Schools
School Test Scores Delayed, New Teaching Licenses Unavailable During Minnesota Shutdown
A prolonged Minnesota state government shutdown could pose problems come fall for school districts if teachers can't get or renew their licenses.
School District 622 will continue getting its state aid money—which accounts for about 80 percent of its budget—during a, according to a ruling this week by Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearing, but the shutdown will still have an impact on the district in other ways.
Teachers’ ability to get or renew their licenses and the district’s ability to get test scores—which help them guide curriculum for the coming school year—will be hampered through the duration of the shutdown.
With only a skeleton crew remaining at the Minnesota Department of Education, schools will now have to contend with expiring teacher licenses.
Teachers must regularly renew their licenses with the Minnesota Board of Teaching, showing that they met certain professional development milestones since their last renewal, among other regulations. Even if a teacher has been in the classroom for many years, they still technically need a license to run a classroom. No current license, no classes.
The same goes for new teachers.
And since School District 622 is still in the process of hiring teachers for the coming school year, according to Communications Director Jennifer McNeil, some new teachers could find themselves with a job, but without a license to teach if the shutdown lasts.
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Critical student test scores will be delayed due to the shutdown because the Education Department is operating with a six-person crew. That prevents the district from using those assessments to address student needs.
“It makes it more difficult for us to plan for school improvements for next year,” McNeil said in an email. “It also affects our ability to notify families of potential benefits they may have due to their school’s AYP (adequate yearly progress) status in a timely manner, i.e. school choice.”
MDE Acting Director of School Improvement Steve Dibb said it was unclear exactly how the shutdown would affect or delay test scores from getting into educators’ hands because the impact is contingent on how long the shutdown lasts.
“If (the shutdown lasts) a day or two, there probably won’t be much of an effect,” he said. “If it turns into a few weeks of a shutdown, then the reports would be delayed … How long? We don’t know … We haven’t had this happen before.”