Lawmakers pushing to bring back ex-teachers

Utah may have a shortage of teachers in the classroom, but thousands of former teachers who have left public education and let their licenses expire are still out there. And one lawmaker aims to get some of them back while another legislator wants to rope retired teachers back into the teaching ranks.

Friday morning the Senate Education Committee passed out a bill that would remove the hurdles in reinstating expired teaching licenses.

"As we look at data in the state we see that by the fifth year of teaching we lose a lot of educators — many choose to stay home once they have kids but when they seek to come back must complete 200 license points," said Rep. Ronda Rudd Menlove, R-Garland, sponsor of the bill. "(Relicensure) is costly, not only in terms of money but in terms of time."

She said the measure would allow former teachers to come back to the classroom by paying the licensure fee and having a background check. Then after securing a job at a school the teacher would be required to sit down with the principal and be evaluated regarding what the teacher needs to do to be up to speed through professional development or other means. Then the teacher would be required to complete the professional development plan laid out by the principal.

According to Menlove, there are about 28,000 teachers younger than 65 in Utah with licenses that are not being used or that have expired. The bill would provide a way to help bring a number of those teachers back. The measure includes no fiscal note.

The State Office of Education, the Utah School Boards Association and the Utah Superintendents Association support the measure and removing the requirements of "going through a lot of hoops."

"The teacher shortage is real and (the bill) would help this immensely," said Steve Peterson, USBA spokesman. "When a teacher has taught, eventually they are going to want to go back to the classroom and be with the kids. There is nothing more rewarding."

A bill that would make it easier for retired Utah school teachers to re-enter the workforce passed the House Retirement and Independent Entities Standing Committee Friday.

HB96, sponsored by Rep. Demar "Bud" Bowman, R-Cedar City, would eliminate the six-month waiting period between retirement and re-employment that is the current requirement. Under the new rule, teachers could return to work after 60 days.

Another quirk in current regulations for retired/returning teachers is that they are barred from returning to work in the districts they left. This too would be eliminated by Bowman's bill.

Steve Norton, Cache School District superintendent, told the committee that his district is losing teachers to schools in southern Idaho because of the restriction.

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