TITLE: Relating to employment of persons with advanced degrees as public school teachers.

SUMMARY: Relating to employment of persons with advanced degrees as public school teachers.

FULL TEXT:
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.