BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2336
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|Author: |Olsen |
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|Version: |June 22, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 29, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin Del Castillo |
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Subject: Special education: substitute teachers
NOTE: This bill was previously heard by this Committee on June
8, 2016, failed passage by a vote of 2-2, and was granted
reconsideration. The bill has subsequently been amended as
follows:
1) Provides that its provisions shall become operative on
the date that the United States Department of Education
provides guidance that federal law does not prohibit
substitute teachers from filling an absence or a vacancy in
a special education classroom on a short-term basis.
2) Specifies that the provisions in current law authorizing
the use of inappropriately credentialed substitute teachers
for special education classrooms apply to teacher absences
or vacancies.
The analysis has been updated to reflect these amendments.
SUMMARY
This bill, until January 1, 2022, authorizes a person holding an
emergency 30-day substitute teacher permit to serve as a special
education substitute teacher for up to 40 cumulative days during
the school year, which is double the maximum time allowed under
current law, provided specified conditions are met.
BACKGROUND
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Existing law:
1) Prohibits a non-credentialed person from substituting for
any special education certificated position. (Education
Code § 56060)
2) Authorizes holders of 30-day emergency substitute teaching
permits to serve as a substitute for a credentialed special
education teacher for not more than 20 cumulative days for
each special education teacher absent during the school
year. (EC § 56061)
3) Requires holders of 30-day emergency substitute teaching
permits to meet the following requirements:
a) Possess at least a Bachelor of Arts
degree from a regionally accredited college or
university;
b) Have passed the California Basic Educational
Skills Test; and
c) Have fingerprint clearance.
4) Requires the employing agency to submit a Declaration of
Need for Fully Qualified Educators as a condition of
employing an emergency substitute teacher. The Declaration
of Need shall include the following:
a) The number and type of emergency
permits that will be needed during the school year;
b) A description of the efforts that were
undertaken to locate and recruit individuals who hold
the needed credentials;
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c) A description of efforts to establish alternative
training options; and
d) A certification that there is an
insufficient number of certificated persons who meet
the requirements of the positions to be filled by the
substitutes. (Education Code § 44300 and California
Code of Regulations, Title 5, § 80025)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Specifies that the provisions in current law regarding
the use of inappropriately credentialed substitute teachers
for special education classrooms apply to teacher absences
or vacancies.
2) Authorizes a person holding an emergency 30-day
substitute teacher permit to serve as a special education
substitute teacher for up to 40 cumulative schooldays per
vacancy, provided all of the following conditions have been
met:
a) The permit holder is filling an immediate
staffing need due to a vacant position and is not
substituting for a teacher who is absent.
b) The employing authority has completed and
filed a Statement of Need pursuant to Section 80025 of
Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations.
c) The employing authority has complied with the
hiring hierarchy specified in Education Code §
44225.7, which requires that if a suitable fully
prepared teacher is not available to the school
district, the district shall make reasonable efforts
to recruit an individual for the assignment in a
particular order with first priority going to a
candidate who is qualified to participate and enrolls
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in an approved internship program in the region of the
school district.
d) By the time the employing authority has reason
to believe that the assignment will last more than 20
schooldays, and by no later than the 20th day of the
assignment, the employing authority has developed and
implemented a plan to provide not less than six hours
of training to the permit holder in all of the
following areas:
i) Classroom management.
ii) Developing and implementing lesson
plans.
iii) Implementing the
requirements of each pupil's individualized
education program.
iv) Other areas as deemed necessary by the
employing authority.
e) The employing authority has assigned a
credentialed teacher or teachers to provide ongoing
support to the permit holder.
1) Requires an employing authority to report to its county
office of education annually as part of the assignment
monitoring requirement specified under Education Code §
44258.9. Provides that this report shall include the
number of permit holders employed and the length of time
they were employed.
2) Provides that for purposes of this section, employing
authority includes school districts, county offices of
education, nonpublic, nonsectarian schools and agencies,
and charter schools.
3) Provides that the bill's provisions shall become
operative on the date that the United States Department of
Education provides guidance to state education agencies or
local educational agencies that applicable federal law does
not prohibit substitute teachers from filling an absence or
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a vacancy in a special education classroom on an emergency,
temporary, or provisional basis.
4) Provides the bill's provisions become inoperative on
January 1, 2022.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author's office,
"California is facing a teacher shortage crisis. Many
school districts began the academic year with vacancies
across all subjects, with special education being at the
top of the list. Districts seek and in many cases can't
find a credentialed teacher to fill these vacancies. In
the absence of a fully credentialed teacher, school
districts have turned to dedicated substitute teachers to
teach special education. However, special education
substitute teachers may only serve in one classroom for up
to 20 days. This hurts our students by unnecessarily
subjecting them to a rotating series of substitute
teachers, each with different levels of experience."
