Local officials wary of teacher licensing proposal

By Bethe Croy

Staff Writer

The Joint Finance Committee approved a proposal as part of the 2015-17 state budget in May that would change the standards required to receive a teaching license in Wisconsin.

While it now appears the proposal will be changed significantly in the final budget (see related story), if left in its current form, the proposed legislation would require the Department of Public Instruction to license anyone with a bachelor’s degree to teach the core studies: English, social studies, math and science.

Furthermore, the proposal requires the DPI would have to license anyone with at least a high school diploma to teach in any subject area outside of the core subjects.

In it’s current form, the only requirements would be that the school or district hiring prospective teachers determine whether or not they have the relevant experience in the subject they intend to teach.

“It’s not going to be good for the simple fact that untrained people are going to be working with our kids,” Wilmot Union High School District Administrator Dan Kopp said.

Kopp said this legislation won’t hurt the local communities severely in the near future, but others across the state will be affected.

“We are tampering our future by tampering with education,” Kopp said.

Dan Truttschel, who received a teaching degree from Aurora University in Williams Bay but does not teach full-time, said the proposed legislation has both advantages and disadvantages. However, he said, it is hard to tell what will happen just yet.

On one hand, he believes this legislation could “diminish” the profession of teaching because the current professionals have invested a lot of time and money into receiving the proper education to become a teacher.

If the proposed legislation were to go through, just about anybody could get a license to teach, he said.

“There’s a big difference between having knowledge and teaching it to teenagers and younger,” Truttschel said.

Teaching is a craft, he said, and he has witnessed many colleagues go to conferences and receive higher education to perfect that craft further.

The problem, Kopp said, is that kids don’t want to become teachers anymore because of the way the profession is viewed and treated.

“They’re going about this backwards if you ask me,” Kopp said. “We should start paying people what they’re worth and bring people’s interest in.”

On the other hand, however, this legislation could benefit Truttschel in that without it, he would have to attend school again in order to receive a degree allowing him to teach at the high school level rather than middle school, even with over 600 days of substitute teaching “under his belt,” he said.

Westosha Central High School District Administrator Scott Pierce said the original legislation was intended to help fill teaching positions in the more rural areas where it is more difficult to find qualified and licensed teachers; however, the open interpretation of the legislation is what is now causing trouble.

This legislation also wouldn’t mean every school district would “run out and hire just anybody,” Truttschel said. People would still be reviewed and have to go over the interview process and be approved, so there would still be standards.

Pierce believes his district is lucky because of the reputation of the school as well as the location.

“I don’t see it as an issue for us because we have been able to fill the recent positions with qualified people,” Pierce said.

Ultimately, the school board will still be making the decision on who it hires, and he will strongly encourage the board to hire only qualified individuals.

It is important during this process for parents and families to communicate and be involved with the local school boards, Pierce said.

“If parents have concerns about the people being hired at the schools, they have every right to talk to the school boards about it,” he said.

Regardless, creating an easier time for these rural areas could still undermine the profession, Truttschel said. His colleagues have put in effort and dedication to their careers, and allowing someone who has not taken the same steps to be able to get a teaching license could lower the standard, he said.

“I can see why they’re not really pleased,” Truttschel said. “It’s all just a waiting game.”


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