Bill: HB 4064, 85(R) - 2017
Committee
House Public Education
2nd Chamber Committee
Senate Education
Vote Recommendation
Vote Recommendation |
Economic Freedom |
Property Rights |
Personal Responsibility |
Limited Government |
Individual Liberty |
Vote No; Amend |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Negative |
Neutral |
Author(s)
Dwayne Bohac
Sponsor(s)
Larry Taylor
Bill Caption
Relating to staff development and continuing education
requirements for public school educators regarding digital
education methods.
Fiscal Notes
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
Bill Analysis
This bill would add to the requirements necessary to obtain a teaching certificate by requiring the applicant to have had training in digital learning and literacy. The course required to be taken under this bill must be aligned with the International Society for Technology in Education's standards for teachers; provide effective, evidence-based strategies to determine a person's degree of digital literacy; and include resources to address any deficiencies identified by the digital literacy evaluation.
Vote Recommendation Notes
This bill adds an additional and unnecessary licensing burden for prospective teachers. If digital literacy is a big enough problem that it needs to be addressed at all, it could be better addressed by making digital literacy training voluntary and tying incentives to successful completion of a relevant course. This would set up a system where people who need the training can take it and have an incentive to do so while not mandating an unnecessary burden on everyone pursuing a teaching certificate. For these reasons we oppose HB 4064. We would withdraw our opposition to this bill if amended to make the training optional as described above.