But it’s not set in state code, yet.

The commission will make its final decision at a later meeting. It reconvenes March 16.

Teachers licensed under Nevada’s emergency regulation don’t have to meet these usual standards: