New York has one of the most rigorous teacher prep programs in the country.

Within five years of graduating, those looking to become teachers must also get their master’s degree as well as completing numerous certification exams. 

But there are challenges that go along with being accepted into that program.

Under current state law, if a student wants to be accepted into a graduate-level teacher and educational program, they must achieve at least a 3.0 minimum grade point average.

Patty Pion, who has been a teacher now for 19 years, says when originally she tried to apply for the master’s teaching program she did not have the grades and this almost kept her from being a teacher.

She ended up having to take extra classes to get her grades up, while also working full time, before she was fully accepted into the program.

“I feel like a lot of people who may have missed that cutoff are people from the community who had other things going on, like working full time,” Pion explained. “I was 17 years old, what did I know about college degrees. I wouldn’t want anyone to be discouraged from not applying because that 3.0 for me was a dead stop and I had people help me get over that dead stop. I think part of the thing we’re hoping is that this dead stop is removed, because I do think it discourages people and it limits people.”

The New York State Legislature passed a bill that had bipartisan support in both houses that would remove the minimum GPA requirement for graduate-level teacher and educational programs.

It now waits for the governor’s signature.

“Let them go through the process,” Mary Beth Labate, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities explained. “I think it’s appropriate for the government to set really strict standards on the tests that need to be passed, the classroom experience you need to have. But for government to tell an 18 year old, 'hey you took calculus and you did really poorly on it,' or, 'you took organic chemistry and did really poorly and your GPA isn’t going to rebound and therefore you can’t be a teacher,' I think it’s shortsighted.”

The governor vetoed this same bill last year, citing the fact that the current law does allow for colleges and universities to make an exception for 15% of applicants.