For the past few decades, most states have been requiring new teachers to pass subject matter tests as part of their certification requirements though there are still a handful of straggler states (not to mention North Carolina's mystifying decision last week to dump its requirement). Iowa has been one of those stragglers. That looked like it might have been about to change last Friday when the 11-member state Board of Educational Examiners was debating whether or not to start requiring subject testing for teachers, but the board decided to delay the decision until next year. Their decision is disappointing, especially given the hard facts they had before them. A study commissioned by Iowa lawmakers in 2001 had Iowa teachers take no- stakes Praxis tests. The study revealed that a significant number of Hawkeye state teachers for example, 34% of mathematics teachers would not have been able to obtain a license to teach in neighboring Missouri.