Out of the 132 elected representatives in the Legislature, only one is an educator, holding a lifetime teaching license. It's no surprise, then that the proposed budget to be voted on by the Assembly on September 13 and soon after by the Senate includes harmful provisions that will result in the quality of teachers in our students' classrooms.

Take action now to tell your elected officials to remove harmful teacher licensing provisions from the budget!

One of the worst provisions in the budget creates a backdoor way to lower teaching standards by allowing initial teaching licenses to be granted to individuals certified by online licensing factories that refuse to meet minimum standards set by the Legislature and Department of Public Instruction. This opens the door to outfits such as the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, which operates in Florida, Arkansas and Tennessee, to name a few. The Board’s website promotes its program as a way to earn teacher certification in less than one year, without taking on debt or returning to school. Student teaching is not required as a basis of certification.

WEAC and the DPI strenuously object to this provision, as Wisconsin has existing alternative pathways and also recognizes out-of-state licenses. Read and take action on the license provisions included in the budget.