The Iowa Department of Education says 145 Iowa teachers will receive National Board Certification for the 1998-99 school year. Department director Ted Stilwell says the teachers must go through a lengthy process to gain certification.The teachers receive a five-thousand dollar stipend from the state each year for 10 years for completing the certification. The state will also pay the two-thousand dollar registration fee required of teachers. Stilwell says Iowa teachers beat the national average when it comes to certification as fewer than half nationally earn certification, while 62-percent of Iowa teachers finished the process.The number of teachers seeking the certification for the 1999-2000 year has dropped to 87 from 231 who tried last year. Stilwell says that’s due to the legislature’s decision to drop the stipend for certification to 25-hundred dollars and the uncertain future of the legislature’s support.
