The proposal is important because nearly one out of five public-school teachers in Texas – and roughly half of all new teachers each year – are products of alt-cert training programs. The numbers mirror a national trend.
June 22, 2008 - The State Board for Educator Certification, or SBEC, which licenses teachers, is considering a new rule requiring alternative certification programs to accept only students who maintained a 2.5 grade-point average or better in college.
High-poverty urban school districts and rural school districts have trouble attracting teachers and believe the expanded pool of job candidates that alt-cert programs produce is good for them.
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TT - There's always more behind such stories, especially in hot potato politics of education in Texas.
The news story is a follow-on to a ruling by a federal judge on June 17 to uphold the Bush administration education rules that classify more than 10,000 teaching interns in California, and tens of thousands more nationwide, as "highly qualified teachers" and allow them to remain in classrooms.
From the San Francisco Chronicle: (Dated June 18. Link above.)
U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of San Francisco said the law does not define state certification and allows the federal government to decide whether teachers in supervised training programs could be considered certified.Third Lawsuit
"Congress never stated that teachers must complete any particular program to be considered as having 'full state certification,' " said Hamilton, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.
Parents, students and advocacy groups represented by Public Advocates have sued California education officials twice in previous years, saying they were certifying teachers who failed to meet the federal standards
Their third and latest suit, filed in federal court, argued that the requirement of "full certification" should apply only to teachers who have completed training programs. Hamilton disagreed, noting that the law specifically allows "alternative routes to certification." She found that federal officials had reasonably interpreted that language to include supervised interns.
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The case is Renee vs. Spellings PDF The suit challenged the implementation of the “highly qualified” teacher provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Plaintiffs, as stated in the lawsuit, are the parents and Californians for Justice Education Fund, and the California Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. 
Californians for Justice Education describes their purpose on their website: Californians for Justice started in 1995 to build power in communities of color across California. Find out what we stand for, what we do, and who we are. (Their logo to the right.)
You might recognize the acronym ACORN better than you would the name California Association of Community organizations for Reform Now. When writing about them, the Heritage Foundation reminds readers "Don't forget the fraud and extortion"of ACORN with their long and established history of using fraud, deceit and intimidation. And links to a report on ACORN’s role in the current housing “crisis.”
Public Advocates is just one of several groups in the alliance.
For left-wing groups, it's always preferable to agitate for reform than to actually achieve reform. Agitprop has a long history and no particular ability to improve the lives of anyone but the agitators.
