Court of Appeals admonishes Minnesota Teaching Board in license denial

The Minnesota Court of Appeals said Monday that the state Board of Teaching erred when it denied a special education teaching license to a Farmington woman.

Kimberly Baker, 37, is teaching on a "nonrenewable license" at Riverview Elementary School in Farmington.

Baker graduated in 2002 from the University of Northern Iowa and did two student-teacher training stints in Iowa. Her license issued there allows her to "teach children from birth through age 8, including students with disabilities," the court said.

But when she applied in 2013 for teaching licenses in Minnesota, the board denied her a license for early childhood special education (which allows teaching children from birth to age 6), saying the Iowa license "did not result from essentially equivalent training to that required by Minnesota."

Baker appealed the board's decision, and in 2015, the Legislature amended the statute governing applicants with out-of-state licenses. Still, the board denied her application.

Baker's attorney argued to a three-judge panel of the Appeals Court that her due process rights were violated when the director of the Board of Teaching sat in on the board's deliberations and "acted in both an adversarial and adjudicative function," the court's ruling said.

While the director did not vote, "such conduct ... exacts unspoken pressure on voting board members," the court said.

"We believe even this appearance of impropriety significantly thwarts the public's trust in the board of teaching and the administration of justice generally," the court said. "We strongly urge the board to reconsider this practice."

The decision said the state statute "does not require comparing the training programs underlying Minnesota and out-of-state teaching licenses." It reversed and remanded the board's decision.

Baker could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Alex Liuzzi, interim director of the Board of Teaching, did not return a phone message.

Baker's attorney, Bethany Gullman, of Faegre, Baker, Daniels, who represented her without charge, said in a statement, "We are thrilled that a challenging chapter for Ms. Baker has finally come to a close with this decision.

"The amazing thing about this case is that Ms. Baker's qualifications, dedication, and passion for her students was never in question," Gullman added. "Ms. Baker is exactly the type of person who should be teaching Minnesota students. Nonetheless, it took Ms. Baker over four years and several lawsuits, including a two-day trial, to finally get the board to follow the law and issue her the license she was entitled to. We wish it hadn't taken a four-year legal battle to get to this point, but we're happy that the board will finally have to follow the law."

Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252