Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) will hold a hearing Friday on the proposed teacher licensure rules. This marks the last stop on the long winding road to a new licensure system and is expected to generate a packed room at the Minnesota Department of Education.
MREA supports the rules generally with the exception of those for related service professionals.
Plans & Process
PELSB submitted its Statement of Reasonableness and Need (SONAR) creating the case to justify the rules as proposed. The Hearing and Comment, open until 4:45 pm on June 13, is the opportunity for individuals and organizations to weigh in on the proposed licensure rules. The rules could be approved as soon as October.
Read documents and letters. Read submitted comments online.
Sign up to submit online comments or mail letters to the address on the Notice of Hearing.
Following the hearing, there is the opportunity for the Administrative Law Judge Barbara Case to extend the opportunity to submit comments for 20 days. Following the closing of the hearing, there is a 5-day rebuttal period and the Administrative Law Judge has 30 days to submit findings before the formal postings are done. There are more steps should the Administrative Law Judge not approve specific rules.
Between July 1 and the approval of rules, administrators and prospective license applicants will need to pay close attention to PELSB. PELSB has posted initial guidance. Sign up to receive notices from PELSB.
MREA’s Position
MREA has taken special interest in the development of the Tiered Licensure system and testified at the legislature in support of the new system. The generally accepted intended outcomes of this Tiered system are to ensure the quality of licensed teachers and to allow entrance to the profession for people who did not in their undergraduate or graduate programs pursue teaching licenses.
The Tiers are designed to allow entrance to the profession and motivate lower Tier license holders to gain training and experience to move to higher Tiers. For the most part, the proposed rules do that, and MREA supports nearly all the rules as proposed.
However, MREA opposes the rules proposed by PELSB relating to related services professionals, for the following reasons:
- There is no definition of ‘related services professional’ (8710.0310 Subpart 1, K) in the relevant, authorizing statutes (122A.06, 122A.09, and 122A.15).
- In its SONAR describing the need and reasonableness of rules related to related services professional (8710.6000-8710.6400), PELSB did not take into account data regarding the “proposed rule’s probable effect on teacher supply and demand” as required in statute (122A.09, Subd 9, (e).
Read full comments from MREA Executive Director Fred Nolan.
Take Action
If you, your school district, or cooperative has had difficulty in recruiting and hiring Speech Language Pathologists (SLP), School Nurses, School Psychologists, School Social Workers or School Counselors, all of whom are covered in these related service professional rules, MREA encourages you to submit comments and tell your story. This is the best opportunity to affect the license rules for these teachers and to provide the needed services for your students.
Sign up to submit comments or mail comments to the address on the Notice of Hearing. Read submitted comments.
