Sen. DeWine Calls for Easing Teacher Certification Rules
States need to loosen teacher-certification rules to allow professionals from other fields into the classroom, an Ohio senator said Saturday in the weekly Republican radio address.
“We need alternative methods of teacher certification to enable qualified professionals to share their knowledge and experience with our children in the classroom,” Sen. Mike DeWine said.
“We also need to start aggressively recruiting professionals . . . people with established careers and real-world job experience.”
The first-term senator is sponsoring legislation that would offer states $15 million to fund alternative teacher-certification programs and a second bill that would set up a $10-million grant program to encourage mentoring programs.
His radio speech did not expressly mention those bills.
“If former President Bush wanted to teach a high school government class, or if Bill Gates wanted to teach a high school computer science class, teacher-certification requirements in some states would keep them from setting foot in a classroom,” he said.
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