Nevada’s 1989 teacher reciprocity law was intended to simplify the process for qualified out-of-state teachers to come to Nevada. A 2017 amendment to the law removed even more barriers.
But a separate 2015 regulation requiring teachers to pass a three-credit college course on “family engagement” could undo some of that progress and force teachers out of classrooms next year. The state is planning to notify about 900 teachers later this week, reminding them that the deadline to complete the course is looming and that they will be out of jobs if they don’t.
Among them is Brian Talaga, a 33-year-old special education teacher at Mojave High School in North Las Vegas. Talaga and his wife, a school counselor, moved to Nevada from upstate New York two-and-a-half years ago. Talaga has a master’s in special education and was a licensed teacher in New York. But his first Nevada license is nonrenewable and is set to expire in July.
Unless he and his wife take the family engagement course before then, they won’t be able to earn a five-year standard renewable license needed to continue in their jobs.
