Colorado classrooms are increasingly led by people drawn to teaching from other careers.

On Wednesday, the Senate education committee unanimously approved a bill to standardize dozens of programs that train midcareer professionals to be teachers.

Under SB 160, by Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Arvada, the state Board of Education would set the standards.

Many alternative teacher programs are run by local school districts with permission of the Colorado Board of Education. But teachers trained in one district are not always prepared to teach in another district, said Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien, who testified for the bill.

The bill comes at the urging of an education study group appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter and co-chaired by O'Brien.

Legislation allowing alternative teacher training programs goes back at least to 1990. But its growth has occurred mainly since a 1999 law.

Some 650 teachers completed alternative training programs during the 2007-08 school year, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

About 190 went into elementary education, while 120 chose to teach handicapped kids. Most of the rest contribute hard-to- find skills in languages, business and sciences.

Robert Reichardt of the University of Colorado's school of public affairs said alternative programs initially were meant to "break the monopoly" of college education schools in preparing teachers. The alternative programs are now "an important part of the teacher pipeline," he said.

Reichardt studies alternative teacher training programs.