National Board certification facing cutbacks

The House just voted 71-37 for a bill (5083) that education officials say will eventually do away with the state's popular bonus program for National Board-certified teachers by diluting incentives to teachers. The Senate passed a similar bill yesterday, with a 35-1 vote.

The legislation does away with a bonus for certified teachers who mentor other educators, as well as a $2,250 application fee subsidy for teachers who pursue the certification. The Senate version is even more controversial and opposed by the FEA because it limits the annual 10 percent bonus for board-certified teachers to one 10-year period.

About 10,000 teachers benefited from the program this year, at a cost of $88-million to the state. The changes would cut the state's tab by $41-million next year.

For previous posts on this subject, click here and here.

Comments

[Also a teacher]

In that case, why not just do that for the masters and Ed.D programs? That would have saved me a lot of all-nighters working on my portfolio.

[Teacher]

Perhaps I'm overly cynical but I say the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is a ripoff. They're making a ton of money by charging $2,250 to tell whether a teacher is accomplished. The reality is that the application process is grueling, and most teachers don't want to bother with all of the paperwork and hoops that must be passed through. So the teachers who become certified are a subset of the small number of teachers who are willing to go through the lengthy process. I say there ought to be a different certification board which has no yearlong paperwork process and just sends in a highly qualified observer to spend one day with the applicant teacher and I say that observer would make a better judgment as to the qualifications of the teacher for one tenth of the cost.