The Arizona Department of Education is launching an online portal containing certificate information on the state’s public school teachers.

The portal launch is part of a larger effort to streamline and modernize Arizona’s teacher certification process.  

Charles Tack is with the Arizona Department of Education. He said it’s something the agency has been wanting to do for a while.

"Ultimately, particularly with the next phase allowing educators to actually apply online, we know that that is really going to make a big difference in terms of time savings for educators and that’s our goal," Tack said.

In years past, educators and members of the public had to call a department representative to find out if a teacher’s certification was up to date.