Temporary rules on teacher licenses, gun signs and juvenile corrections approved

? Starting Tuesday, school districts in Kansas can begin hiring teachers in certain subject areas, even if they have no formal training in education.

The State Rules and Regulations Board approved several temporary regulations for the State Department of Education to comply with a new law that takes effect July 1. The licensing provisions were added onto a school finance bill that was aimed at addressing inequities in school funding that the Kansas Supreme Court said were unconstitutional.

The law requires the education department to grant licenses to secondary teachers in career and technical education fields, the STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — and to teachers who hold a valid out-of-state license, as long as they have a bachelor’s degree and at least five years of related work experience.

It also requires the department to honor valid out-of-state licenses for secondary teachers, as long as they have five years of classroom experience, including three consecutive years in one district.

Scott Gordon, an attorney for the education department, said the rules do not specify how recent a person’s work experience has to be to qualify for a license because the statute did not require that the work experience be recent. He said it will be up to the individual school districts hiring such a person to determine whether the work experience is recent enough to be relevant.

The education department was forced to draft temporary regulations because it didn’t have time to go through the lengthy rule-making process, including public hearings, before the law takes effect July 1. A public hearing on proposed permanent regulations is scheduled for Sept. 16.

The Rules and Regulations Board also approved a request by Attorney General Derek Schmidt for the design of “no weapons” signs to be placed on state and municipal buildings that do not allow concealed or open carrying of guns or knives, even if the person has a valid permit.

Kansas lawmakers passed a bill this year that precludes local governments from enacting ordinances that restrict either concealed or open carrying of guns or knives. In addition, under a 2013 law, municipal buildings may not prohibit people with valid permits from carrying concealed weapons inside unless they have adequate security to prevent anyone from bringing a weapon inside.

Finally, the Rules and Regulations Board approved temporary regulations for the Department of Corrections that changes the way good-time credits are awarded to juvenile offenders in state custody.

Previously, juvenile inmates could earn credits equal to 30 percent of their sentence, but those credits could not reduce the inmate’s overall sentence to less than the mandatory minimum sentence for their offense.

Under a new law enacted this year, that cap on good-time credits is removed. But the new rule only applies to offenses committed on or after July 1.

The Rules and Regulations Board is composed of representatives from the secretary of state, the attorney general, the secretary of administration, and the chairman and vice-chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and Regulations.

Approval from the board is the final step required before new regulations can be published in the Kansas Register and put into effect.