84R321 KKA-D
By: Sanford H.B. No. 874
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to employment of persons with advanced degrees as public
school teachers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 21.003, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to read as
follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a-1), a [A] person may
not be employed as a teacher, teacher intern or teacher trainee,
librarian, educational aide, administrator, educational
diagnostician, or school counselor by a school district unless the
person holds an appropriate certificate or permit issued as
provided by Subchapter B.
(a-1) Subject to the approval of the principal at the campus
to which the person is assigned, a person with at least a master's
degree in a subject may be employed as a teacher by a school
district to teach that subject to students in grade levels 7 through
12 regardless of whether the person holds an appropriate
certificate or permit issued as provided by Subchapter B. For
purposes of this subsection, a person's degree must be issued by an
institution accredited by a regional accrediting agency or group
that is recognized by a nationally recognized accreditation board
or be an equivalent degree issued by an institution located in a
foreign country.
SECTION 2. Section 21.057(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) For purposes of this section, "inappropriately
certified or uncertified teacher":
(1) includes:
(A) an individual serving on an emergency
certificate issued under Section 21.041(b)(2); or
(B) an individual who does not hold any
certificate or permit issued under this chapter and is not employed
as specified by Subdivision (2)(E) or (G); and
(2) does not include an individual:
(A) who is a certified teacher assigned to teach
a class or classes outside his or her area of certification, as
determined by rules proposed by the board in specifying the
certificate required for each assignment;
(B) serving on a certificate issued due to a
hearing impairment under Section 21.048;
(C) serving on a certificate issued pursuant to
enrollment in an approved alternative certification program under
Section 21.049;
(D) certified by another state or country and
serving on a certificate issued under Section 21.052;
(E) serving on a school district teaching permit
issued under Section 21.055; [or]
(F) employed under a waiver granted by the
commissioner pursuant to Section 7.056; or
(G) employed in accordance with Section
21.003(a-1).
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2015.