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By Tom Chorneau
Monday, March 25, 2013
A policy paper from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst released late last week suggests lawmakers consider curtailing the accreditation of teacher training programs by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The proposal was one of several recommendations included in a review of the impacts of the governor’s budget on the state’s primary standards board for educator training and professional conduct.
A key element of the administration’s plan is for the CTC to begin collecting new fees on universities and other teacher preparation programs for accreditation services. Currently, the state’s 260 teacher training programs are not paying for the oversight activity.
The governor’s budget has set a goal of $200,000 to come from fees the CTC imposes on accreditation services in 2013-14.
While the LAO agrees that the new fees are a good idea in general – they raise a question about the accreditation program itself, noting that site visits – a key part of the oversight process – have been suspended in recent years as a result of budget cuts.
They note that 60 to 80 of the teacher preparation programs in the state have not participated fully in accreditation