Meet the new Minnesota board that will begin overseeing teacher licensure on Jan. 1

Sep 27, 2017

MinnPost, Erin Hinrichs

As the entity in charge of establishing requirements for teacher preparation programs and licensure — and disciplining teachers who violate the teachers’ code of ethics — the Board of Teaching has held a lot of power. So when the board came under fire by a state court judge — twice within a matter of months — for illegally halting a state-mandated alternative teacher-licensing program for out-of-state teachers, state lawmakers took notice.

The apparent power struggle was made even more complicated by the fact that legislators were in the midst of considering an overhaul of the entire Minnesota teacher licensure system. According to a 2016 state audit, the “broken” system was in need of significant fixes, many of which were rooted in the blurred lines of responsibility and accountability between the Board of Teaching and the Minnesota Department of Education.