AN ACT to amend and reenact section 15.1-13-12.1 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the reporting requirements for a lifetime teaching license.
HB 1238 amends North Dakota law governing lifetime teaching licenses. Under current law, a teacher becomes eligible for lifetime licensure after 30 years of licensure in the state; the bill changes that threshold to 25 years. It also keeps the Education Standards and Practices Board’s authority to discipline or otherwise act against a lifetime license when warranted under existing law.
The bill also updates the reporting requirement for teachers who hold a lifetime license and are employed, or intend to be employed, as a teacher. Those individuals must submit a report to the board at least once every five years, in the form the board prescribes, at no cost to the license holder. The report must disclose whether the person has violated a criminal statute since the last report or since the lifetime license was issued, and any other information that could lead to suspension or revocation of the license.
HB 1238 directly amends section 15.1-13-12.1 of the North Dakota Century Code, lowering the years-of-service requirement for lifetime teaching licensure from 30 to 25 years and clarifying the ongoing reporting obligations for lifetime license holders who are working or seeking to work as teachers. It preserves the board’s disciplinary authority and requires periodic disclosures related to criminal conduct and licensure issues, affecting teachers, the Education Standards and Practices Board, and the state’s teacher licensure framework.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed the House 87-4 and the Senate 47-0, indicating strong bipartisan approval and no recorded committee opposition in the materials provided. The vote totals suggest general agreement that the bill is a routine licensure update rather than a major policy change.
The only apparent point of potential contention is the policy choice to reduce the service requirement for lifetime licensure from 30 years to 25 years, which could be viewed as expanding eligibility for a permanent credential. Another possible issue is the continued reporting requirement for lifetime license holders, though the bill preserves the existing no-cost, five-year reporting structure and does not indicate any significant dispute in the available record. The narrow House dissent suggests limited disagreement, but no specific objections are documented in the provided materials.