Short answer
How do Minnesota teachers renew a license and move up the salary schedule?
A Minnesota Tier 4 teaching license is valid for five years and renews with 125 clock hours, including the mandatory topics in effect at renewal, earned in the five years before renewal. Your district's relicensure committee approves the hours; a semester credit counts as 24 clock hours. Salary lanes are set district by district in negotiated agreements.
Source: PELSB, Renewal Requirements for a Tier 4 License (February 2026) and Minnesota Rules 8710.7200. Checked .
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How do you renew a Minnesota Tier 4 teaching license?
The Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) issues and renews licenses. Its Tier 4 renewal fact sheet, updated February 2026, says the license is valid for five years, expires on June 30 of the expiration year, can be renewed after January 1 of that year, and has no limit on renewals. The evidence is 125 clock hours, including all mandatory requirements in effect at the time of renewal, completed within the five years immediately before it.
The order of steps matters. Hours go first to the school district where you work or live, and the district's relicensure committee "must approve and enter all clock hours" before you apply to PELSB. Teachers who both work and live outside Minnesota send their hours to the PELSB renewal specialist instead. Tier 3 licenses follow the same pattern with 75 hours over three years.
The rule behind the fact sheet, Minnesota Rules 8710.7200, sets how hours are counted:
- College credit converts generously. Relevant coursework from an accredited college earns 24 clock hours per semester credit and 16 per quarter credit.
- Two categories at least. Hours must come from two or more of nine categories, such as coursework, workshops and conferences, district staff development, curriculum work, peer coaching or mentoring, and professional service.
- Caps on some activities. Supervising student teachers and preapproved travel or work experience are each limited to 30 clock hours per five-year period.
- No banking. Hours cannot be banked, although hours earned after a renewal application is submitted may count toward the next period.
- National Board route. Committees accept National Board certification, or verified progress toward it, in place of the clock-hour total, but not the mandatory topics.
The mandatory topics come from Minnesota Statutes 122A.187 and the same rule: evidence of growth in cultural competency and in meeting the needs of English learners, plus professional development in positive behavior interventions, reading preparation, and mental illness, with at least one hour of suicide prevention training. The statute also requires renewal content on American Indian history and culture, and PELSB's renewal requirements chart lists it for every teaching tier.
A worked example: six semester credits equal 144 clock hours under the rule's conversion, which clears the 125-hour total. Coursework alone is still one category, though, so a teacher also needs hours from a second category, such as district in-service, and the committee has to accept that the mandatory topics were covered. Our article on clock hours, CEUs and semester credits explains how these units relate across states, and the license renewal hub compares cycles.
Your relicensure committee decides, not the course. The rule defines a clock hour as an hour of instruction or professional development "as approved by the local continuing education/relicensure committee," and it bars hours for experiences that are primarily personal.
How do Minnesota teachers move to a higher salary lane?
Minnesota sets teacher pay through local bargaining. Under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act, compensation is one of the "terms and conditions of employment" (Minnesota Statutes 179A.03, subd. 19), so each district bargains its schedule with its teachers' union and prints it in the master agreement. Most of those schedules use the familiar grid: steps for years of service, and lanes for a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and credit totals beyond each.
The state's main lever on that grid is the alternative teacher professional pay system, often called Q Comp, in Minnesota Statutes 122A.414. A participating district's agreement must "reform the 'steps and lanes' salary schedule" and base at least 60 percent of any compensation increase on teacher performance measures. The statute also allows incentives for a master's degree or for content credits needed to teach concurrent enrollment courses. Participation is a district choice, so whether credits alone still move pay depends on your own contract.
Because each contract sets its own test, the same course can be a lane credit in one district and nothing in the next. The two agreements below show how far apart the rules sit. For the general sequence of a lane move, see how lane changes work; for what tends to qualify, see units that count.
What do Anoka-Hennepin and St. Paul require?
Anoka-Hennepin School District (ISD 11)
Read the full Anoka-Hennepin guide →
The 2025-27 working agreement has ten lanes, from BA through BA+40 and MA through MA+40, counted in semester credits, with performance increments as steps. Article IX says graduate-level coursework is "usually desirable" for the lanes below the MA; with the superintendent's approval, up to one-third may be undergraduate credits in the teacher's field, a closely related field or education.
