(a) Notwithstanding Alaska Stat. § 14.20.020, a person may be issued a subject-matter expert limited teacher certificate, valid only in the subject-matter in which the person has expertise, upon compliance with the requirements of this section. A subject-matter expert teacher may only be employed to teach subjects in which the person has satisfied the education or experience requirements set out in (b)(1) of this section.
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Terms Used In Alaska Statutes 14.20.022

  • attendance area: means the geographic area designated by the department to be served by a school. See Alaska Statutes 14.60.010
  • commissioner: means the commissioner of education and early development. See Alaska Statutes 14.60.010
  • department: means the Department of Education and Early Development. See Alaska Statutes 14.60.010
  • person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • regional educational attendance area: means an educational service area in the unorganized borough which may or may not include a military reservation, and that contains one or more public schools of grade levels K-12 or any portion of those grade levels that are to be operated under the management and control of a single regional school board. See Alaska Statutes 14.60.010
(b) To be eligible for a subject-matter expert limited teacher certificate, a person shall

(1) hold at least a baccalaureate degree from an institution of higher education accredited by a recognized regional or national accrediting association or approved by the commissioner and

(A) have majored or minored in the subject that the person will be teaching; or
(B) have at least five years experience in the subject matter that the person will be teaching;
(2) have submitted fingerprints and the fees required by the Department of Public Safety under Alaska Stat. § 12.62.160 for criminal justice information and a national criminal history record check to the department; the department must have submitted the fingerprints and fees to the Department of Public Safety for a report of criminal justice information under Alaska Stat. Chapter 12.62 and a national criminal history record check under Alaska Stat. § 12.62.400 and the person must have been found by the department to be suitable for employment as a teacher under Alaska Stat. § 14.20.020(f); and
(3) be currently enrolled in an approved post-baccalaureate teacher education program at a regionally accredited institution meeting the requirements of Alaska Stat. § 14.20.020(b) that provides for completion of the regular teacher certificate education requirements within two years after receipt of a subject-matter expert limited teacher certificate under this section.
(c) Before a school district or regional educational attendance area determines whether to hire a person as a subject-matter expert teacher under this section, the school district or regional educational attendance area shall administer a competency examination.
(d) A subject-matter expert limited teacher certificate is valid for one school year and may be renewed for one additional school year upon a showing of substantial progress towards completion of the teacher education program required under (b)(3) of this section.
(e) A school district or regional educational attendance area that employs a subject-matter expert teacher shall provide a mentor who is an experienced teacher for the subject-matter expert teacher for at least the first year of the subject-matter expert teacher’s employment in the school district or regional educational attendance area.
(f) A person employed as a subject-matter expert teacher under this section is considered a certificated employee for purposes of Alaska Stat. Chapter 14.25 (teachers’ retirement system). Employment as a subject-matter expert teacher under this section counts as employment for purposes of acquiring tenure under Alaska Stat. § 14.20.150; however, a person holding a subject-matter expert limited teacher certificate under this section is not entitled to tenure until the person receives a teacher certificate under Alaska Stat. § 14.20.020.
(g) The department shall adopt regulations necessary to implement this section.
(h) In this section, “subject-matter expert teacher” is a teacher qualified to teach under (b) of this section.
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