AP
By Michelle Rindels
May 13, 2015
Gov.
Brian Sandoval signed a bill Wednesday that would make it easier for
immigrants with temporary legal status to get a Nevada teaching license,
saying it would help
meet the needs of a "new Nevada."
Among
the people who flanked the Republican governor as he signed AB27 was
Uriel Garcia, a 22-year-old Nevada State College student and recipient
of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program who was previously denied a license. He
said he plans to re-apply as soon as possible to get started on his
student teaching and move toward his goal of teaching 2nd grade English
language learners.
"I want to give back to the community that gave me so much," Garcia said.
The
old law allowed the state superintendent to give a teaching license to
someone who is not a citizen but has a work permit only if there's a
teacher shortage for a
subject the person can teach. The new law, which passed the Senate and
Assembly unanimously, allows those immigrants to get a teaching license
if a district has a teacher shortage of any kind.
The
measure affects immigrants in the deferred action program, also known
as DACA recipients or DREAMers. State Superintendent Dale Erquiaga said
it's not clear how many
new teachers the change will yield, but said his office will track that
number going forward.
Proponents
framed the bill as a way to deal with a major teacher shortage, as well
as a way to diversify the teaching force in a state with a high
population of English
language learners.
"We're
going to have people who are bilingual teachers, and ultimately people
who just want to do the right thing for the United States," Garcia said.
Sylvia Lazos, vice chair of the Latino Leadership Council, said the bill better reflects a changing Nevada.
"These
laws that prohibit non-citizens from getting licensed come from another
era, another time, when many states were hostile to Germans, Catholics,
Irish," Lazos said.
"Modern Nevada is not protectionist, not anti-immigrant, not
anti-foreigner. It's a wonderful day for Nevada to affirm that."
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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