Brianna McKinnon, whose story has been featured in the Dayton Daily News, doesn’t look at being a teacher as just a job she holds, but says “it is who she is.” And she has chosen one of the most difficult teaching paths available—working with at risk youth in a school where it is hard to find substitute teachers let alone full-time teachers.

While being a teacher is who Brianna is, it is not the only role she fills. She is also a military spouse, which means she and her family have no say over where they will live—that decision is up to the U.S. Department of Defense. After earning her teaching certificate in Washington state, Brianna’s husband was transferred to Ohio, to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Brianna assumed that she would be able to get an Ohio teaching certificate fairly easy, after all Washington’s requirements for teachers aren’t that much different from Ohio’s, including: at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school, a state approved teacher preparation program, as well as passage of a state licensing exam. Her qualifications were excellent. She was working on finishing her master’s degree and had written the curriculum for special needs students at Washington State University. She wanted to work in a public school with at risk kids—schools that often time have trouble finding qualified teachers who have experience teaching kids who face enormous challenges at home and at school. 

Unfortunately, when Brianna and her husband got settled in Ohio, she learned that the state makes it very difficult for military spouses to get an Ohio job license so they can quickly begin working in their chosen professions. To get an Ohio teaching certificate Brianna would have to take numerous college courses, take a number of exams—which cost around $50 each—and she would have had to pay for a background check and the license itself which costs more than $150 to obtain. As a mom with two young kids and on a military salary this was all too much—not to mention unnecessary.

Brianna was discouraged and frustrated with Ohio’s needlessly bureaucratic system. She and her husband had long ago decided that Brianna’s teaching career would be a key factor in their family’s plans—if she couldn’t teach, the family would make changes so she could. For now, Brianna is teaching in the Dayton area on a one year temporary license, but at the end of this year, she can no longer teach in the state of Ohio unless she goes to a private school, which is not where her calling lies.

There is a solution for Brianna and other military spouses like her. Senate Bill 7, and its companion bill House Bill 133, which were developed from recommendations made by The Buckeye Institute in its 2016 policy brief Increasing Job Opportunities for Military Families, would allow Brianna to earn a living as a teacher for six years while she completed the necessary exams Ohio requires. If Ohio doesn’t make this change, not only would it be a slap in the face to our military families, Ohio would be losing a passionate and excellent teacher. In fact, Brianna and her husband have already decided, if she can’t teach in Ohio, her husband will leave the military and they will return to Washington where she can serve the students she loves so much.

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