Bill Text: CA AB169 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Teaching credential: teacher recruitment: Golden State Teacher Grant Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-06-20 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB169 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB169-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  March 29, 2017

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 02, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 169

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Introduced by Assembly Member O'Donnell
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Thurmond)

January 17, 2017

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An act to add Section 33333.5 to the Education Code, relating to teachers.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 169, as amended, O'Donnell. Teaching credential: teacher recruitment: Golden State Teacher Grant Program.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Education, under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and assigns to the department numerous duties relating to the financing, governance, and guidance of the public elementary and secondary schools in this state.

This bill, subject to an appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, would establish a program, the Golden State Teacher Grant Program, under the administration of the department to provide a grant to each student enrolled in an approved teacher credentialing program who commits to working in a high-need field, as defined, for 4 years after he or she receives a preliminary teaching credential. The bill would require a grant recipient to agree to repay the grant to the state in specified circumstances.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) School districts across the State of California are experiencing a shortage of qualified teachers. Shortages are particularly acute in the areas of special education, mathematics, and science, as well as in schools serving high numbers of low-income pupils, pupils of color, and English learners.

(b) The number of teachers receiving substandard authorizations is growing at an alarming rate. Among new special education teachers in the 2014–15 school year, 60 percent held substandard authorizations, and by the 2015–16 school year nearly two thirds of new special education teachers held substandard authorizations. Between the 2011–12 and 2015–16 school years, the proportion of new mathematics and science teachers entering teaching with substandard credentials doubled from about 20 percent to 40 percent.

(c) After granting over 1,800 bilingual authorizations in the 1994–95 school year, California granted fewer than 700 authorizations in the 2015–16 school year, and currently 14 percent of school districts are reporting a shortage of bilingual teachers.

(d) Increased demand for K–12 teachers in California comes at a time when the supply of new teachers is at a 12-year low.

(e) Enrollment in educator preparation programs has dropped by more than 70 percent over the last decade, and has fallen below the number of estimated hires by school districts around the state.

(f) It is estimated that teacher hires for the 2015–16 school year increased by 25 percent from the previous year, while credentials issued to fully prepared new teachers increased by less than 1 percent from the previous year, and enrollment in teacher education programs increased by only 2 percent.

SEC. 2.

 Section 33333.5 is added to the Education Code, to read:

33333.5.

 (a) Subject to moneys appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of this section, the department shall administer the Golden State Teacher Grant Program. Under the program, the department shall provide one-time grant funds of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) to each student enrolled on or after January 1, 2018, in a professional preparation program leading to a preliminary teaching credential, approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, if the student commits to working in a high-need field for four years after he or she receives the teaching credential.

(b) (1) A grant recipient shall agree to teach in a high-need field for four years and shall have four five years, upon completion of his or her preparation program, to meet that obligation. Except as provided in paragraph (4), a grant recipient shall agree to repay the state five thousand dollars ($5,000) annually, up to full repayment of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), for each year the recipient fails to do one or more of the following:

(A) Be enrolled in or have successfully completed a teacher preparation program approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

(B) While enrolled in the teacher preparation program, maintain good academic standing.

(C) Upon completion of the teacher preparation program, satisfy the state basic skills proficiency test requirement pursuant to Sections 44252 and 44252.5 44252.5.

(D) Complete the required teaching service following completion of his or her preparation program.

(2) Nonperformance of the commitment to teach in a high-need field for four years shall be certified by the department.

(3) Nonperformance of the commitment to earn a preliminary teaching credential in a high-need field shall be certified by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to the department.

(4) Any exceptions to the requirement for repayment shall be defined by the department.

(c) For purposes of this section, “high-need field” means any of the following:

(1) Bilingual education.

(2) Mathematics or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

(3) Science.

(4) Special education.

(5) Other subjects as designated annually by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing based on an analysis of California’s teacher supply pursuant to Section 44225.6.