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Minutes for SB66 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Enacting the interstate teacher mobility compact to recognize equivalent teacher licenses across member states.
Minutes Content for Mon, Mar 6, 2023
The Chairman opened the hearing on SB66.
Jason Long, Revisor, gave the overview of the bill. (Attachment 1)
There was a brief time of questions and answers.
Proponent (Oral)
Senator Pat Pettey testified in favor of SB66. The Senator explained how she got involved in the requesting of this bill. She believes Kansas needs more teachers and she sees this avenue as being a support for our state. Creating an interstate compact would help attract teachers. The Senator noted that the compact has been passed by House/Senate in Utah, and is in the process of being voted in fourteen states at the moment. Teachercompact.orgmap is a link to follow the progression of this bill in different states. She noted there is an editorial amendment that needs to be enacted (by all the states). There must be ten states that pass the bill in order for the compact to be set up. She urged the Committee to support this bill. It passed 36 to 4 in the Senate. (Attachment 2)
Proponent (Written Only)
Katrina Abraham, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce (Attachment 3)
Michelle Richart, Midwest Liaison, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Attachment 4)
Opponent (Oral)
Ann Mah, Kansas State Board of Education, spoke about the teacher shortage in Kansas and noted the Kansas State Board of Education is authorized to work on teacher licensing. The State Board debated this bill in January and there were concerns about the quality of teachers that might be brought into Kansas. The Board felt this compact might have too many unknown issues. They do not want teachers that are not qualified by Kansas standards. The Board wants to continue to explore the aspects of this compact, but are not ready to support this.They will be discussing this compact again next Tuesday, March 14. There were approximately 900 applications for Kansas teacher licenses last year. It takes about two weeks to process a license. The State Board has powers to join this type of compact, and can write regulations about education without legislative approval. However, the Legislature has funding approval so if the State Board joined the compact on their own, which is within their purview, they would still need to ask for funding. Ms. Mah asked the Committee to wait on this issue and allow the Board to decide what they want to do. (Attachment 5)
Shane Carter, Director of Teacher Licensure, Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), answered several questions about licensure and how many compacts KSDE is part of now.
Timothy R. Graham, Kansas National Education Association (KNEA), spoke in opposition to the bill. KNEA supports reciprocity but they want the same standards to be held. They oppose it because membership in such a compact does not guarantee quality. There could be a wide discrepancy in standards between state licensing standards for teachers and that could be a negative impact on students. KNEA has taken part in extensive discussions on this issue but they are not ready to be in support. (Attachment 6)
A discussion ensued.
Opponent (Written Only)
Ron Hobert, American Federation of Teachers - Kansas (Attachment 7)
The Chairman closed the hearing on SB66 and adjourned the meeting.
