Uncertified staff could teach SC students in bill aimed to alleviate teacher shortage
South Carolina school districts struggling to staff classes may soon have another option at their disposal — non-certified teachers.
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would let traditional public school districts hire uncertified staff to teach classes, if they meet certain criteria.
The bill is intended to minimize the number of classes that districts are forced to cancel, combine or fill with substitutes amid the state’s worsening teacher shortage.
Under the proposal, districts could fill a percentage of their teaching positions with uncertified educators, as charter schools and “schools of innovation” already are permitted to do, as long as the teachers have degrees in the subjects they are hired to teach and at least five years of relevant work experience.
In recent years, the South Carolina House and Senate have individually passed bills that would allow districts to hire uncertified teachers, but no single bill has passed both chambers.
The current proposal comes as South Carolina public schools find it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain qualified teachers. A record 1,063 teacher and service positions statewide were vacant to start the school year, according to the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, which conducts an annual educator supply and demand survey. Low pay — minimum starting salaries are $36,000 — burnout and a lack of support are among the reasons teachers cite for leaving the profession.
The House bill, which passed last April and now is winding its way through the Senate, would allow any district to use uncertified teachers in up to a quarter of teaching positions, as long as no certified educators were available to fill those roles.
The uncertified educators could teach for two school years before needing to enroll in an approved educator training program to continue employment.
All non-certified teachers would have to pass a criminal background check and be registered with the state Department of Education, according to the bill.
“It’s not the catch-all, end-all, perfect solution,” state Rep. Raye Felder, R-York, said of the plan last April. “But I think it’s a way for us to make sure that every child and every school has a manageable class size with an adult with the proper background and proper training to assist those students to achieve all they can achieve.”
A Senate Education panel took up the House bill Wednesday and immediately amended it by striking the existing language and inserting the relevant portions of an education reform bill the Senate passed in 2020, days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the State House and halted the legislation.
The amended bill, which senators promptly advanced Wednesday, calls for the creation of a five-year pilot program through which certain districts could hire uncertified teachers to fill up to 10% of their teaching staffs.
The academic and work experience requirements are identical between the bills, but the Senate version directs the state Department of Education to develop guidelines for the program that would include requiring uncertified teachers to be trained and evaluated.
It does not, however, limit the amount of time teachers can remain uncertified.
Districts, which are not awarded state funding to pay for non-certified teachers, would pick up the cost of any such teachers they employ and set the pay scale for those educators.
Uncertified teachers already work in SC public schools
While traditional public schools are not currently allowed to employ uncertified staff in teaching positions that require certification, many already do so out of necessity, state Department of Education spokesman Ryan Brown said.
“It’s one of the pieces of the teacher shortage we’re having to face,” he said.
More than 1,000 teachers who lack the necessary certifications are currently teaching in traditional South Carolina public schools and another 350 are teaching in charter schools, according to S.C. Education Department data.
Contrary to the common perception that these uncertified teachers are novices, Brown said many likely are professional teachers who simply aren’t certified in the subjects they’re teaching, such as a computer science-certified teacher who is covering a math class.
The number of career changers expected to take advantage of the bill under consideration is likely extremely limited, lawmakers acknowledge.
It is for that reason, among others, that Patrick Kelly, director of government affairs for the Palmetto State Teachers Association, said his organization opposes the House version of the bill and would rather lawmakers focus on expanding the teacher pipeline in other ways.
“We don’t think that this particular legislation will move the needle significantly,” Kelly said at Wednesday’s Senate subcommittee hearing on the bill.
He said anyone eligible to serve as an uncertified teacher under the proposed legislation could already teach in the state with an adjunct certificate, which grants college-educated content experts with five years of related work experience the ability to teach on a part-time basis. Only 49 people statewide held such a certificate last year, Kelly said.
“This isn’t a large job field we’re talking about,” he said.
Kelly, who teaches AP government at Blythewood High School, said he also recognized the frustration many career educators feel about a bill that appears to devalue their credentials.
“As a certified professional educator, I do have a visceral reaction to it because certification, I think, does matter in a profession,” he said. “I don’t want somebody with a B.S. in biology operating on me or somebody with a B.A. in political science representing me in a courtroom. There’s a reason that certain professions have certifications. Teaching is no different.”
Opening the classroom door to uncertified educators, Kelly said, could have the unintended effect of further alienating teachers, who already feel disrespected and devalued within society.
“I know that’s not the intent of this legislation, but I would encourage the committee to continue to look for ways to elevate the teaching profession and the certified professionals that are working with our students everyday,” he told the Senate panel Wednesday. “Because whatever gains we may get from this legislation, if we can’t change the general tenor and mood within the teaching profession, we’ll lose even more than we have coming in through this bill.”
Program already in place to help uncertified teachers
Another concern raised about this bill is the potential impact it could have on educator quality if more inexperienced, minimally-trained teachers are placed in classrooms.
Robert Lominack, a lawyer-turned-teacher and recently elected Richland 1 school board member who spoke at the hearing, said adequate training and preparation are critical if new teachers are to thrive.
“I cannot imagine Day 1 (in the classroom) had I not had at least that first part of that PACE program. At least for me, it would have been a nightmare,” the former lawyer, who transitioned to the classroom after completing the state’s eight-week Program of Alternative Certification for Educators program, told the committee.
“I always tell people being a teacher in middle and high school is like having a trial every day, 30 jurors, but they get to talk back at you. And if you don’t know the rules in that room, if you don’t know how to do it on Day 1 you’re going to lose so much time so quickly.”
Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, agreed that training would need to be an essential component of any legislation. He said he recognized the bill was not a solution to the state’s educator shortage, but thought that any additional teacher in a classroom was important.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be hundreds of teachers that flock to the classrooms. I think it’s gonna be a fraction of that,” he said. “But for that teacher in that classroom, if it’s a good fit, what’s the harm? Let’s give it a try.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2022 at 6:00 AM.