Earlier today, Governor Brian Sandoval (R-NV) signed into law AB27 – a bill that would grant teaching licenses to undocumented immigrants who benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which was passed unanimously by the Nevada Legislature.
#NHLC commends @GovSandoval for signing #AB27 allowing more students to become teachers #nvleg pic.twitter.com/4cdjWw1sVs
— NV Hisp. Leg. Caucus (@NevHLC) May 13, 2015
Proud to sign #AB27 into law, allowing more teachers to be licensed in #NV. Thx to #nvleg for passing #AB27. @NVSupt pic.twitter.com/gruzOfJ2yo
— Governor Sandoval (@GovSandoval) May 13, 2015
The Associated Press reports the following:
Existing 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 allows those immigrants to get a teaching license if a district has a teacher shortage of any kind.
The bill has been seen as key to fix the teacher shortage across Nevada. In a statement, Assemblywoman Diaz spoke about the impact of AB27:
“[AB 27] was designed to directly address the teacher shortage Nevada is currently experiencing… the bill allows for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients who have passed criminal background checks and have received work permits and meet all other standard requirements to now become licensed teachers in NV.”
The passage of AB27 arrives after Hillary Clinton spoke at Rancho High School, outlining her positions on immigration policy. It also arrives at a time when Nevada’s Attorney General, Adam Laxalt, continues to drive his argument against the DACA+ and DAPA programs.
Laxalt, who single handedly signed up the State of Nevada into a partisan lawsuit that seeks to derail president Obama’s recent actions on immigration, a questionable move – given that Governor Sandoval’s approval of AB27 would benefit some of the same people Laxalt is trying to deny deportation deferrals.
