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H 7419Uncategorized

Education - Certification of Teachers

This bill extends current teacher licenses for free, waives testing fees for new teachers, and creates flexible ways to become certified.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 30, 2026Committee House Education

Plain-English Summary

This legislation modifies the certification process for teachers in Rhode Island to address recruitment and retention. It mandates that current teacher certifications be automatically extended for three or five years starting July 1, 2026, without fees. It also waives application and Praxis examination fees for initial certifications between 2026 and 2029. Additionally, the bill directs the Department of Education to create flexible pathways for licensure, including accepting work experience and competency tests for credit, and allows experienced teachers to add new certifications more easily.

For younger readers

This law helps people become teachers and stay teachers. It says that teachers who already have a license will not have to pay money to renew it for a few years. It also says that new people wanting to be teachers will not have to pay for the tests they need to take. The law also tells the people in charge of schools to make it easier to become a teacher by looking at a person's life experience and skills, not just the classes they took in college.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
TeachersAspiring EducatorsSchool AdministratorsStudentsParents
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Eliminates financial barriers for aspiring educators by waiving initial certification and Praxis examination fees, promoting economic equity and potentially diversifying the teaching workforce.
  • Acknowledges non-traditional life and work experiences for licensure, potentially reducing systemic gatekeeping that disproportionately affects marginalized communities.
  • Strengthens the public education sector by retaining current educators through automatic certification extensions, ensuring stability for students and communities.
  • Extending emergency certifications automatically could result in students in under-resourced districts being taught by under-qualified personnel for longer periods.
  • Allowing candidates to "test out" of coursework or use work experience might devalue formal pedagogical training essential for culturally responsive teaching.
  • The reliance on standardized testing (Praxis) remains central to the process, which some progressives argue is culturally biased, despite the fee waivers.
For Conservatives
  • Reduces government red tape and bureaucracy by streamlining the certification process and allowing experienced teachers to easily add new credentials.
  • Encourages a merit-based approach by allowing candidates to demonstrate competency through testing rather than forcing them to pay for and attend potentially unnecessary university courses.
  • Promotes individual liberty and professional flexibility by recognizing work and life experience as a valid substitute for traditional government-mandated educational requirements.
  • Waiving fees for certifications and exams creates a loss of revenue that will likely be subsidized by the taxpayers, increasing the financial burden on the state.
  • Granting automatic extensions to all certifications, including emergency ones, undermines standards and accountability in the classroom.
  • Allowing "life experience" to substitute for formal education could degrade the professional quality of the teaching workforce and lower educational rigor.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 30 additions · 6 deletions

SECTION 1. Sections 16-11-2.3 and 16-11-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-11 entitled "Certification of Teachers [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" are hereby amended to read as follows: 16-11-2.3. Standardized testing — Issuance of certificates.

(a) No person who obtained an initial certificate prior to January 8, 2002 shall be barred from certification under this chapter solely because of his or her the person’s score on any standardized teacher’s examination; provided, however, that he or she the person successfully completes an assessment, based on criteria established by the board of regents for elementary and secondary education Rhode Island department of education (RIDE), in accordance with 34 CFR § 200.56.

(b) The board of regents for elementary and secondary Rhode Island department of education may administer a written examination to prospective teachers seeking certification.

(c) Effective July 1, 2026, all currently certified teachers as of July 1, 2026, shall have their certifications automatically extended for three (3) or five (5) years, without fee or penalty. This shall include all teacher certifications issued by the department of education, including, but not limited to, emergency certifications with conditions.

(d) In order to promote teacher recruitment, for the three (3) year period from July 1, 2026, through to June 30, 2029 (the "period"), the Rhode Island department of education shall waive all fees to apply for a teacher initial certification for that period, and shall waive all Praxis examination fees for that year period. 16-11-3. Certificates without examination.

(a) The board of regents for elementary and secondary education may, in its discretion, issue certificates of qualification without examination to persons who may present evidence of qualification and shall comply with the regulations of the board. Provided, that any teacher who is certified in two (2) fields or subjects of science, other than general science, shall also be automatically certified in the field or subject of general science without the need for examination or other proof of qualifications in the subject of general science.

(b) Any teacher holding a valid Rhode Island teacher certification and who has at least three (3) years of certified teaching experience, shall be allowed to acquire an additional certification(s) through examination or content coursework so long as the teacher has a minimum of three (3) years of certified teaching experience.

SECTION 2. Chapter 16-11 of the General Laws entitled "Certification of Teachers [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 16-11-11. Educator preparation programs. The Rhode Island department of elementary and secondary education shall review and revise as necessary its rules and regulations governing the licensure of teachers and administrators. The rules and regulations shall be revised so as to create and permit multiple pathways and flexibility in the credential requirements for both undergraduate and post-baccalaureate degrees to obtain teacher or administrator certification. In so promulgating these rules and regulations, or revisions thereto, the department may incorporate awarding credit for non-traditional classes, work/life experience that is deemed tantamount to formal classwork, and permitting teacher and administrator candidates to obtain course credit by demonstrating course competency through a test or other demonstration of competency so as to allow waiver of the course and to provide credit for the course.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.