Added position would speed process for getting Nevada teaching license

A new administrative assistant in the Nevada Department of Education would help springboard the paper-based teacher licensure office into the 21st century.

A staff of 13 handles more than 18,000 applications a year from teachers who are renewing their licenses and prospective teachers fresh out of college or new to the state.

The process is almost entirely paper based, and requires manual data entry.

“It’s an incredible amount of manual work with a very small staff,” said Jason Dietrich, the licensure director. “It has become more daunting.”

Teachers cannot start in the classroom until they are licensed, and long wait times or poor customer service can discourage applicants, Dietrich said. The state has a number of other programs aimed at recruiting and retaining teachers to reduce teacher shortages.

The department of education is asking legislators this session to approve an “enhancement” so an administrative assistant position can be added. The employee would help spread the load of clerical work in the office.

The department estimates the position would cost $38,924 in the first year of the biennium and $52,012 in the second year. The cost of the employee would be covered by revenues brought in through license fees, and although the position wouldn’t raise the department’s budget, the request must be approved by lawmakers.

“To do this in a time and an order that makes sense, you’ve got to have clerical staff,” said Dena Durish, a deputy superintendent in the Department of Education.

An additional staff member would compliment changes implemented in the last three years by Dietrich and Durish. Since mid-2014, they’ve added a credit card system, a new fingerprinting options and an electronic tool in the lobby to track sign ins.

The changes have helped drop the average wait time from 16 weeks in July 2014 to six weeks. In the busy summer months, the wait time could be up to 10 weeks.

The proposed staffer will help the program officer, who reviews information on applicants from the state Department of Public Safety and the FBI.

The staff will collect and sort the mail, find the appropriate applicant information on file and pass it along to the program officer, who evaluates whether any information in the background check disqualifies the applicant from getting a license.

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.