The following information is provided by the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). For additional information, see their website, www.nasbe.org.

Alabama
The Alabama Department of Education will issue emergency teaching certificates to displaced teachers seeking a new school position in Alabama. Emergency certificates may be obtained without the usual teacher certificate requirements being immediately met. Applicants must provide information about the existing teaching certificate they hold in their home state and complete fingerprinting for a national criminal background check. The state will waive the $49 background check fee to accommodate displaced Louisiana and Mississippi teachers applying for Alabama teaching positions. Applicants can be employed on a temporary/emergency basis pending the background check results. Educators interested in applying for a teaching position in Alabama must hold a valid professional teacher certificate from another state and should contact the school system they wish to relocate to for information on available positions.

Georgia
Information for Educators Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

All of you are in our thoughts during this period of crisis. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which is the state educator preparation and certification agency, has taken the following actions to assist educators displaced by Hurricane Katrina:
* Georgia will issue a special one-year educator certificate to displaced educators who are offered employment in a Georgia school system. We will temporarily relax the requirements for official documentation and will work with the employing school systems to verify information in other ways.
* To find employment in Georgia's school systems, go to TeachGeorgia.
* Once you are offered a position, the employing school system will work with this agency to coordinate the issuance of the Georgia certificate.
* Georgia does have an International Exchange certificate for non-U.S. citizen educators teaching in the U.S. on a Visa. When using TeachGeorgia, let the school system know if you are here on an International Visa.
* The Professional Standards Commission is working with certification officials in Mississippi, and is using the Louisiana certification website (teachlouisiana.net) and the NASDTEC clearinghouse database to verify as much information as possible.

Visit TeachGeorgia to find employment in Georgia's school systems.

Kansas

If a Louisiana teacher graduated from an accredited college and has a current license, then Kansas extends an automatic 1 year license. The 1 year period gives a time to iron out any challenges that might exist in the language of licenses between the two states. For instance, if a state has a K-6 license and Kansas has a K-5 license, but the teacher wants to teach at 6th grade, then the details need to be worked out.
Any teacher wanting more info should contact the KS Dept. of Ed. at 785-296-3201.

Massachusetts
Massachusetts has licensure reciprocity with Mississippi (for teachers, professional support staff, and administrators) and Louisiana (for teachers and professional support staff; administrators would have to access our panel review). Teachers licensed in these states would have to pass our Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) in order to teach in Massachusetts, unless these educators are eligible for our temporary license, which is valid for one year. Therefore, there is no state Board of Education action needed at this time.

Nevada
September 7, 2005
MEMORANDUM

To: George Ann Rice, Associate Superintendent, Human Resources Division, Clark County School District
From: Keith W. Rheault, Superintendent of Public Instruction
Subject: Guidance Regarding the Hiring of Teachers Affected by Hurricane Katrina

I am aware of the fact that the Clark County School District will be conducting interviews in the near future with teachers from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who were displaced from their teaching positions by Hurricane Katrina. It is my understanding that the school district will be recruiting teachers primarily in the hard to fill areas such as special education, secondary mathematics and science to fill vacancies that currently exist within the district. With the knowledge that teachers who will be recruited may not have immediate access to all of the documentation required for licensure in Nevada, I am providing the following guidance and conditions to Clark County School District. The guidance and conditions being provided only apply to teachers from the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

* Clark County School District must provide a list of teachers who are offered positions by the school district to the Department of Education Licensing Office before the applications will be processed. The list should include the name of the teacher and the area of licensure for each teacher.
* Clark County School District Human Resources staff shall confirm that the teachers who are offered positions held a valid license from their respective state to teach the subject for which they are being hired for in Nevada.
* All teachers who are offered positions by the school district will need to complete as much of the information as they can on the Nevada Application for Licensure to include the submission of fingerprints.
* Department of Education Licensing Staff will be authorized to issue a "provisional license" to the teachers identified by the school district and for whom applications have been received. Any missing information such as transcripts, etc. will be placed as a provision on the license.
* Administrative relief for the missing information placed as a provision on the license will be granted by the Superintendent of Public Instruction for a maximum period of 6 months at which time it is expected that all missing information would be available. Exceptional circumstances will be considered on an individual basis after 6 months.
* The Department of Education shall reimburse the licensure application costs paid by the school district for all teachers who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and are hired by the district.

Please make sure the public is aware that we are not reducing our standards for licensure in Nevada but that we are just providing some "flexibility" to receive the license for individuals who have already suffered a great deal with the loss of a job and their homes. If unforeseen problems come up regarding the hiring and licensing of teachers affected by Hurricane Katrina that have not been addressed by this Memorandum, I am more than willing to work with the district to overcome any of the obstacles encountered that I have authority to address. If you have any questions regarding the information provided in this Memorandum, please give me a call at 775-687-9217.

New York

No State Board action on this is needed in NYS. Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi (as well as New York State), are already parties to the Interstate Agreement on Qualification of Educational Personnel which permits certified teachers from those states to obtain 2 year Conditional Certificates in NYS, providing them time to meet other requirements for the full, Initial NYS Certificate.

Texas

Sept. 6, 2005
Emergency teaching certificate offered to cope with enrollment surge due to Hurricane Katrina
AUSTIN - The State Board for Educator Certification, meeting in a special called session Tuesday, created a one-year emergency teaching certificate to help school districts cope with the enrollment surge in Texas schools because of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
"Texas schools are opening their doors to thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. We want to help them care for this influx of students. It is important to get these children back into a stable school environment as quickly as possible," said Annette Griffin, chair of SBEC and superintendent of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.
By Friday, more than 6,100 evacuees had enrolled in Texas public schools. That figure is expected to balloon this week. School districts along the Texas-Louisiana border, as well as major urban cities, are already impacted. Along with children, many displaced Louisiana teachers are looking for a new school home.
Under the rules approved by SBEC, the new certificate, called the Hurricane Katrina emergency certificate, will be good for the 2005-2006 school year only.
Applicants must provide contact information, all information about any existing teaching certificate they hold in any state, the name of the school district in which the applicant is being hired, and must submit fingerprints to be used for a national criminal history background check. No application fee will be charged.
Educators interested in applying for this certificate may call the Texas Education Agency's free teacher hotline at 1-866-435-7090 for more information.
The sponsoring district must submit the name, social security number and current Texas address of the applicant they wish to hire. The district must also provide the date on which the applicant was employed, their anticipated job assignment, and any information they have about any teaching certificate the applicant already holds.
Districts that wish to hire a teacher from Louisiana can obtain information about the certificates they hold in that state by going to teachlouisiana.net.