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Highlights of the June 27, 2011 State Board of Education Special Meeting

TOPEKA – The Kansas State Board of Education voted to increase the teacher certification/licensure fee effective Sept. 1, 2011, at a special meeting June 27, 2011. 

 Currently, the certification/licensure fee is a standard $39. The fee increase approved by the State Board amounts to $3 per year for each year of the license renewal. That means those receiving a one-year license will see their fee increase by $3; those receiving a two-year license will experience a $6 increase; those receiving a three-year license will see an increase of $9, etc. The increased fees will pay for stepped-up measures to identify educators who have engaged in activities that could result in license revocation.

 For the approximately 35,000 certificate/license holders who have fingerprints on file with the Kansas Bureau of investigation (KBI), the additional $3 per year will pay for enrollment in the KBI’s Rap Back program. The program provides daily matches from criminal reports for individuals who have fingerprints on file. The increased fees from the approximately 40,000 educators who received their initial licenses prior to 2003 and do not have fingerprints on file will be used to pay for investigations to follow up on reports made to the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) regarding educators who have been dismissed, resigned, or otherwise separated from employment, or who have been arrested for, entered into a criminal diversion agreement or been convicted of offenses that could result in license revocation or suspension.

The action on the certification/licensure fee comes after the State Board voted down a KSDE staff recommendation earlier in the month that would require all licensed educators to submit to fingerprinting. The intent was to enroll all licensed educators in the Rap Back program. The Board voted down that recommendation, with a number of Board members indicating that a greater effort should be made to hold county and district attorneys and superintendents to statutory and regulatory requirements to report to KSDE whenever a licensed educator has been dismissed, resigned or otherwise separated from employment, or has entered into a criminal diversion agreement or been convicted of an offense that may result in license suspension or revocation.

The special meeting was conducted by conference call and was called after the item to set certification/licensure fees was inadvertently left off the agenda for the Board’s regular meeting June 14 and 15. By statute, the fee must be set by July 1.

The next State Board of Education meeting is scheduled for June 14 and 15 in Topeka.

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