A ‘major change’ is coming in how NC licenses new teachers. See what’s new.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- State board will require new teachers to attempt licensure exams in year one.
- DPI cites legal advice to change its “aspirational” policy into a binding rule.
- Teachers and districts warn change may force staffing shifts amid high vacancies.
A major change is coming that will impact how North Carolina’s beginning teachers are licensed.
Currently, the State Board of Education gives beginning teachers three years to pass their certification exams to meet the requirements to get a continuing professional license. But the state board will vote in December on a rule change that requires beginning teachers to take the exams in the first year while still giving them three years to pass.
“Were a candidate not to attempt their examination in the first year of licensure — even if they went on to pass that exam in the second or third year — we would not be able to convert them to a continuing professional license because they did not meet the requirements as listed in the statute,” said Tom Tomberlin, senior director of the state Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Education Preparation and Teacher Licensure. “This is a major change to the field.”
Tomberlin told the state board at its Nov. 6 meeting that the change is needed to comply with state law. The state board must also submit its rules for adoption by the state Rules Review Commission.
The licensure rule change comes at a time when a state report shows nearly one in 10 teachers are leaving the profession each year. The state’s 115 school districts opened this school year with 2,155 teaching vacancies.
Some teachers called out sick on Friday and Monday to protest issues such as the lack of new state pay raises this year and rising State Health Plan costs.
‘Very important change’ in teacher licensure rules
North Carolina used to require new teachers to pass their exams before they began teaching. But in an attempt to make it easier to recruit teachers, state lawmakers passed a law in 2017 creating an initial professional license that gives new teachers three years to pass their exams.
The initial professional license is non-renewable and good for three years. Teachers who meet the requirements can have their license changed to a continuing professional license, which is a renewable five-year license
When the law was passed in 2017, Tomberlin said, lawmakers told him the wording wasn’t meant to be punitive. Instead, it was designed to encourage teachers to take the exams during their first year.
Tomberlin told the state board that DPI had previously interpreted the wording about taking licensure exams in the first year to be “aspirational.” But Tomberlin said they’re now getting legal advice that they have to require it in state board rules.
“We’ve always allowed the educator to submit a passing test score at any point after their first year in order to convert the license,” Tomberlin said at the Oct. 16 meeting of the state Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC), which recommends licensure rules for school employees.
“But this rule would require that not only they pass it by the end of the third, but they would have attempted in the first. So this is a very important change and I want to make sure my K-12 folks are hearing this.”
Will ask lawmakers to drop first-year test requirement
The requirement to take licensure exams in the first year is “nonsensical,” Tomberlin said, given that it’s not mentioned in a different state statute for limited licenses. Schools can request a three-year, non-renewable limited license to keep a teacher who didn’t pass the licensure exams.
“Why would you mandate that they take it in the first year and exclude them when your limited license provision recognizes that they could go through the third year without ever having taken it?” Tomberlin said. “There’s no requirement that they have attempted it in the first year in order to hold a limited license.”
Tomberlin said DPI is hoping state lawmakers will change the requirement about taking the licensure exams in the first year. If needed though, Tomberlin said DPI has a “not elegant” solution that would involve changing the rules around limited licenses.
Several state board members said they should ask the General Assembly to make the change.
“’Encourage’ should never be punitive,” said state board member Olivia Oxendine. “It should be ‘encourage.’”
Spreading message about the change
The change has raised concerns among educators across the state. DPI has been sharing the information with teacher training programs, school districts and teachers.
“I wouldn’t want someone to come up and say, ‘Well, I didn’t know I had to take it the first year. Somebody didn’t tell me,’” said Connie Locklear, a PEPSC member and director of the Indian Resource Center for the Public Schools of Robeson County
The state Rules Review Commission is expected to sign off on the rules changes so that they can go into effect July 1. But Tomberlin said it will take time to put the changes into effect for the state’s schools.
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 5:45 AM.
