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Date Submitted March 14, 2026
Submitted by: John Squires
Beware of gifts given by legislators under false flags
Once again, all of the facts are not given to the veterans, the public at large , and most importantly our students in the recent senate bill signed into law by Governor Ivey. While we have heard rave reviews from our legislature and news reports , one must truly look into the bill to see what was truly passed.
First and most importantly, this law does not just open the gates for veterans to become teachers on October 1 , 2026. They must first run the gauntlet of rules and regulations, the following is the criteria needed for a veteran to become a teacher by this bill…
1) Documents 48 months of active duty military service with an honorable discharge or a medical separation; (Essentially your DD-214. if your time in was with the Guard or Reserve, it does not count, according to the bill.)
2) Submits to the state board the required application forms and fees and satisfactorily completes a criminal history background information check pursuant to the Alabama Child Protection Act of 1999. (According to americanboard.org , the initial training module fee is $245 with determining which modules you take they range from $530 to $775 each. The criminal background checks are cheaper, if you did not move from different municipalities.)
3) Is recommended for certification by a local superintendent of education or private K-12 school.
4) Verifies compliance with all of the following admission criteria: a. Completion of 60 college credits with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, as evidenced by one or more accredited institutions of higher education. b. A passing score on the appropriate Praxis content test of the Alabama Educator Certification Assessment Program (AECAP).(The cost per Praxis content test is $90 each or $150 for the set). c. Any other admission criteria established by the State Board of Education.
This is only to get the veteran qualified to be certified. Now here comes the fun part.
1)The certification is only good for 5 years and it is not renewable. You must sign up for courses while teaching to continue to teach after the five years is over.
2)According to the Alabama Senate Bill 149 (SB149) , none of the time teaching counts as a temporary towards retirement in the state teaching pension
3)There is currently no funding being allocated for this endeavour. The beginning cost must be paid by the veteran.
While I understand the bill and the motives behind it, one must look at SB149 as just another ploy by the governor and her ” glad handers” who want to help veterans by just throwing really hubris sounding legislation at them with no commitment, money that could help veterans in real need but instead put up a facade like entity like the Veteran Resource Center in Montgomery, or put in Veteran`s Advocacy people who don’t know the first thing about helping veterans except to avoid them. 2027 can`t come fast enough.
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