BILL NUMBER: SB 321 CHAPTERED 10/07/01 CHAPTER 576 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 7,2001 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 13, 2001 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 18, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 4, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 24, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 2, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 16, 2001 INTRODUCED BY Senator Alarcon FEBRUARY 20, 2001 An act to add and repeal Section 44303 of the Education Code, relating to teachers, and making an appropriation therefor. (Approved by Governor October 5, 2001. Filed with Secretary of State October 7, 2001.) I am signing Senate Bill 321, which would authorize the Los Angeles Unified School District to develop a 5 year pilot program for training newly hired teachers serving on emergency permits that are assigned to schools that have 20% or more teachers on emergency permits. However, I am deleting Section 3, which appropriates two million ($2,000,000) from the General Fund. Supporting the appropriate training of teachers serving on emergency permits is an important step toward improving the instruction for students in hard to staff schools. Unfortunately, given the rapid decline of our economy and a budget shortfall of $1.1 billion through the first three months of this fiscal year alone, I have no choice but to oppose additional General Fund spending. However, I am directing the Office of the Secretary for Education to identify existing funds that can be used to support this pilot program. GRAY DAVIS, Governor LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 321, Alarcon. Teachers: emergency permits: training. Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to issue or renew emergency teaching or specialist permits if the applicant possesses a baccalaureate degree conferred by a regionally accredited institution of higher education, has fulfilled the subject matter requirements, and passes the state basic skills proficiency test and the commission approves the justification for the emergency permit submitted by the school district in which the applicant is to be employed. Existing law requires the holder of an emergency permit to attend an orientation to the curriculum and to techniques of instruction and classroom management, to teach only with the assistance and guidance of a teacher with 3 years of full-time teaching experience, and to 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 he or she is assigned to teach or serve. This bill would, until January 1, 2007, authorize the Los Angeles Unified School District, from funds allocated to it for this purpose, to develop on a pilot project basis a 30-day training program for the teachers it hires on an emergency basis and who will be assigned to schools that have 20% or more teachers on emergency permits. The bill would require the training to be delivered before a teacher hired on an emergency basis begins teaching and would require a teacher participating in the training to spend half of the training period observing experienced fully credentialed teachers in a classroom of the same grade level as the teacher being trained. The bill would appropriate $2,000,000 from the General Fund to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for allocation to the Los Angeles Unified School District for purposes of implementing this pilot program. To the extent that the funds appropriated by this bill are allocated to a school district or a community college district, those funds would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows: (1) The Los Angeles Unified School District is experiencing a shortage of qualified credentialed teachers and are compelled to hire teachers on an emergency permit basis. (2) The effectiveness of teachers employed on an emergency permit basis would be enhanced by training them before they begin teaching. (b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Los Angeles Unified School District create a 30-day pilot program to train, before they begin teaching, the teachers it hires on an emergency permit basis who will be assigned to schools that have 20 percent or more teachers on emergency permits. SEC. 2. Section 44303 is added to the Education Code, to read: 44303. (a) From funds appropriated for that purpose, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing shall allocate funds to the Los Angeles Unified School District for purposes of implementing a pilot program as set forth in this section. (b) From funds allocated to it for purposes of this section, the Los Angeles Unified School District may develop a 30-day training program for the teachers it hires on an emergency basis who will be assigned to schools that have 20 percent or more teachers on emergency permits. The training shall be delivered before a teacher hired on an emergency basis begins teaching. A teacher participating in this training shall spend half of the training period observing experienced fully credentialed teachers in a classroom of the same grade level as the teacher being trained. (c) To be eligible to receive funds pursuant to this section, the Los Angeles Unified School District shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the commission that there currently exists a shortage of fully and appropriately credentialed teachers in the district and that the program developed by the district will train the teachers it hires on an emergency basis to become effective classroom teachers. (d) For purposes of this section, "experienced fully credentialed teacher" means a teacher who holds a clear credential for the subject matter and grade level to which the teacher is assigned and has three years of teaching experience. (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2007, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2007, deletes or extends that date. (f) The Commission on Teacher Credentialing shall implement this section only to the extent that funds are specifically appropriated for the purposes of this section in the annual Budget Act or any other measure. SEC. 3. The sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for allocation to the Los Angeles Unified School District for purposes of implementing Section 44303 of the Education Code. The Commission on Teacher Credentialing may retain up to one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($125,000) of the funds appropriated by this section for purposes of recovering its administrative costs associated with the pilot project established pursuant to Section 44303 of the Education Code.