New adjunct teaching law widens qualifications for educators

Johnson County schools facing staffing shortages will now be able to hire people with no previous teaching experience or licensure to fill classroom roles.

Indiana’s House Enrolled Act 1251, which took effect July 1, allows schools to hire adjunct teachers. These teachers are not required to be already pursuing an education degree or have a teaching license, but instead are required to have at least four years of experience in the content area they intend to teach, according to the law.

School officials have previously hired teachers who don’t have licenses, via emergency teaching permits, but those teachers are required to demonstrate they are actively seeking their teaching license.

Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation is the first of Johnson County’s six school districts to hire an adjunct teacher, as the school district needed more flexibility to find a teacher to start its new Punjabi language class. During the 2019-20 school year, 453 students at Clark-Pleasant schools spoke Punjabi, more than double the number of students who speak any other foreign language.

Clark-Pleasant is the first Johnson County school district to start a Punjabi program, and qualified teachers in that area were few and far between. In order to fill that teaching spot, school leaders called on a longtime English Language Learners teacher at the district who will now work toward full licensure in world languages, as she is a native speaker of the language, said John Schilawski, human resources director.

“Finding someone licensed as a world language teacher in Punjabi is highly difficult so we have someone that is on staff that fit that criteria very, very well,” he said. “I feel like this gives us more options and opportunities.”

Leaders at Greenwood and Franklin school corporation said they haven’t had to hire adjunct teachers yet, but wouldn’t rule out the possibility of using them in the future. If Franklin schools were to hire one, however, they would have to be invested in education, even if they didn’t have previous experience in the field, said David Clendening, superintendent.

“Universities have used adjuncts for years,” Clendening said. “I want someone to be in the classroom that wants to help kids and we continue to focus on people who are really going to grow kids and make a difference.”

Other school officials, however, are hesitant about using adjunct teachers.

However, Center Grove Community School Corporation officials, for example, have relied on emergency teaching permits to fill spots, and the district prefers to go that route because there is a guarantee the permit holder is actively seeking their teaching license, said Jason Taylor, assistant superintendent of human resources.

“A content knowledge expert is great, but for years of work, we really want someone to be an educator. That’s the difference,” Taylor said.

Last year, Center Grove schools used 10 emergency teaching permits, spokesperson Stacy Conrad said in an email.

Indian Creek school officials have also issued 10 emergency teaching licenses during the past school year, and also prefer emergency permits over adjunct teaching licenses, said Tim Edsell, superintendent.

“It’s not something we’re doing right now, we’ll explore it if we need to,” Edsell said. “Our first choice is to find someone with teaching experience of some kind, willing to get licensure and go the route of the emergency permit. This option provides us the flexibility if there are no applicants. It’s a good option, but we’re really vested in finding individuals who have teaching experience and a desire to teach.”

Edinburgh Community School Corporation officials have had to look at all options to overcome difficulties in finding certified teachers. Although Superintendent Ron Ross said the school hasn’t yet considered adjunct teachers, the district is hiring people who don’t have an education background as long as they pursue an education license. The district is also underscoring that with professional development, he said.

“We have been fortunate enough to find people who want to serve our students and help them be successful, but they don’t have the traditional background in education,” Ross said in an email. “We are finding ways to grow our own teachers more than we have ever had to do in the past.”