Alarmed at the number of teachers working on provisional permits and who do not meet state proficiency standards, state legislators have introduced bills that they hope will address the shortage of qualified teachers.
A bill by state Sen. Carol Liu (D- La Cañada Flintridge), Senate Bill 915, would reestablish the California Center on Teaching Careers, which education experts say successfully boosted teacher recruitment through outreach campaigns across the state in the 1990s.
The initiative was shelved 15 years ago during state budget reductions and was repealed in 2008.
“SB 915 will help address the state’s emerging teacher shortage by re-establishing a successful program from the late 1990s,” said Liu, who is the Senate Education Committee and is a former teacher. “Cal-Teach will provide prospective educators with valuable information about becoming credentialed and make entry into the profession simpler.
“As we consider how to address the teacher shortage we must employ a holistic strategy that focuses on recruiting, retaining, and rewarding educators. We are poised to move a Senate educator package that does just that and I look forward to working with my colleagues to address this important issue.”
Education officials report that enrollment in teaching-related programs at California universities dropped 75% between 2011 and 2014.
State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) has submitted a bill, Senate Bill 933, that would provide new teachers with $30,000 over three years while they study to become a full-time educators.
Aspiring teachers would intern alongside an experience mentor in a classroom while they study for their credential.
“California is experiencing a troubling shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in the areas of math and science. Along with the shortage, we are experiencing a loss of teachers due to attrition within the first five years,” said Culver City Unified School Board Member Susanne Robins. “As a package, these bills have potential to positively impact this problem.”
The state Commission on Teacher Credentialing reports that nearly 8,000 teachers with substandard credentials or provisional permits were working in California classrooms in the 2014-15 school year – a 63 percent increase from just two years earlier.
“We know that novice teachers who are trained by an experienced mentor are far more likely to stay in the profession for the long term. Teaching teachers how to teach is a proven way to guarantee more students will have access to a high quality education,” said Allen, a former president of the Santa Monica-Malibu United School District.
And state Sen. Fran Pavely (D Agoura Hills) is sponsoring Senate Bill 62, which would reactivate a dormant state program to provide student loan forgiveness to new teachers, under specified conditions.
In order to qualify for the Assumption Program of Loans for Education, a new teacher would have to teach for four years at a school with large numbers of disadvantaged students, a rural school or a school with a large number of emergency permits.
“We need to invest in the teaching profession and encourage young professionals to come into our classrooms,” said Pavley, a former middle school teacher. “Schools can provide the newest books, the most cutting-edge technology and the best curriculum. But the most important tool in the classroom is the teacher.”
Robins, a former science teacher at Culver City Middle School, sees merit in all of the proposed pieces of legislation, especially SB 933.
“As a former teacher, I like the language of Allen’s bill, which is designed to develop and fund residency program. Real classroom experience, with the direct guidance of an experienced, high performing teacher is an excellent solution. The first few years of teaching are overwhelming: there is so much to do and to learn that it sometimes seems an insurmountable challenge,” Robins explained. “Day to day support and guidance, from qualified teachers, cannot be underestimated in its value. Studies show that the attrition rate of teachers who were in residency programs is considerably lower than those who did not benefit from such a program.”
Robins said the Culver City school district is working to retain and support its teachers through aggressive increases to the salary schedules, professional learning communities and high quality professional development.
“Teaching is not an easy profession; it requires tireless commitment to excellence, the ability to connect as a human being to anyone who walks through the door, more patience than most of us in the outside world have had to develop, and a recognition and acceptance of the extraordinary responsibility to society that you bear,” she said.
Gary Walker contributed to this story.
