Because of the increasing difficulty that charter schools are having in hiring certified teachers and the high teacher turnover, SUNY has proposed to lower teacher standards for their charter schools. There rationale for lowering teacher hiring standards is the looming teacher shortage and the almost 50% reduction in college teacher training program applicants. While these reasons are true, its really that charter schools cannot retain teachers for more than two or three years due to the increased school time, lower salaries, and inferior benefits.
Presently, only a maximum of 15% of the teachers in a charter school can be uncertified. Some schools have had difficulty meeting that goal and some charter schools have a majority of teachers uncertified in the subject that they are teaching in. Moreover, its not uncommon for charter school classes to have two or more teachers during the school year. Finally, once teachers get fully certified, they usually leave to the higher paying and better benefits, such as a pension, of the public school system.
SUNY's proposal would mean that these uncertified charter school teachers will never need to pass State certification tests or obtain a master's degree. Therefore, limiting the charter school teachers to teach in charter schools. While both the Board of Regents and the NYED Commissioner has objected to SUNT's proposed teacher hiring regulations , Under the draft rules, some would-be teachers wouldn’t have to earn a master’s degree or pass the state certification exam. Instead, you’d need 30 hours of instruction and 100 hours working in-class under the supervision of an experienced teacher, as well to finish state workshops on bullying, violence prevention and child abuse.
If these draft rules are implemented, the charter schools will simply hire any Tom, Dick, or Harry with a college degree and dump them into a classroom, unprepared in the art of teaching and that's not good for the students in any setting.