2007 Minnesota Statutes

122A.18 BOARD TO ISSUE LICENSES.
    Subdivision 1. Authority to license. (a) The Board of Teaching must license teachers, as
defined in section 122A.15, subdivision 1, except for supervisory personnel, as defined in section
122A.15, subdivision 2.
(b) The Board of School Administrators must license supervisory personnel as defined in
section 122A.15, subdivision 2, except for athletic coaches.
(c) Licenses under the jurisdiction of the Board of Teaching, the Board of School
Administrators, and the commissioner of education must be issued through the licensing section
of the department.
    Subd. 2. Teacher and support personnel qualifications. (a) The Board of Teaching must
issue licenses under its jurisdiction to persons the board finds to be qualified and competent for
their respective positions.
(b) The board must require a person to successfully complete an examination of skills in
reading, writing, and mathematics before being granted an initial teaching license to provide direct
instruction to pupils in prekindergarten, elementary, secondary, or special education programs.
The board must require colleges and universities offering a board approved teacher preparation
program to provide remedial assistance that includes a formal diagnostic component to persons
enrolled in their institution who did not achieve a qualifying score on the skills examination,
including those for whom English is a second language. The colleges and universities must
provide assistance in the specific academic areas of deficiency in which the person did not achieve
a qualifying score. School districts must provide similar, appropriate, and timely remedial
assistance that includes a formal diagnostic component and mentoring to those persons employed
by the district who completed their teacher education program outside the state of Minnesota,
received a one-year license to teach in Minnesota and did not achieve a qualifying score on the
skills examination, including those persons for whom English is a second language. The Board of
Teaching shall report annually to the education committees of the legislature on the total number
of teacher candidates during the most recent school year taking the skills examination, the number
who achieve a qualifying score on the examination, the number who do not achieve a qualifying
score on the examination, the distribution of all candidates' scores, the number of candidates who
have taken the examination at least once before, and the number of candidates who have taken the
examination at least once before and achieve a qualifying score.
(c) A person who has completed an approved teacher preparation program and obtained a
one-year license to teach, but has not successfully completed the skills examination, may renew
the one-year license for two additional one-year periods. Each renewal of the one-year license is
contingent upon the licensee:
(1) providing evidence of participating in an approved remedial assistance program provided
by a school district or postsecondary institution that includes a formal diagnostic component in
the specific areas in which the licensee did not obtain qualifying scores; and
(2) attempting to successfully complete the skills examination during the period of each
one-year license.
(d) The Board of Teaching must grant continuing licenses only to those persons who have
met board criteria for granting a continuing license, which includes successfully completing the
skills examination in reading, writing, and mathematics.
(e) All colleges and universities approved by the board of teaching to prepare persons for
teacher licensure must include in their teacher preparation programs a common core of teaching
knowledge and skills to be acquired by all persons recommended for teacher licensure. This
common core shall meet the standards developed by the interstate new teacher assessment
and support consortium in its 1992 "model standards for beginning teacher licensing and
development." Amendments to standards adopted under this paragraph are covered by chapter 14.
The board of teaching shall report annually to the education committees of the legislature on the
performance of teacher candidates on common core assessments of knowledge and skills under
this paragraph during the most recent school year.
    Subd. 2a. Reading strategies. (a) All colleges and universities approved by the Board
of Teaching to prepare persons for classroom teacher licensure must include in their teacher
preparation programs research-based best practices in reading, consistent with section 122A.06,
subdivision 4 , that enable the licensure candidate to know how to teach reading in the candidate's
content areas.
(b) Board-approved teacher preparation programs for teachers of elementary education
must require instruction in the application of comprehensive, scientifically based, and balanced
reading instruction programs that:
(1) teach students to read using foundational knowledge, practices, and strategies consistent
with section 122A.06, subdivision 4, so that all students will achieve continuous progress in
reading; and
(2) teach specialized instruction in reading strategies, interventions, and remediations that
enable students of all ages and proficiency levels to become proficient readers.
    Subd. 2b. Reading specialist. Not later than July 1, 2002, the Board of Teaching must adopt
rules providing for the licensure of teachers of reading.
    Subd. 3. Supervisory and coach qualifications; code of ethics. The commissioner of
education must issue licenses under its jurisdiction to persons the commissioner finds to be
qualified and competent for their respective positions under the rules it adopts. The commissioner
of education may develop, by rule, a code of ethics for supervisory personnel covering standards
of professional practices, including areas of ethical conduct and professional performance and
methods of enforcement.
    Subd. 4. Expiration and renewal. (a) Each license the Department of Education issues
through its licensing section must bear the date of issue. Licenses must expire and be renewed
according to the respective rules the Board of Teaching, the Board of School Administrators,
or the commissioner of education adopts. Requirements for renewing a license must include
showing satisfactory evidence of successful teaching or administrative experience for at least one
school year during the period covered by the license in grades or subjects for which the license is
valid or completing such additional preparation as the Board of Teaching prescribes. The Board
of School Administrators shall establish requirements for renewing the licenses of supervisory
personnel except athletic coaches. The State Board of Teaching shall establish requirements
for renewing the licenses of athletic coaches.
(b) The Board of Teaching shall offer alternative continuing relicensure options for teachers
who are accepted into and complete the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
certification process, and offer additional continuing relicensure options for teachers who
earn National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification. Continuing relicensure
requirements for teachers who do not maintain National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards certification are those the board prescribes.
