New York, NY; October 12, 2022 – The National Association of Scholars, California Policy Center, Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, Goldwater Institute, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, John Locke Foundation, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Palm Beach Freedom Institute, and Washington Policy Center are jointly releasing the Model Education Licensure Code.
The Model Education Licensure Code provides three model bills state policymakers can use to reform education schools and the education licensure process—the Education Licensure Nondiscrimination Act, the Education Licensure Review Act, and the Education Licensure Certificate Act.
Education reformers must include education schools and education licensure in their reform agenda,” stated David Randall, National Association of Scholars Director of Research. “Radical activists use education schools and licensure requirements as their central means to gain power over America’s classrooms.”
Activists long ago seized control of education schools and began to insert ever more radical ideology and pedagogy into teacher training. The radicalized education schools propagandize teachers and screen out would-be teachers who refuse to acquiesce to the schools’ political demands.
“The radical activists also use education licensure requirements to force teachers and education administrators to receive degrees from education schools,” said Brandon Dutcher, Senior Vice President of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.
This requirement ensures that our schools’ education administrators and teachers are committed to an ideology not shared by many Americans. More recently, states such as Illinois and Minnesota have moved to impose explicitly politicized education licensure requirements. The body of teachers indoctrinated by politicized education schools and licensure requirements sabotage education reform laws wherever they can.
“Education reform cannot succeed so long as the radical education establishment controls the education of our teachers,” said Martin Center President Jenna Robinson. “Policymakers in each state should adapt these model bills to forward education reform most effectively.”
The three model bills work together to eliminate the radical establishment’s power to select America’s teachers.
- The Education Licensure Nondiscrimination Act forbids a broad range of the different means that activists uses to politicize the education of our teachers.
- The Education Licensure Review Act gives state policymakers the power to veto politicized licensure requirements imposed by state education department bureaucrats.
- The Education Licensure Certificate Act, building on initial work done by states such as Arizona, establishes a standard path toward licensure that bypasses requirements for an undergraduate degree and minimizes education-school requirements.
“These three reforms make it possible for a new generation of liberty-minded teachers to enter the classroom,” said Dr. Terry Stoops, the Director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation. “This new generation will support education reform policy with a good heart.”
Issuing Organizations: National Association of Scholars, California Policy Center, Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, Goldwater Institute, The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, John Locke Foundation, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, The Palm Beach Freedom Institute, Washington Policy Center.
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If you would like more information about this issue, please contact NAS Director of Research David Randall at [email protected].
Further Testimonials
“At a time when American schools are struggling to keep their greatest assets, teachers, in the classroom and away from the temptation of other professions and retirement, it is necessary to rethink our teacher credentialing processes to attract new and exciting talent. California Policy Center is excited to work with others who want to reduce barriers to entry and make our students the top priority in education and our schools the envy of the world once again. We can do that by pursuing bold, innovative reforms that will help to attract and keep the best and brightest teachers in the state unburdened by bureaucratic forms and union control.”
Lance Christensen
Vice President of Education Policy & Government Affairs
California Policy Center
“Our students deserve access to great teachers, and those teachers deserve a clear and direct path into the classroom—one free from bureaucratic barriers and relentless political indoctrination. In a time where cries of “teacher shortages” abound, there is simply no justification whatsoever to bar effective educators from the classroom unless they first submit to academically barren and politically radical programming. These model policies will help wrest control away from the ideological gatekeepers who currently oversee and operate our primary teacher preparation pipelines, and help return teacher training to more academic fundamentals.”
Matt Beienburg
Director of Education Policy & the Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy
Goldwater Institute
Image: Nicola Tolin, Public Domain
