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Some Tennessee private school teachers without a college degree would be eligible to teach in public schools under a new bill advanced by the Senate Education Committee this week.
Senate Bill 2019 would allow private school teachers without a college degree to obtain a temporary public school teaching waiver, a move one national teacher quality organization said could lead to unprepared teachers.
The bill received a unanimous vote from the education committee with bipartisan support after Sen. Dawn White amended the bill to include more stringent experience requirements.
To qualify for the temporary waiver, private school candidates would need 10 years of experience teaching in a category I, II, or III private school in Tennessee.
Sen. Dawn White, a Republican from Murfreesboro, said she sponsored the legislation after speaking with a constituent who had taught for more than two decades at a private school and had a college degree. The teacher had lost the documentation for the degree, and their university had closed years ago. Without that documentation, they aren’t able to get a temporary teaching permit under Tennessee’s current emergency waiver rules.
White’s bill would only allow the temporary waivers for private school teachers if the public school cannot find a qualified teacher with a valid license.
“Rutherford County could not find someone to fill this position,” White said. “We want to put safeguards in this. We don’t want to diminish (public teaching) licenses or the profession of education whatsoever.”
The waiver would require teachers be paired with a colleague mentor and the waiver would only be valid for three years, though it could be renewed by the state Board of Education.
Teachers with the waiver could not teach special education classes or classes with end-of-course exams.
Heather Peske, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said the legislation is taking “shortcuts” that will cost students.
“Experience alone at a private school doesn’t tell you whether teachers have learned the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in the classroom,” Peske said. “That’s why licensure is so important.”
“Would I want my own children taught by teachers who haven’t completed a college program, who don’t have a bachelor’s degree? The answer to that is no. I don’t think those people have the content knowledge to be successful at teaching my children.”
Peske said there doesn’t appear to be precedent elsewhere for letting private school teachers without college degrees into public classrooms. Florida will grant temporary permits to military veterans without a bachelor’s degree as long as they have 60 college credit hours and can pass a state subject area exam.
Other states have various emergency waiver policies for public school teachers amid stubbornly high rates of teacher vacancies across the country.
But some states have begun to pull back on emergency waivers and temporary teaching licenses. Texas lawmakers last year passed a law restricting what subjects uncertified teachers could teach and will help uncertified teachers pay for some costs of getting credentialed.
Tennessee schools have struggled with high vacancy rates in part caused by high turnover and attrition. Rates of new graduates from Tennessee teacher training programs have also declined in recent years.
Data released by the Tennessee Department of Education in November indicated total teacher vacancies, defined as a position left unfilled for 20 or more days, declined from 1,434 in fall 2023 to 817 in fall 2024, a 43% reduction.
However, the number of vacancies filled by emergency hires increased by more than 300% in the last five years.
Last school year alone, 6,579 emergency credentials were issued. A portion of those emergency credentials include emergency endorsements, which is when an otherwise credentialed educator is granted permission to teach outside of their area of expertise.
Most emergency credentials are temporary permits for unlicensed teachers. Tennessee currently requires them to have a bachelor’s degree.
SB 2109 will now go before the Senate Finance Committee. Its House companion bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.
