CHEYENNE –– A legislative bill that would allow school districts and charter schools to hire staff not certified by the Wyoming professional teaching standards board has support from a couple of local legislators, though a few legislators have voiced strong opposition as well.

The bill would allow districts and charter schools to draft policies and procedures that would allow them to hire someone without a teaching license, so long as they’re at least 18 years old and submit to a criminal background check. The uncertified person could be hired as an administrator, teacher, or other employee if procedures are adopted within a district or charter school.

Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, is one of the bill’s cosponsors. In an email to SweetwaterNOW, Heiner said school districts struggle to find staff, some retired professionals with higher degrees want to teach, but the certification process prevents them from teaching.

“As a professional engineer, when I approached retirement age, I considered teaching math to occupy my time but found I didn’t qualify to teach in K-12 without the certificate. I looked into requirements to teach a college level math course and found that I qualify to teach there,” Heiner wrote.

Heiner said the state should allow school districts the ability to decide if someone with a bachelor’s degree in a related field should be hired to teach classes, saying state laws shouldn’t stand in the way of hiring a qualified candidate. He said hiring decisions should be made by school officials using the criteria they set.

Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, is another cosponsor and emphasizes the bill is a “may bill” which gives local school districts the ability to determine what’s best for their districts. Heiner also notes the bill isn’t designed to take away local control.

“They would still do all the hiring and would write the job qualifications,” Heiner wrote. “This gives more local control by removing state restrictions that may not be beneficial.”

Several local legislators are in opposition to the bill as well.

“I am against the watering down approach of using uncertified teachers to teach our children. It has been brought to our attention that there are other ways that an accredited professional might be able to teach in our school systems without using this bill,” Sen. Stacy Jones, R-Rock Springs, told SweetwaterNOW.

Jones said she is concern about the state of education in Wyoming’s schools and said she wants to make the state is doing the best it can to provide the best education possible. She said she has a degree in elementary education from the University of Wyoming and while she doesn’t teach, she appreciates the time, money, and effort teachers invest to earn their teaching degrees.

“We should not diminish the efforts of these certified individuals,” she said.

Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, also opposes the bill, saying it erodes the legislature’s duty to provide a quality education for Wyoming residents, saying the bill is part of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus agenda its members are moving “full steam ahead”.

“I have tried to amend and resist several bills, but they are pushing them through in large part my concerns and protests are falling on deaf ears,” he wrote in an email to SweetwaterNOW.

Rep. JT Larson, R-Rock Springs, Sweetwater County School District No. 1 already struggles with assessment rates and views the bill as only compounding the problem because “we will not have educated teachers.”

“This bill is also a slap in the face of our existing teachers who have invested their time and money into their education in order to become teachers,” Larson wrote in an email to SweetwaterNOW.

The bill is still being considered, having been referred to the house education committee. It can still be amended. For Heiner, he would like to see the age requirement be raised from 18 to 21 or older, saying he also believes a person should have an education in a related field to be hired.

“The bill is not in its’ final stage at this point. Throughout the legislative process, we look for ways to improve upon the proposed legislation,” Heiner wrote.

Rep. Darin McCann, R-Rock Springs, and Rep. Marlene Brady, R-Green River, did not respond to an emailed request to comment for this article.