$200 Bet: Do Charter School Teachers Have Credentials?

16Oct
by Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Recently, a bet among a friend and two anti-charter school public school teachers netted us a financial windfall of $200.00! All we had to do was prove that charter school teachers required credentials.  

In a matter of one minute, I was able to pull up the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing website information with the following verification:

Certification for Teachers and Other School Personnel

Since January 1, 1999, all teachers in charter schools are required to hold either a teaching credential or other document equivalent to that which a teacher in other public schools would be required to hold issued by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The statute also provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that charter schools be given flexibility with regard to noncore, noncollege preparatory courses. Teachers in core or college preparatory courses must hold a valid credential equivalent to that which would be required of a teacher in a non-charter public school. The statute does not affect the qualifications for any service personnel (administrators, counselors, librarians or others) employed by the charter school.

And so now, here we are $200.00 richer. The two individuals, in this case, are teachers. Folks who teach at your local (low performing) public schools in the San Bernardino County area. Grown-ups with degrees conferred upon them but who lack the ability to think for themselves and apparently also the ability to Google such a silly claim. They were told by the local California Teachers Association affiliate and state representatives that charter schools do not require their teachers to be credentialed, and these teachers blindly believed this.

I felt compelled to share this experience because it is truly frustrating to know that such lies are swallowed and then repeated by teachers who should know better. There are a lot of lies circulating about charter schools these days, and I really just want people to stop spreading them and to instead think and do a little bit of research on their own.

 

What do you think?

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Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Leticia Chavez-Garcia is a Mother, Grandmother, former Middle School Teacher, former Member of a School Board of Education and an Education Advocate for hundreds of parents and students in the Inland Empire. Having become a mother at 15, Leticia knows what it’s like to be a single mother trying to navigate the education system. Leticia received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters’ Degree in Education Technology from Cal State Fullerton in her 30’s. Leticia has used her knowledge and experience to help hundreds of families as an Education Advocate in the Inland Empire and currently works as an Education Specialist.

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