RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
ACT 392 (SB 197) 2023 Regular Session Peacock
Existing law requires the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to provide
for the certification of teachers, which includes qualifications and requirements to indicate
proficiency of the teacher to educate at the grade level and in the assigned subjects.
New law redesignates various provisions of existing law relative to teacher and educator
certification and makes technical changes.
Prior law required certified teachers to have completed an approved teacher education
program and prescribes the minimum requirements for students entering an approved teacher
education program.
New law provides for conditional acceptance of students into approved teacher education
programs.
Existing law requires an applicant who participated in an undergraduate teacher education
program to take coursework in the teaching of reading. Allows any applicant who has
participated in any alternate teacher education program the option of either completing the
same coursework required of an undergraduate program applicant or possessing the reading
and literacy competencies identified in scientifically based reading research at the national
level and approved by BESE for the teaching of reading. Prior law prohibited any secondary
teacher from using more than three semester hours of teaching of reading for certification
purposes.
New law removes the maximum hours allowed to be used for certification purposes.
Requires each applicant, regardless of whether the applicant participated in an undergraduate
teacher education program, to meet at least one of the following requirements:
(1)Complete the prescribed coursework.
(2)Possess the identified reading and literacy competencies.
New law changes the recipient of required reports in existing law from the legislature to
BESE and requires the posting of the reports on the BESE and state Department of Education
(LDOE) website.
Existing law allows certain persons who have not completed an approved teacher education
program to teach on provisional certificates in areas with a shortage of certified teachers.
New law provides that a person with a bachelor's degree may teach on a provisional
certificate in a shortage area in a secondary school if the person graduated from an accredited
postsecondary education institution with at least a 2.50 average on a 4.00 scale and has
passed all requisite examinations covering content knowledge.
Existing law provides for the certification of principals and superintendents. Prior law
allowed a principal certified from another state with four years of successful experience in
that state to be certified in Louisiana after one year of successful employment in Louisiana
as a principal. Existing law provides that an out-of-state principal who has not passed the
required assessment may be granted a nonrenewable provisional certificate in order to take
the exam.
New law removes the requirement that a successful out-of-state principal have one year of
successful employment prior to certification in Louisiana. Changes the length of the
provisional certificate from three years to five years to match the provisions of teachers.
Existing law requires BESE to prescribe the qualification standards for school psychologists,
which shall at a minimum be equal to the requirements set by the National Association of
School Psychologists. Further provides for the certification of persons who meet those
qualifications.
New law allows BESE to deem certified a person who meets the qualifications. Existing law allows certain individuals to appeal a denial of a certification. Further prohibits
appeals from persons who have been convicted of or pled nolo contendere to certain crimes
listed in R.S. 15:587.1(C). Prior law allowed appeals from individuals convicted of or who
had pled guilty to certain crimes relative to the manufacture and distribution of drugs.
New law removes the ability for any person who has been convicted of or pled nolo
contendere to the manufacture and distribution of drugs to appeal the denial of a teaching
certification.
Existing law requires any person who has been convicted of or pled nolo contendere to a
felony offense to report the conviction or plea to the employing school district.
New law requires the person to also report the conviction or plea to the LDOE. Requires
LDOE to revoke the certification of any person who has been convicted of or who has
entered a plea for a crime listed in R.S. 15:587.1(C).
Existing law requires criminal history checks for both employment and certification
purposes.
New law requires LDOE to maintain and make available on its website the identity of any
person whose teaching certification or teaching authorization has been denied, suspended,
or revoked for any one of these reasons:
(1)The person has been convicted of or has pled nolo contendere to a crime listed in
existing law (R.S. 15:587.1(C))for protection of children, or any felony, even if
adjudication was withheld or a pardon or expungement was granted.
(2)The person has been found to have submitted fraudulent documentation to BESE or
LDOE as part of an application for a teaching certificate or other teaching
authorization.
(3)The person has been found to have facilitated cheating on any state assessment as
determined by BESE.
New law repeals prior law provisions that prohibited BESE from limiting the number of
times a temporary teaching permit was allowed to be issued.
New law repeals prior law requiring BESE to issue teacher authorizations for persons not
required to be certified for the limited purposes of ascertaining whether the person had
submitted fraudulent documents or if proper background checks had been done by the
employing school.
Effective June 14, 2023.
(Amends R.S. 15:571.1(A), (B)(1)(a), (C)(intro para), (D)(2), and (E) and R.S. 17:7(6), 7.1,
and 15(B) and (C); adds R.S. 17:8.1-8.9; repeals R.S. 17:7(6)(e) and (10))