20-4-108. Term of teacher and specialist certificates -- renewal. (1) A teacher or specialist certificate issued by the superintendent of public instruction must bear the dates of issue and validity and is valid for a term of 5 school fiscal years, except that a class 5 provisional certificate is valid for the number of years, up to a maximum of 5 years, provided by the policies of the board of public education. The period of validity for any certificate begins on July 1 immediately preceding the date of issue, except that a teacher or specialist who applies for certification after January 1 may, upon request, have the period of validity of the certificate begin on July 1 following the date of application.

(2) Teacher and specialist certificates must be renewed for similar periods of time on the basis of the board of public education policies for teacher and specialist certification renewal.