    Subd. 5. Effective date. Nothing contained herein shall be construed as affecting the validity
of a permanent certificate or license issued prior to July 1, 1969.
    Subd. 6. Human relations. The Board of Teaching and the commissioner of education shall
accept training programs completed through Peace Corps, VISTA, or Teacher Corps in lieu of
completion of the human relations component of the training program for purposes of issuing
or renewing a license in education.
    Subd. 7. Limited provisional licenses. The Board of Teaching may grant provisional
licenses, which shall be valid for two years, in fields in which licenses were not issued previously
or in fields in which a shortage of licensed teachers exists. A shortage is defined as a lack of or
an inadequate supply of licensed personnel within a given licensure area in a school district that
has notified the Board of Teaching of the shortage and has applied to the Board of Teaching for
provisional licenses for that district's licensed staff.
    Subd. 7a. Permission to substitute teach. (a) The Board of Teaching may allow a person
who is enrolled in and making satisfactory progress in a board-approved teacher program and
who has successfully completed student teaching to be employed as a short-call substitute teacher.
(b) The Board of Teaching may issue a lifetime qualified short-call substitute teaching
license to a person who:
(1) was a qualified teacher under section 122A.16 while holding a continuing five-year
teaching license issued by the board, and receives a retirement annuity from the Teachers
Retirement Association, Minneapolis Teachers Retirement Fund Association, St. Paul Teachers
Retirement Fund Association, or Duluth Teachers Retirement Fund Association;
(2) holds an out-of-state teaching license and receives a retirement annuity as a result of
the person's teaching experience; or
(3) held a continuing five-year license issued by the board, taught at least three school years
in an accredited nonpublic school in Minnesota, and receives a retirement annuity as a result
of the person's teaching experience.
A person holding a lifetime qualified short-call substitute teaching license is not required to
complete continuing education clock hours. A person holding this license may reapply to the
board for a continuing five-year license and must again complete continuing education clock
hours one school year after receiving the continuing five-year license.
    Subd. 7b. Temporary limited licenses; personnel variances. (a) The Board of Teaching
must accept applications for a temporary limited teaching license beginning July 1 of the school
year for which the license is requested and must issue or deny the temporary limited teaching
license within 30 days of receiving the complete application.
(b) The Board of Teaching must accept applications for a personnel variance beginning July
1 of the school year for which the variance is requested and must issue or deny the personnel
variance within 30 days of receiving the complete application.
    Subd. 8. Background checks. (a) The Board of Teaching and the commissioner of education
must request a criminal history background check from the superintendent of the Bureau of
Criminal Apprehension on all applicants for initial licenses under their jurisdiction. An application
for a license under this section must be accompanied by:
(1) an executed criminal history consent form, including fingerprints; and
(2) a money order or cashier's check payable to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for
the fee for conducting the criminal history background check.
(b) The superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shall perform the
background check required under paragraph (a) by retrieving criminal history data maintained in
the criminal justice information system computers and shall also conduct a search of the national
criminal records repository, including the criminal justice data communications network. The
superintendent is authorized to exchange fingerprints with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for
purposes of the criminal history check. The superintendent shall recover the cost to the bureau of
a background check through the fee charged to the applicant under paragraph (a).
(c) The Board of Teaching or the commissioner of education may issue a license pending
completion of a background check under this subdivision, but must notify the individual that the
individual's license may be revoked based on the result of the background check.
    Subd. 9. Teacher licenses. The Board of Teaching, upon request by the affected person, shall
issue teacher licenses under the licensure rules in place on July 31, 1996, to a person who enrolled
in an accredited teacher preparation program by January 1, 2000, who satisfactorily completes the
requirements for licensure under those rules, who meets the requirements of subdivision 8, and
who applies for licensure by September 1, 2003.
History: Ex1959 c 71 art 6 s 5; 1969 c 435 s 1,3; 1973 c 749 s 2,3; 1975 c 271 s 6; 1976 c
222 s 12,27,208; 1977 c 347 s 20; 1978 c 706 s 37; 1980 c 345 s 2,3; 1982 c 448 s 1; 1983 c 314
art 7 s 28; 1Sp1985 c 12 art 7 s 21; art 8 s 19; 1987 c 398 art 7 s 29; 1989 c 246 s 2; 1989 c 251 s
3-5; 1990 c 375 s 3; 1992 c 499 art 8 s 8-12; 1993 c 224 art 7 s 17; art 8 s 7; 1993 c 374 s 27; 1994
c 647 art 8 s 14; 1995 c 212 art 4 s 64; 1995 c 226 art 3 s 6; 1Sp1995 c 3 art 16 s 13; 1996 c 412
art 9 s 7,8; art 13 s 19; 1Sp1997 c 4 art 5 s 16,17; 1998 c 397 art 8 s 9-13,101; art 11 s 3; 1998 c
398 art 5 s 55; 1999 c 241 art 5 s 2; art 9 s 8; 2001 c 1 s 1; 2001 c 68 s 1; 1Sp2001 c 6 art 2 s 7;
art 7 s 3,4; 1Sp2001 c 13 s 4,5; 2003 c 130 s 12; 1Sp2003 c 9 art 10 s 4; 1Sp2005 c 5 art 2 s 35