Bill Text: CA AB2473 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 2473 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

Bill Title: English Language Learner Acquisition and Development Pilot Program repeal: teacher credentialing authorizations: fingerprints and related information: high school coursework and graduation requirements for pupils participating in a newcomer program.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2024-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 831, Statutes of 2024. [AB2473 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2473-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly April 15, 2024

Amended IN Assembly April 01, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2473

Introduced by Committee on Education

February 13, 2024

An act to amend Section 44300 of, to add ~~Section~~ Sections 44260.8 and 51225.25 to, and to repeal Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 420) of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of, the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2473, as amended, Committee on Education. English Language Learner Acquisition and Development Pilot Program repeal, elementary authorization with a concentration in art, music, dance, or theater, ~~and~~ emergency elementary arts education teaching ~~permit.~~ permit, and high school coursework and graduation requirements for pupils participating in a newcomer program.

(1) Existing law establishes the English Language Learner Acquisition and Development Pilot Program, under the administration of the State Department of Education, as a 3-year competitive grant pilot project of 25,000 or more English language learners to be conducted during the 2007–08 to 2009–10, inclusive, school years. Under the program, grants are made to local educational agencies, as defined, to identify existing best practices regarding topics including, but not limited to, curriculum, instruction, and staff development for teaching English language learners and promoting English language acquisition and development. The program requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a 13-to-20 member advisory committee, with specified responsibilities.

This bill would repeal the statutes that establish the program.

(2) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, among other duties, to establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires the commission to issue only teaching and service credentials, with specified authorizations. Existing law authorizes the commission to issue or renew emergency teaching and specialist permits if certain conditions are met.

This bill would require the commission to issue an elementary authorization with a concentration in art, music, dance, or theater, or any combination of these subjects, aligning with an applicant’s industry experience, to an applicant who holds a clear designated subjects career technical education teaching credential with an authorization in the arts, media, and entertainment industry sector and meets specified coursework requirements. The bill would authorize a teacher who holds this authorization to serve as the teacher of record in a departmentalized general education classroom in preschool, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, or for a noncore, academic course in art, music, dance, or theater. The bill would authorize the commission to issue a one-year emergency elementary arts education teaching permit that authorizes teaching in art, dance, music, or theater, or any combination of these subjects, as described above, provided that specified conditions are met.

(3) Existing law requires local educational agencies to exempt a newcomer pupil, as defined, and who is in their 3rd or 4th year of high school from all coursework and other requirements adopted by the governing body of the local educational agency that are in addition to the statewide coursework requirements necessary to receive a diploma of graduation from high school, unless the local educational agency makes a finding that the pupil is reasonably able to complete the local educational agency’s graduation requirements in time to graduate from high school by the end of the pupil’s 4th year of high school. Existing law requires local educational agencies to comply with other procedures in relation to newcomer pupils, including, among other things, consultation and notice provisions. Existing law requires local educational agencies to issue, and new local educational agencies to accept, full or partial credit for all full or partial coursework satisfactorily completed by a newcomer pupil while attending a public school, a juvenile court school, a charter school, a school in a country other than the United States, or a nonpublic, nonsectarian school, as provided.
This bill would require local educational agencies to comply with the above-described coursework exemptions, pupil consultation and notice requirements, acceptance of coursework completed at other schools, and other requirements for pupils participating in a newcomer program, as defined, who were enrolled before January 1, 2024, and would authorize local educational agencies to extend these provisions to other pupils participating in a newcomer program, as specified. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

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

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

SECTION 1.

Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 420) of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code is repealed.

SEC. 2.

Section 44260.8 is added to the Education Code, to read:

44260.8.

(a) The commission shall issue an elementary authorization with a concentration in art, music, dance, or theater, or any combination of these subjects, aligning with an applicant’s industry experience, to an applicant who meets both of the following criteria:

(1) Holds a clear designated subjects career technical education teaching credential with an authorization in the arts, media, and entertainment industry sector.

(2) Completes 24 semester units, or the equivalent quarter units, of coursework that is for the elementary school setting. The coursework shall be nonremedial, completed at a regionally accredited institution of higher education, and earned with a grade of C or better, pass, or credit. The coursework shall relate to all of the following:

(A) Child growth and development.

(B) Family and community relations.

(D) Methodology relevant to the applicant’s authorization concentration.

