Fact Check: How new Oklahoma adjunct teaching law impacts degree requirements
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Across the state there's been recent controversy over teaching requirements.
A law that went into effect over the summer is raising questions on who is allowed to teach, and if your child's educator even needs a college degree.
Some think this law has stripped the requirements for teaching, and others said it's expanded opportunity.
FOX 25 sat down with the two who sponsored the law, Senator Jessica Garvin and Representative Kyle Hilbert, to find out how this impacts those in the classroom.
"It's just really frustrating that that narrative has been pressed that we're trying to dismantle public education or make it worse," Sen. Garvin, (R)-Duncan said. "I have kids in public schools, so it's just disheartening that people would believe this false narrative."
Recent reporting and public commentary over social media has claimed that because of the teacher shortage, lawmakers passed SB 1119 to no longer require educators to have college degrees to teach permanently.
Going through the history of the legislation though, FOX 25 determined that is not true. The program that allows those to teach without holding a valid teaching certificate is defined by the state as "adjunct" teaching.
The program allowing adjunct teaching in Oklahoma started in 1991, years before one of the sponsors of SB 1119 was even born.
The House Speaker Pro Tem, Rep. Hilbert explained that not only did this bill not start the program, but it didn't even change the teaching requirements.
The new law removes the previous 270-hour limitation per semester that adjuncts could teach in the classroom.
"It simply empowers local control to let the local districts decide how many hours they want their adjuncts to teach," Rep. Hilbert said.
Existing state law requires adjunct teachers to be "persons with distinguished qualifications in their field."
When it comes to determining those qualifications, that's up to local boards of education.
Yukon Public Schools, a district with seven adjunct teachers, determine who has the expertise to teach a particular subject in the classroom without a specific teaching degree using a few different criteria points.
An adjunct teacher isn't required to have a college degree in that district, but "successful experience as a classroom teacher" and "enrolled in a bachelor's degree completion program and within 18 hours of completion of a bachelor's degree" are two of the criteria points.
Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) has some of the same criteria points, but looks at "within 36 hours of completion of a bachelor's degree" instead.
In a statement to FOX25, OKCPS wrote:
The ideal scenario would involve having a certified teacher, with a degree in education in every classroom across the district. However, OKCPS, like many other school districts in Oklahoma and around the country, is experiencing a limited pool of potential teachers. OKCPS is grateful for the flexibility that allows us to hire emergency certified and adjunct teachers. In addition to adjunct teachers, we also have other initiatives in place to address the teacher shortage.
While some of Oklahoma's public school districts do not require a college degree, state leaders said that doesn't mean that high school students are graduating and then returning to their classrooms to teach. Rep. Hilbert and Sen. Garvin said they trust local school districts with employing adequate teaching staff.
"If there were high schools hiring 19-year-olds' to come teach, they would have been doing it at some point during the last 31 years, and they haven't," Rep. Hilbert said. "So everyone wants to talk about these extreme examples that simply do not exist, because if they did, we would have heard about them."
While current statute allows those without a college degree to teach certain classes, the sponsors said that doesn't mean the adjunct teachers are not qualified to do a great job in the classroom.
"Some of the most intelligent people I know don't have a college degree," Rep. Hilbert said. "Now should all of those people be teaching a K-12 classroom? No. But are there people who have substantial experience in their field, who are good with kids and good at speaking that would make sense in certain scenarios to teach specific classes? Not any and all classes but specific classes? Absolutely."
While the requirements may not be as strict for adjunct teachers, there are classrooms where adjunct teachers can't teach because of that.
The law clearly states that special education, early childhood and kindergarten teachers must have specific degrees in order to instruct students.
One group that has voiced their opposition to the legislation is the OEA. In a statement sent to FOX25, the President of OEA, Katherine Bishop, said:
Oklahoma children deserve a highly qualified and trained education professional in each classroom. Continuing to discredit our profession and the training it requires to meet all the needs of a student will not solve the educator shortage crisis. These types of solutions are short-term answers to long-term problems. The solutions to these problems are known; we just need the will to do them. We must attract the most qualified educators possible through a culture of respect, investment in competitive pay and resources to support the crucial work of educating the children of Oklahoma.
For more local news delivered straight to your inbox sign up for our daily newsletter by clicking here.