Analysis: Inside the Financial Collapse of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
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Edutopia posted an article on December 1 about the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards headlined 鈥�.鈥� If it told the whole story, it might be headlined 鈥淣ational Board Aims to Pay Back $1 Million.鈥�
offers a voluntary national certification program for teachers that seeks to establish a higher standard than state licensure. The fees for certification total about $2,000, but some states and organizations provide financial assistance. The U.S. Department of Education has issued $10.4 million in grants to the organization through various established funds. Some school districts give nationally certified teachers additional pay.
The program has been generally well-received over the years. The Edutopia article explains that the board has certified 112,000 teachers in its 30-year existence. It does not mention that 鈥� a goal it did not reach until last year. Its new goal is 1 million nationally certified teachers by 2025.
This is an ambitious target, particularly since NBPTS has had trouble handling its money recently. The organization鈥檚 net assets since 2010 show a steady and troubling decline:
2010: $32.8 million
2011: $28.9 million
2012: $22.5 million
2013: $16.8 million
2014: $11.9 million
2015: $5 million
2016: $1.8 million
A $1 million, no-interest loan from the National Education Association in 2016 hasn鈥檛 stemmed the decline.
Edutopia doesn鈥檛 address the financial health of NBPTS, but it does note that 鈥渢he board has introduced , which contains videos of certified teachers at work to help guide the application process from afar.鈥�
Let鈥檚 hope Atlas is valuable, since NBPTS used it as collateral to secure the NEA loan.
The loan鈥檚 term is five years, with $50,000 repayments to NEA for the first three years, followed by balloon payments of $250,000 and $600,000 in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Further help from the federal government or even the national teachers unions seems, at best, uncertain. Without a secure revenue stream, the organization鈥檚 lofty goals are unreachable, and its future is in doubt.
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