- Pre-approval: the Director of Employee Services must approve credits before the course is finished for them to be guaranteed; a joint committee sets approval guidelines for 2026-27.
- Content: credits must be germane to a current or potential teaching assignment; credits beyond the MA must be graduate level and earned after the master's.
- Units: one semester credit equals one and one-half quarter credits; grades of C or P.
- Deadlines: credits earned by August 31 and received by October 31 count from the start of the year; earned by January 25 and received by March 25, from the second half.
Saint Paul Public Schools (ISD 625)
The 2025-27 teacher agreement numbers its lanes 3 through 14: BA, BA+15, BA+30, BA+45, BA+60 or MA, then MA+15, MA+30, MA+45, MA+60 or specialist, and a doctorate lane. All credits and degrees must support a licensure area in public education, and coursework must come from an institution recognized by the Minnesota Department of Education.
- Undergraduate courses: written approval from Human Resources before the course is taken.
- Paid time: only classes taken on unpaid time, with tuition not paid or reimbursed by the district, count.
- In-service: district-approved in-service credits count, up to a lifetime maximum of 25.
- Deadlines: credit verification received by September 30 applies from the first day of the school year; after that, from the next pay period; requests after April 30 wait for the next contract year.
- Beyond the MA: teachers who enrolled in a master's program after January 10, 2004 advance one lane per year after the degree.
Full district guides for Minnesota
Before you enroll
- Find your expiration year. Tier 4 licenses end June 30; count 125 hours inside the five years before renewal.
- Plan two categories. College credit converts at 24 hours per semester credit, but the rule also wants a second category such as in-service.
- Cover the mandatory topics. Ask your relicensure committee how it records cultural competency, English learners, reading, behavior, mental health and American Indian history and culture.
- Get lane approval in writing. Anoka-Hennepin wants approval before the course ends; St. Paul wants it before an undergraduate course starts.
- Send official transcripts on time. October 31 or March 25 in Anoka-Hennepin; September 30 or April 30 in St. Paul. Our transcript deadlines guide covers ordering ahead.
The provider directory groups semester-credit providers by need, and the comparison table shows their costs and formats side by side.
Minnesota questions teachers ask
How many clock hours renew a Minnesota Tier 4 license?
125 clock hours earned in the five years before renewal, including the mandatory requirements in effect at that time. A Tier 3 license needs 75 hours over three years.
How many clock hours is a college credit worth in Minnesota?
Under Minnesota Rules 8710.7200, relevant coursework earns 24 clock hours per semester credit and 16 per quarter credit. Your local relicensure committee grants the hours.
Can I renew a Minnesota license with college courses only?
The rule requires hours from two or more categories, and coursework is one category. A teacher who renews mostly with college credit still needs hours from a second category, such as workshops or district staff development.
Can Minnesota clock hours be carried over to the next renewal?
No. The rule says clock hours may not be banked, though hours earned after a renewal application is submitted may count toward the next period.
Does St. Paul count in-service credits for a lane change?
Yes, for in-service courses established or approved by the superintendent, up to a lifetime maximum of 25 credits. Credits earned through an approved Professional Development Plan may go beyond that cap.
Does Anoka-Hennepin accept undergraduate credits for a lane change?
For the lanes below the MA, up to one-third of the credits may be undergraduate, with the superintendent's approval, in the teacher's field, a closely related field or education. Credits beyond the master's must be graduate level.
Sources
- Renewal Requirements for a Tier 4 License (updated February 2026), Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board. Checked
- Renewal Requirements Chart (February 2026), Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board. Checked
- Minnesota Rules 8710.7200, Clock hours; requirements for renewal of professional licenses, Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Checked
- Minnesota Statutes 122A.187, License renewal, Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Checked
- Minnesota Statutes 122A.414, Alternative teacher professional pay system, Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Checked
- Minnesota Statutes 179A.03, Definitions, Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Checked
- Working agreement, July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2027, Anoka-Hennepin School District and Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota. Checked
- Terms and conditions of professional employment, 2025-2027, Saint Paul Public Schools and Saint Paul Federation of Educators. Checked
Reviewed November 11, 2026 by TeacherPayGuide editors.Report an error