Court Voids Rules Letting Charter Schools Certify Teachers

A New York court has thrown out rules that would have let some charter schools certify their own teachers.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Debra Young has ruled that only the state education commissioner and Board of Regents can set teacher qualification standards.

The ruling voids an alternative certification process approved by the State University of New York Charter Schools Committee last October.

Charter advocates had sought the rules to help ease staffing shortages. Opponents said they would put unqualified individuals in charge of classrooms.

The judge wrote that charter schools could require more than the state from the teachers they hire, but not less.

The ruling was praised by the statewide teachers union.

SUNY said the regulations were meant to let highly educated people teach in high-performing charter schools.