The policy requires that all special education teachers earn 16 semester hours of credit at higher education institutions in the subjects they teach in order to be considered "highly qualified" under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.

It applies to high school, junior high and elementary school teachers, including those who teach several subjects and those who work in rural areas.

Under the policy, teachers can earn a degree in each subject they teach, or pass rigorous standardized subject tests that have yet to be developed. For those who teach multiple subjects, they must become highly qualified in one area by June 30, 2006, and will have two years to become highly qualified in other areas.

Lesley Gerard, who has taught special education at the high school level for more than 20 years, finds the requirement unfair.

She works with high schoolers who are learning at an elementary level, and says she doesn't need return to school and certify in calculus or advanced placement English as mainstream classroom teachers do.

"All students are not created equal, especially those with learning disabilities," said Gerard, who teaches at Clearfield High School. She worries the change will mean that special ed teachers will be used as assistants rather than being allowed to teach core curriculum subjects modified to meet students' needs.

The state school board had to approve the new policy in order to comply with NCLB guidelines or face economic sanctions for not showing a good-faith effort to follow the law.

"This new policy will be devastating to our special education teachers, but it also will be devastating to lose $100 million from the federal government. We are between a rock and a hard place," said Joan Patterson, state director of educator quality and licensing.

Because it will be difficult under the new policy to have all special ed students taught by "highly qualified" teachers, the Davis School District is looking at new ways to teach the students, according to Ellen Stantus, the district's special education director.

Some options include building teaching teams of regular and special ed teachers or mainstreaming more special ed students into classrooms with highly qualified teachers.

Gerard doesn't want to see either of those things happen. Special education students who attend mainstream classes fail, she said. She gave board members transcripts of anonymous special education students who attended regular classes at Clearfield and Layton high schools.

Most grade point averages were 1.0 or lower, and most students had failed too many core classes to graduate.

"These kids in no way will be able to survive in regular classrooms," Gerard said.

Members of the board's Law and Policy Committee said they will meet with federal lawmakers in an attempt to find other ways around the NCLB requirement.