The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday approved House Bill 2155, which seeks to remove barriers and streamline the certification process for qualified career and technical educators.
The bill is part of a nine-bill Career and Technical Education (CTE) package that will now be considered by the Senate.
Authored by state Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland), House Bill 2155 would allow for the 18 credits needed to receive a Vocational I certificate to be counted as credits toward the total credit hours required for a Vocational Instructional II certificate.
“Recruiting the best instructors in career and technical fields is a critical component to ensuring we have a skilled workforce for tomorrow’s job opportunities,” Bloom said.
Currently, a CTE instructor must take a total of 78 credits over 11 years to maintain certification. The legislative move would reduce the total number of credits required for the complete certification to 60.
“It’s hard to rationalize the benefit to students of an HVAC instructor being required to take a course in an unrelated academic subject,” Bloom said. “Pennsylvania loses many qualified CTE candidates because they simply are not willing to go through an 11-year, 78-credit process.”
As a counter, Bloom’s bill would also seek to increase the years of wage-earning experience in the occupation from two to four years to ensure the instructors are qualified in their field as well as in their certification.
“While we simplify the certification process, we also want to ensure our students are being trained by skilled professionals who are qualified for these jobs,” Bloom said. “The future of our local, state and national economies depend on having highly qualified, job-ready workers.”