HF 4361 - Teacher Licensure and Reporting Bill

• Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board must publish biennial reports (beginning 2024) on state-funded programs designed to increase racial and ethnic diversity among teachers, with recommendations for policy and funding needed to achieve diversity goals.

• Board must submit a supply and demand report by November 1, 2025, and each odd-numbered year thereafter, including data on retirement patterns, teacher licensure, diversity, shortages by field and region, and five-year teacher demand projections by district.

• Special education teacher licensure requirements added for Tier 1 and Tier 2 licenses, requiring applicants to participate in intensive professional development, intensive supervision, and mentoring programs, with licensure limited to three years.

• Teacher licensure examination requirements modified to provide monthly testing opportunities, waived fees for federal grant recipients, free practice tests and study guides, multilingual exams for language immersion teachers, and fee waivers for applicants after two failed attempts.

• School districts and charter schools prohibited from placing teachers with criminal charges related to predatory offender registration requirements in teaching positions; heritage language and culture teacher licensure pathway program established with mentorship, stipends, and fee waivers.