The Arkansas Board of Education on Friday approved waivers of some state laws and rules for 16 school districts, giving them some of the same flexibility earlier awarded to charter schools that serve students in their districts.
The districts include 13 of the 14 member districts in the Southeast Arkansas Education Service Cooperative -- all of which sought identical one-year waivers of state teacher-licensure laws so that they can fill 64 faculty vacancies with people who have degrees and expertise in a subject but not a state teaching license.
The other districts that received waivers Friday were Barton-Lexa, which had received waivers earlier and sought additional ones; Bismarck; and Glen Rose.
Barton-Lexa received waivers of teacher-licensure requirements and the 150-student cap per teacher. Bismarck and Glen Rose received waivers of state rules and laws to relax the number of clock hours required for high school courses to give students time to take college courses, complete internships and apprenticeships or do community service.
Act 1420 of 2015 allows a school district to petition the state Education Board for waivers of state rules and laws that were previously awarded to an open-enrollment charter school that enrolls at least student who resides in the district applying for waivers.
To date, a total of 51 of the 235 school districts have now received approval of waivers, Mary Perry of the Education Department said Friday. Several of those districts have claimed waivers awarded to the Arkansas Virtual Academy, which is an online charter school able to serve students statewide.
Much of the discussion Friday on waivers centered on the lack of state-licensed teachers to fill vacancies in rural parts of the state.
"We have a severe teacher shortage in our area," Karen Eoff, director of the southeast cooperative, told the Education Board. "We have left no stone unturned and we still have 64 openings," she said.
Eoff described efforts by the cooperative's member districts to work with the Arkansas Department of Education, state universities and various organizations to find licensed teachers for the vacancies that remain just a month before classes start Aug. 15 in most districts.
The Education Cooperative's districts asked for teacher-licensure waivers so that the districts can hire people who don't have state licenses but do have four-year degrees and expertise in a subject area.
"We beg for these waivers so we can find degreed teachers in place in our classrooms," Eoff said. The waivers will allow the school districts to pay the new employees at the same rate as licensed teachers and avoid hiring long-term substitute teachers.
Earlier in the meeting, Barton-Lexa Superintendent David Tollett told of similar hardship in finding licensed teachers. He said it recently took "100 tries" to find a middle school English teacher and there are other challenges in filling elementary physical education and coaching jobs.
In past years the district could count on employing Teach For America teachers, who are recent college graduates who make a two-year commitment to teach in high-need communities. But Tollette said that Teach For America "is no longer an option," as the organization is placing teachers in the Little Rock School District for the first time this coming school year and he was told that the organization doesn't have enough teachers for Barton-Lexa.
Tracey-Ann Nelson, the executive director of the Arkansas Education Association that opposed the passage of Act 1240 last year, warned the Education Board on Friday that waivers of teacher licensure and class-size limits have the potential to denigrate the teaching profession and ultimately affect student achievement.
"We urge you to protect students," Nelson said, noting the expense of college remediation courses for poorly prepared students.
Ivy Pfeffer, the Education Department's assistant commissioner for educator effectiveness and licensure, said she also was concerned about the waivers creating a sense of disrespect for the teaching profession. But she said data on the declining number of new teachers in the state shows a need for alternative methods for filling job vacancies.
Pfeffer said that Arkansas State University at Jonesboro, a traditionally large producer of teachers, is seeing a significant drop in student teachers in two years. There were 334 student teacher candidates in 2014, Pfeffer said, and just about 200 in 2016. The University of Arkansas at Monticello had 50 student teachers two years ago, and just seven for this coming school year, she said.
"That gives you an indication of what the districts are facing," Pfeffer said. "The data is giving me a different lens to look through. How will students have access to excellent teachers?"
The 13 districts in the southeast cooperative that received the one-year waiver on teacher licensure are Cleveland County, Crossett, Dermott, DeWitt, Drew Central, Dumas, Hamburg, Hermitage, Lakeside, McGehee, Monticello, Star City and Warren.
A Section on 07/16/2016