SC schools can hire noncertified teachers under new law

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - A new state law will allow students across South Carolina to be taught by someone without a teaching certificate beginning with the upcoming school year.

It comes as the state continues to grapple with a years-long educator shortage, as a new tactic lawmakers have implemented in an attempt to turn it around.

“We are trying to look at any strategy that will get qualified people into the teacher workforce pipeline,” Senate Education Committee Chair Greg Hembree, R – Horry, said.

Hembree first proposed the idea years ago, before the General Assembly unanimously passed his bill this year, and he notes other states have already done it.

Those efforts have not always been successful, but South Carolina’s five-year pilot program will be different, according to Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association.

“This is not a noncertified teacher program that we’ve seen in states like Texas and Utah and Oklahoma that basically just dropped all credentials and all requirements and said anybody with a high school diploma can teach. Those states are now walking that back,” Kelly said.

Under South Carolina’s law, there are requirements for these teachers, including that they have a bachelor’s or graduate degree in the subject they are hired to teach and at least five years of relevant workplace experience.

Noncertified teachers must be enrolled in an educator certification program within three years of employment if they want to stay in the classroom.

“Depending on the person, you could make the argument they’re actually kind of more qualified — not only do they have the academic training, but they also have the real-life experience training that I think could make them an even stronger teacher,” Hembree said.

They still need to pass relevant background checks, and teachers whose educator certificates have been suspended or revoked will not qualify.

Districts don’t have to participate, but schools that do can employ up to 10% of their teachers through this program.

Kelly said he does not believe enough people will meet these requirements to make a huge dent in the state’s teacher shortage, a sentiment with which Hembree agrees.

“But ultimately, if we can find one unicorn, and that means that one more classroom of students has a highly qualified teacher in a classroom that otherwise would’ve been vacant, then if that moves the needle for those 25 to 30 students, I think it’s worth trying a five-year pilot to see if it works,” Kelly said.

Lawmakers can decide to keep this program in place past five years, but if they don’t, the pilot will automatically end in 2030.

The law requires the State Board of Education to develop guidelines for the program, so districts can start participating if they want.

The South Carolina Department of Education said those guidelines are being drafted right now and are not yet completed.