(E) Teaching diverse learners.

(F) Teaching pupils with special needs.

(G) The early childhood or elementary education setting.

(b) The holder of an elementary authorization issued by the commission pursuant to this section may serve as the teacher of record in a departmentalized general education classroom in preschool, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, or for a noncore, academic course in art, music, dance, or theater.

(c) A local educational agency employing a teacher who holds an elementary authorization issued pursuant to this section shall provide the teacher, for the first two years of employment in a position authorized pursuant to subdivision (b), with two years of mentorship and support from a teacher who holds a clear single subject teaching credential or a clear multiple subject teaching credential and has experience teaching in an elementary school setting.

SEC. 3.

Section 44300 of the Education Code is amended to read:

44300.

(a) Commencing January 1, 1990, the commission may issue or renew emergency teaching or specialist permits in accordance with regulations adopted by the commission corresponding to the credential types specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 44225, provided that all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The applicant possesses a baccalaureate degree conferred by a regionally accredited institution of higher education and has fulfilled the subject matter requirements of Section 44301.

(2) (A) The applicant passes the state basic skills proficiency test as provided for in Section 44252.

(B) Until July 1, 2024, the commission shall waive the basic skills proficiency requirement set forth in subparagraph (A) for the issuance of an emergency 30-day substitute teaching permit issued pursuant to Section 80025 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations. A waiver that is issued pursuant to this subparagraph may not be used to satisfy an applicable basic skills proficiency requirement for any other teaching credential, permit, or certificate.

(3) The commission approves the justification for the emergency permit submitted by the school district in which the applicant is to be employed. The justification shall include all of the following:

(A) Annual documentation that the district has implemented in policy and practices a process for conducting a diligent search that shall include, but is not limited to, distributing job announcements, contacting college and university placement centers, advertising in local newspapers, and participating in job fairs in this state, but has been unable to recruit a sufficient number of certificated teachers, including teacher candidates pursuing full certification through internship, district internship, or other alternative routes established by the commission.

(B) A declaration of need for fully qualified educators based on the documentation set forth in subparagraph (A) and made in the form of a motion adopted by the governing board of the school district or the county board of education at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board or the county board of education. The motion may not be part of the consent agenda and shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.

(b) The commission may deny a request for an emergency permit that does not meet the justification set forth in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission continue to issue emergency teaching permits to individuals employed by school districts defined in regulations as remote from regionally accredited institutions of higher education.

(d) The commission may issue and reissue emergency permits corresponding to the credential types specified in subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 44225. The commission shall establish appropriate standards for each type of emergency permit specified in subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 44225.

(e) The exclusive representative of certificated employees, if any, as provided under Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, may submit a written statement to the commission agreeing or disagreeing with the justification submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).

(f) A person holding an emergency teaching or specialist permit shall attend an orientation to the curriculum and to techniques of instruction and classroom management, and shall teach only with the assistance and guidance of a certificated employee of the district who has completed at least three years of full-time teaching experience, or the equivalent thereof. It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage districts to provide directed teaching experience to new emergency permitholders with no prior teaching experience.

(g) The holder of an emergency permit shall participate in ongoing training, coursework, or seminars designed to prepare the individual to become a fully credentialed teacher or other educator in the subject area or areas in which the individual is assigned to teach or serve. The employing agency shall verify that employees applying to renew their emergency permits are meeting these ongoing training requirements.

(h) Emergency permits for pupil personnel services shall not be valid for the purpose of determining pupil eligibility for placement in a special education class or program.

(i) This section shall not apply to the issuance of an emergency substitute teaching permit, or of an emergency permit to a teacher who has consented to teach temporarily outside of their field of certification, for which the commission shall establish minimum requirements.

(j) The commission may issue a one-year emergency specialist teaching permit in early childhood education that authorizes teaching all subjects in a self-contained transitional kindergarten general education classroom, as defined in Section 48000, provided that all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The applicant possesses a baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a regionally accredited institution of higher education and holds a valid commission-issued child development permit at the teacher or higher level.

(2) The applicant satisfies the subject matter requirement by one of the following options:

(A) Commencing July 1, 2022, completes 24 semester units of coursework in child development or early childhood education at a regionally accredited institution of higher education.

(B) Commencing July 1, 2022, holds a baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a regionally accredited institution of higher education where the major is in child development, or early childhood education, or a similar major.

