AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Interested parties assert that trades and industries education is an important teaching area that trains law enforcement and other technical professionals, including welders, motor vehicle mechanics, and other appliance and maintenance professionals. Trades and industries instructors work to train students for careers that serve Texas' growing economy.
In order to be certified as a trades and industries education instructor by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBOE), an individual must have an occupational license in the technical area in which they intend to teach. Interested parties note that this requirement precludes current or former military personnel who have genuine experience in certain technical areas from qualifying as instructors in Texas. Generally, military technicians and military police do not have state occupational licenses. Consequently, the requirement that trades and industries instructors meet certain state licensure requirements in order to receive their certification from SBOE to teach stifles veterans' participation.
H.B. 2014 provides that a current or former member of the armed services shall be qualified to receive a trades and industries education certification that require a license or other credential if the member has experience in that trade through their military service. The bill further prohibits SBOE from proposing rules that would require a current or former service member to obtain a license or experience related to a trade if they gained that experience through their military service. The intent of these changes is to provide a reasonable pathway for current or former military service members to receive certification to provide trades and industries education.
H.B. 2014 amends current law relating to the authority of military personnel to obtain certification to teach career and technology education classes in public schools.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, by adding Section 21.0487, as follows:
Sec. 21.0487. TRADES AND INDUSTRIES EDUCATION CERTIFICATION FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL. (a) Provides that, to the extent that rules adopted under this subchapter require a person seeking trades and industries education certification to hold a license or other professional credential for a specific trade, a person who is a current or former member of the United States armed services is considered to have satisfied that requirement if the person has experience in that trade obtained through military service.
(b) Prohibits the State Board for Educator Certification from proposing rules requiring a current or former member of the United States armed services who seeks career and technology education certification for a specific trade to hold a credential related to that trade or possess experience related to that trade other than the experience in that trade obtained through military service.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2015.