For Immediate Release:
May 1, 2023
Contact:
Cassie Nichols
[email protected]
Governor Kelly Signs Bipartisan Bill to Expand Teacher Workforce in Kansas:
Here's What They're Saying
TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly recently signed Senate Bill 66, a bipartisan bill that allows Kansas to join the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, making it easier for educators within the multi-state agreement to move to and work in Kansas. The bill also expands scholarship opportunities for Kansans studying to become teachers.
In addition to Senate Bill 66, Governor Kelly signed Senate Bill 123, which will grow Kansas’ educator workforce by expanding the Promise Scholarship program to students pursuing degrees in elementary and secondary education.
Here's what they're saying:
"In the summer of 2022, KASB asked school boards and K-12 officials from every part of the state to identify the issues that concerned them most. Over and again, our members told us about the teacher shortage. The struggle to provide every Kansas student highly qualified teachers is real, and these bills will help ease this burden. With the safeguards to protect the quality of teacher licenses, I am especially excited for how these bills will help some of our state’s most remote districts hire good teachers for their students."
- Dr. Brian Jordan,
Kansas Association of School Boards, Executive Director
"This is an exciting opportunity for students who are interested in becoming educators but cannot travel the traditional path by creating unique opportunities for them to achieve their goals. I'm hopeful we can continue to work with our higher education institutions to find creative ways to help more kids who need a non-traditional path achieve their goals."
- G.A. Buie,
Kansas School Superintendents' Association, Executive Director
"Kansas has a long standing reputation for providing its students with top quality public education. It has been the basis for making Kansas a wonderful place to work, grow a business, enjoy a robust cultural environment and raise a family. If we are to continue this tradition of educational excellence, the legislature needs to stop trying to divert public tax money away from our public schools, return due process rights to teachers, respect the authority and responsibilities of our local Boards of Education and eliminate the roadblocks they have placed between our teachers and our students."
- Rep. Jerry Stogsdill,
District 21
"Teacher shortages have created challenges not just here in Kansas, but across the nation. This bipartisan legislation will help grow our economy and local communities by attracting quality teachers and making it easier for them to move and work in our state."
- Senator Cindy Holscher,
District 8
"I am so proud that Governor Kelly has signed SB 66 into law. This bipartisan legislation preserves the existing state-based licensure system while creating an alternative path to licensure for teachers relocating to and from a compact state. Not only does this create an agreed-upon regulatory framework for teacher reciprocity, it also speeds up the application process for relocating licensees, reduces time and resources spent by licensing agencies, and adds one more tool to the State Board of Education Licensure tool box."
- Senator Pat Pettey,
District 6
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