Introduction

Most parents don’t know that Washington state law imposes hundreds of pointless rules that keep the best teachers out of public schools.  SB 6067 would eliminate one such rule.

The ban on hiring good teachers does not apply to private schools.  This is one reason private schools are consistently better than public ones.  A Harvard Graduate School of Education study found that a formal teaching certificate “matters little” in raising student classroom achievement.^[1]

By the way, money is not the reason private schools are generally better; on average public schools receive more funding than private ones.

Reducing limits on hiring good teachers

SB 6067 moves in the right direction by repealing RCW 28A.410.280, a rule in place since January 2014 that makes teachers jump through a hoop called the edPTA, a 70-page exercise that comes with a hefty $300 fee.  Teachers at private schools are not required to take this test.

Better yet lawmakers should allow any qualified professional to be hired at a public school.  It is a little silly that Bill Gates, Jr. can’t teach math in a public high school; he doesn’t have state-approved certificate.