WHEREAS, Idaho faces critical teacher shortages in several geographic and subject areas; and

        WHEREAS, teacher shortages have the potential to negatively impact the quality of education for every child in Idaho and the quality of life for every Idahoan; and

        WHEREAS, the Idaho State Board of Education officially adopted an innovative and high-quality program for recruiting and certifying talented mid-career professionals into the teaching profession; and

        WHEREAS, the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) has effectively implemented the program, recruiting more than 600 Idahoans to pursue new careers in teaching; and

        WHEREAS, research demonstrates that teachers certified through the ABCTE process are highly effective in the classroom; and

        WHEREAS, ABCTE has implemented cutting-edge teacher recruitment strategies and invested more than $100,000 toward recruiting teachers for Idaho schools over the past two years, at no cost to the state, and

        WHEREAS, ABCTE will hold the state’s first “You Can Teach: Improve Our Future” conference in Boise on March 17, 2007;

        NOW, THEREFORE, I, C.L. “BUTCH” OTTER, Governor of the State of Idaho, do hereby proclaim March 16, 2007 to be

CELEBRATING ABCTE-CERTIFIED TEACHERS DAY

in Idaho.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Idaho at the Capitol in Boise on this 15^th day of March in the year of our Lord two-thousand and seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred thirty-first and of the Statehood of Idaho the one hundred seventeenth.       

BEN YSURSA
SECRETARY OF STATE