Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1880 — Educational Department. [ARTICLE]

Educational Department.

Edited byD.B.IO»MA O«>IMPORTANT DECISION OF THE k STATE dBUPEBIETEEBEWT. * following will be of interest to fßtny z to«eher« and trustees as toe question asked and answered has long been a mooted one. Cat « teMJter qftfr 0* wptratiot ofhia Question —If a teacher’s license expire after the commencement of his school, within the term Tn* which he was employed, how long 1 can he teach without procuring another license? Answer—l. Section 34 of the school law reads in part as follows: “Said superintendent shall license said applicant for the term of six, twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four months, according to the ratio of correctness and other evidences of qualification given upon said examination.” The law thus places a limit upon the time for which a person may be licensed. The reasons for this limitation are very obvious. The law makers saw that the standard of excellence required of teachers ought to be and naturally would be continually raised, and hence that a teacher well qualified at one period of the development of the schools might not be so at a subsequent period. They saw, also, that teachers, especially those able to obtain the lower grades of license only, needed the stimulus of a re-examination to induce them to take steps for their selt-improve-rnent. Thus the law of re-examina-tion is fully established, and for a very wise purpose. To permit young and comparatively inexperienced persons to teach in the public schools under a perpetual license would be fatal to the interests of education. 2. Sec. 28 of the school law reads in part as follows: “Trustees shall employ no person to teach in any of the common schools of the State, unless such person shall have a license to teach, issued from the proper State or county authority, and in full force at the date of employment; and any teacher who shall commence teaching any such school without a license, shall forfeit all claim to compensation out of the school revenue for tuition, for the time he or she teaches without such license.” So strictly is the law of re-examination to be regarded, that trustees are by these provisions prohibited from employing a teacher who does not hold at date of employment an unexpired license. The applicant may have received a half dozen licenses, each for two years, but if the one last granted, expires but one day even before that on which the trustee wishes to make the contract, the contract can not be legally made. The trustee may have employed the applicant to teach during a former term the particular school for which the contract is about to be made, and may know the applicant to be well qualified, yet he can not make a legal contract until a new license is obtained. The trustee can not

make a contract upon condition that the applicant will obtain a license before commencing the school. The teacher is bound by provisions no less stringent. He forfeits all right to compensation if he begins to leach without possession of a valid license. The purpose of these stringent provisions is very obvious. It is to keep unlicensed, and hence, in a legal sense, unqualified persons from teaching in the schools of the State. The fact that persons have at one period been qualified is no evidence whatever, in the eyes of the law, that they are qualified at a subsequent period, and no trustee and no teacher has a right to act upon any such preßumption. The law does not permit a county superintendent who has licensed a person twelve times for twelve successive years to act upon such a presumption and grant a thirteenth license without a thorough examination. 3. Sec. 28 further says: “And if a teacher’s license shall expire by his own limitation within a term of employment, such expiration shall not have the effect to stop the school, or stop the teacher’s pay.” This provision should certainly be construed so as to make it, as far as possible, harmonize with the spirit of the law as laid down in 1 2 of this answer. The purpose of it is not to afford the teacher any exemption from the operation of these general principles. There is no good reason why such an exemption should be made. The purpose of it is to provide a means whereby the school children may be protected from unnecessary interruption in their school work. It was the evident intention of the framers of this provision of the law, that when a teacher’s license expired within a term of service, the school should not, by such expiration, be interrupted, but that a reasonable time should be allowed to the teacher to obtain a new license, or to the trustee to obtain another teacher properly licensed. A strict examination of the language of the law quoted in thia paragraph shows that it gives the teacher no authority to teach until the end ot the term for which he was employed. 4, If it were held that a teacher holding * six months’ license which

meat of the term of service for which he was employed could, without obtaining another license, teach during the entire term ofduch employment, the general priifciples of the law of frequent examination might easily be violated. For example, the term of service Is chiefly within the diseretidn of the trustee. It may be for an entire year, possibly longer, and thus by a convenient selection of the time of procuring license and of making a Contract, a parson might be able to leaoh-near-ly eighteen months on a six month's license. Thus the purpose of the law in placing a limit on the time for which teachers may be licensed would be defeated. ' - In view of the foregoing propositions, it is held that it is the duty of a teacher whose license expires daring his term of service, to obtain a new one as soon as possible. It the examinations are held regularly each month, the period of exemption need not last longer than one month. It is also held that on failure of such teacher to obtain a license, after a reasonable time, it is the duty of the trustee to secure the services of another teacher, and one who is qualified by the possession of a suitable license, as soon as prac-

ticable.

J. H. SMART.

Supt. Pub. Inst. P. S.—lnasmuch as thia opinion differs somewhat from a former ruling of this Department on the same subject, it is recommended that all teachers now in service who are affected by it, be given a reasonable time in which to make preparation for examination.

J. H. S.