00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 86(HES) 01 "An Act relating to employment of teachers who have subject-matter expertise; and 02 providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 05 to read: 06 PURPOSE AND LEGISLATIVE INTENT. (a) It is the purpose of this Act to 07 increase 08 (1) the options available to local school districts to improve the quality of 09 instruction offered to their students; and 10 (2) the flexibility of local school districts in the way they provide instruction 11 in subject areas that the local school district finds to be a local priority or a special need. 12 (b) It is the specific intent of this Act to place authority for regulating subject-matter 13 expert teachers with local school boards and regional educational attendance areas and to limit 14 the authority of the state Board of Education and Early Development with respect to subject- 01 matter expert teachers only to the duties specifically given to the board in this Act. 02 * Sec. 2. AS 14.20.010 is amended to read: 03 Sec. 14.20.010. Teacher certificate required. Except as provided in 04 AS 14.20.015, a [A] person may not be employed as a teacher in the public schools of 05 the state unless that person possesses a valid teacher certificate. However, [EXCEPT 06 THAT] a person who has made application to the department for a teacher certificate 07 or renewal of a teacher certificate that has not been acted upon by the department may 08 be employed as a teacher in the public schools of the state until the department has 09 taken action on the application, but in no case may employment without a certificate 10 last longer than three months. 11 * Sec. 3. AS 14.20 is amended by adding a new section to read: 12 Sec. 14.20.015. Exception from certification requirement for subject- 13 matter expert teachers. (a) A school district or regional educational attendance area 14 in the state may employ a person as a subject-matter expert teacher if the person 15 (1) has received at least a baccalaureate degree from an institution of 16 higher education accredited by a recognized regional or national accrediting 17 association or approved by the commissioner and 18 (A) majored or minored in the subject that the person will be 19 teaching; or 20 (B) has at least five years' experience in the subject matter that 21 the person will be teaching; 22 (2) has submitted fingerprints to the department to be used for a 23 criminal history background check and has been found by the department to be 24 suitable for employment as a teacher under AS 14.20.020(f); and 25 (3) pays the fee required by the department under AS 14.20.020(c) to 26 defray the cost of the criminal history background check; the amount may not exceed 27 the fee required for application for an initial regular certificate. 28 (b) Before a school district or regional educational attendance area determines 29 whether to hire a person as a subject-matter expert teacher under this section, the 30 school district or regional educational attendance area shall administer a competency 31 examination. 01 (c) A person who is employed as a subject-matter expert teacher under this 02 section may only be employed to teach subjects in which the person has satisfied the 03 education or experience requirements set out in (a)(1) of this section. A teacher 04 employed under this section is subject to nonretention for the following school year 05 even if the teacher has tenure if the school district or regional educational attendance 06 area removes from its curriculum the subject that the subject-matter expert teacher is 07 employed to teach or significantly reduces the number of classes offered in the 08 subject. 09 (d) A school district or regional educational attendance area that employs a 10 subject-matter expert teacher shall provide a mentor who is an experienced teacher for 11 the subject-matter expert teacher for at least the first year of the subject-matter expert 12 teacher's employment in the school district or regional educational attendance area. 13 (e) A person who is employed by a school district or regional educational 14 attendance area under this section is considered to be a certificated teacher or a 15 certificated employee for all purposes. 16 (f) In this section, a "subject-matter expert teacher" is a teacher qualified to 17 teach under (a) of this section. 18 * Sec. 4. AS 14.20.030(b) is amended to read: 19 (b) The commissioner or the Professional Teaching Practices Commission 20 shall revoke for life the certificate of a person who has been convicted of a crime, or 21 an attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime, involving a minor under 22 AS 11.41.410 - 11.41.460 or a law or ordinance in another jurisdiction with elements 23 similar to an offense described in this subsection. In the case of a subject-matter 24 expert teacher who has been so convicted, the commissioner shall revoke for life 25 the finding under AS 14.20.015(a)(2) that the person is suitable for employment 26 as a teacher under AS 14.20.020(f). 27 * Sec. 5. AS 14.20.177(d) is amended to read: 28 (d) For purposes of this section, a tenured teacher is considered qualified for a 29 position if [THE POSITION IS IN] 30 (1) the position is in grades K - 8 and the teacher has an elementary 31 endorsement; 01 (2) the position is in an established middle school and the teacher has 02 (A) an elementary endorsement; 03 (B) a middle school endorsement; or 04 (C) a secondary certificate with a subject area endorsement in 05 the area of assignment in which the teacher filling the position will spend at 06 least 40 percent of the teacher's time or the teacher has, within the five years 07 immediately preceding the last date on which the teacher performed teaching 08 services in the district before being laid off, received an evaluation stating that 09 the teacher's performance in the subject or subjects meets the district 10 performance standards; [OR] 11 (3) the position is in grades 9 - 12 and the teacher has an endorsement 12 for each subject area in which the teacher filling the position will spend at least 40 13 percent of the teacher's time or the teacher has, within the five years immediately 14 preceding the last date on which the teacher performed teaching services in the district 15 before being laid off, received an evaluation stating that the teacher's performance in 16 the subject or subjects meets the district performance standards; or 17 (4) the teacher is a subject-matter expert teacher employed under 18 AS 14.20.015 and is employed to teach in a position in which the teacher has 19 subject-matter expertise. 20 * Sec. 6. This Act takes effect July 1, 2001.