(C) Commencing July 1, 2023, has three or more years of full-time teaching experience in a transitional kindergarten setting, or preschool age early childhood or child development program, or a combination thereof. Experience may include, but shall not be limited to, teaching experience in a public or private preschool or transitional kindergarten setting, Head Start program, or state-funded preschool program. For the purposes of this subparagraph, “teaching” shall mean the lead or primary classroom teacher, and not teaching done in support of another lead or primary classroom teacher.

(3) The commission approves the justification for the emergency permit submitted by the local employing agency in which the applicant is to be employed. The justification shall include all of the following:

(A) Annual documentation that the local employing agency has implemented in policy and practices a process for conducting a diligent search that shall include, but is not limited to, distributing job announcements, contacting college and university placement centers, advertising in local newspapers or online ~~webpages,~~ web pages, and participating in job fairs in this state, but has been unable to recruit a sufficient number of certificated teachers, including teacher candidates pursuing full certification through internship, district internship, or other alternative routes established by the commission.

(B) A declaration of need for fully qualified educators based on the documentation set forth in subparagraph (A) and made in the form of a motion adopted by the governing body of the charter school, the governing board of the school district, or the county board of education at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body or board or the county board of education. The motion may not be part of the consent agenda and shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.

(C) (i) Verification that the employing charter school, school district, or county shall provide the required orientation, mentoring, and support to the applicant.

(ii) The local employing agency shall report to the governing body of the charter school, the governing board of the school district, or the county board of education at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body or board or the county board of education on the required orientation, ~~mentoring~~ mentoring, and support provided to the applicants.

(k) The commission may renew an emergency specialist teaching permit in early childhood education for one additional year, provided all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The applicant verifies current enrollment in a commission-approved teacher preparation program that will result in a credential authorizing teaching transitional kindergarten.

(2) The local employing agency submits a subsequent declaration of need for fully qualified educators based on the documentation set forth in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (j) made in the form of a motion adopted by the governing body of the charter school, the governing body of the school district, or the county board of education at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body or board or the county board of education. The motion may not be part of the consent agenda and shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.

(3) The local employing agency verifies that the applicant continues to successfully serve in the assignment on the basis of the emergency permit.

(4) (A) The local employing agency verifies that continued orientation, mentoring, and support shall be provided to the applicant.

(B) The local employing agency shall report to the governing body of the charter school, the governing board of the school district, or the county board of education at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body or board or the county board of education on the required orientation, mentoring, and support provided to the applicant.

(l) The commission may issue a one-year emergency elementary arts education teaching permit that authorizes teaching in art, dance, music, or theater, or any combination of these subjects, as described in Section 44260.8, provided that both of the following conditions are met:

(1) The applicant holds a clear designated subjects career technical education teaching credential with an authorization in the arts, media, and entertainment industry sector and has industry experience that aligns with the authorization requested.

(2) The commission approves the justification for the emergency permit submitted by the local employing agency in which the applicant is to be employed. The justification shall include all of the following:

(C) (i) Verification that the employing charter school, school district, or county shall provide the required orientation, mentoring, and support to the applicant.

(m) The commission may renew an emergency elementary arts education teaching permit that authorizes elementary art, dance, music, or theater education for one additional year, provided that all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The applicant verifies current enrollment in coursework aligned to the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 44260.8.

(2) The local employing agency submits a subsequent declaration of need for fully qualified educators based on the documentation set forth in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (l) made in the form of a motion adopted by the governing body of the charter school, the governing board of the school district, or the county board of education at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body or board or the county board of education. The motion may not be part of the consent agenda and shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.

(3) The local employing agency verifies that the applicant continues to successfully serve in the assignment on the basis of the emergency permit.

(4) (A) The local employing agency verifies that continued orientation, mentoring, and support shall be provided to the applicant.

SEC. 4.

Section 51225.25 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51225.25.
(a) A “pupil participating in a newcomer program,” as defined in Section 51225.2, as that section read on January 1, 2023, who was enrolled before January 1, 2024, is entitled to the rights in Sections 51225.1 and 51225.2.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (a), a local educational agency may, in its discretion, extend the rights in Sections 51225.1 and 51225.2 to a “pupil participating in a newcomer program,” as defined in Section 51225.2, as that section read on January 1, 2023.

SEC. 5.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.