Senate enacts Libby bill to increase number of high-quality teachers in high-need schools

Legislation from Sen. Nate Libby, D-Lewiston, to increase the number of high-quality teachers in high-need school districts, was enacted by the Maine Senate on Tuesday in a unanimous vote.

“Given the demonstrated benefits for kids in high-needs districts when a National Board Certified Teacher is in their classroom, we need to be doing everything we can to ensure that’s where they’re teaching,” said Sen. Libby. “With the increased stipend that LD 1549 provides, those districts will be better positioned to recruit those highly qualified teachers, and to keep them in their classrooms year after year.”

Under LD 1549, “An Act To Increase the Supplement for Certain National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certified Teachers in Maine,” teachers who have attained certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards will have their state-funded stipend increase from the current $3,000 to $5,000 per year if they’re teaching in a district where more than 50 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced meals.

National Board Certification is a voluntary, advanced teaching credential that is earned through a rigorous certification process. It goes beyond state licensure and sets national standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.

“More than a decade of research from across the country establishes that students taught by NBCTs learn more than students taught by other teachers,” Kathy Henrickson, a first-grade teacher at Dike-Newell School in Bath who is National Board Certified, said at a recent public hearing on LD 1549. “Estimates of the increase in learning are on the order of an additional one to two months of instruction and the positive impact is even greater for high-need students.”

LD 1549 has now been sent to Gov. Janet Mills, who has 10 days to sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without her signature.