A district school board, or an organization of private schools or a consortium of charter schools with an approved professional learning system as described in s. 1012.98(7), may design alternative teacher preparation programs to enable persons already certificated to add an additional coverage to their certificates. Each alternative teacher preparation program shall be reviewed and approved by the Department of Education to assure that persons who complete the program are competent in the necessary areas of subject matter specialization. Two or more school districts may jointly participate in an alternative preparation program for teachers.