2) Limitations on substitute teachers. School districts will
typically employ substitute teachers for various reasons,
whether it is for a prolonged leave of absence such as
bonding time with a new child or for short-term medical
leave or illness. For short term periods, school districts
are authorized to employ a substitute teacher with a 30-day
substitute teaching permit. Current law requires that in
order to qualify for this permit, an applicant must have a
bachelor's degree, have successfully passed the California
Basic Educational Skills Test, and have fingerprint
clearance through the California Department of Justice and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The holder of a
substitute teaching permit may substitute for no more than
30 days for any one teacher per school year in a general
education setting, and no more than 20 days for any one
teacher per school year in a special education setting.
These limitations are intended to minimize the length of
time that students are taught by a substitute teacher with
a short term permit, who is presumably less-prepared or
experienced when compared to a fully-credentialed teacher.
However, if a substitute teacher is needed for more than 30
days in a general education classroom or more than 20 days
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in a special education classroom, a school district may
elect to replace the initial substitute teacher with a
subsequent substitute teacher.
This bill is intended to minimize the disruption that may
occur when one short term substitute teacher in a special
education classroom is replaced by another short term
substitute teacher.
3) Federal guidance. The most recent guidance (updated May 4,
2016) from the United States Department of Education
pertaining to the implementation of the transition to the
federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides a
frequently asked question document that includes the
following:
"Section 9214(d)(2) of the ESSA amended section
612(a)(14)(C) of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act by incorporating the requirement
previously in section 602(10)(B) that a person
employed as a special education teacher in elementary
school, middle school, or secondary school must: 1)
have obtained full certification as a special
education teacher (including certification obtained
through alternative routes to certification), or
passed the State special education teacher licensing
examination and hold a license to teach in the State
as a special education teacher, except that a special
education teacher teaching in a public charter school
must meet the requirements set forth in the State's
public charter school law; 2) not have had special
education certification or licensure requirements
waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional
basis; and 3) hold at least a bachelor's degree. Each
State must continue to comply with these certification
requirements during the 2016-2017 school year.
(Updated May 4, 2016)"
As this bill authorizes a person holding an emergency 30-day
substitute teacher permit to serve as a special education
substitute teacher for up to 40 cumulative days during the
school year, it is unclear if this provision as well as the
underlying statute it proposes to amend are in conflict with the
federal guidance. However, the bill's provisions would only
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become operative if the United Stated Department of Education
clarifies that they would not be in conflict.
4) Other alternatives to emergency permits. Current law also
authorizes the issuance of short term staff permits (STSPs)
and provisional internship permits (PIPs). A short term
staff permit may be requested by a school district with an
acute staffing need, which exists when an employer needs to
fill a classroom immediately based on an unforeseen need.
An example of this is a teacher that is unable to finish
the school year due to an approved leave for illness. A
provisional internship permit may be requested by an
employing agency when there is an anticipated staff need,
which exists when a school district is aware that an
opening is going to occur and conducts a diligent search
for a credentialed teacher but is unable to recruit one.
Holders of a STSP or PIP may work up to one full year in
the same position and must meet the same basic
qualifications as the holder of a short term substitute
permit. However, holders of these permits must also have
completed additional coursework related to their area of
assignment and the school district must also provide them
with mentoring and support.
5) Teacher shortage. The Learning Policy Institute (LPI)
recently released a report, "Addressing California's
Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and
Solutions." In this report, the LPI included the following
summary: "After many years of teacher layoffs in
California, school districts around the state are hiring
again. With the influx of new K-12 funding, districts are
looking to lower student-teacher ratios and reinstate
classes and programs that were reduced or eliminated during
the Great Recession. However, mounting evidence indicates
that teacher supply has not kept pace with the increased
demand." The report included the following findings:
a) Enrollment in educator preparation programs has
dropped by more than 70 percent over the last decade.
b) In 2014-15, provisional and short-term permits
nearly tripled from the number issued two years
earlier, growing from about 850 to more than 2,400.
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c) The number teachers hired on substandard permits
and credentials nearly doubled in the last two years,
to more than 7,700 comprising a third of all the new
credentials issued in 2014-15.
d) Estimated teacher hires for the 2015-16 school
year increased by 25 percent from the previous year
while enrollment in the University of California (UC)
and the California State University (CSU) teacher
education programs increased by only about 3.8
percent.
6) Related budget activity. The 2016-17 budget bill includes
$7 million in one-time Proposition 98 funding to
re-establish the California Center on Teaching Careers
which would be required to target chronic teacher shortage
areas, including special education and bilingual teachers.
7) Fiscal impact. The Assembly Appropriations Committee
indicates minor or absorbable costs to the Commission on
Teacher Credentialing and the California Department of
Education to extend existing substitute teaching
authorizations to 30-day substitute teachers providing
instruction in special education classrooms.
8) Related legislation.
AB 1918 (O'Donnell) authorizes county offices of education
to issue temporary certificates to teachers employed at
nonpublic schools, including out-of-state teachers, while
their credential applications are being processed at the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. This bill is pending
on the Senate Floor.
SB 62 (Pavley) makes various programmatic changes and
issues additional warrants for the existing Assumption
Program of Loans for Education. This bill is currently
pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 915 (Liu) re-establishes the California Center on
Teaching Careers for the purpose of recruiting qualified
individuals into the teaching profession. This bill is
pending in the Assembly Education Committee.
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SB 933 (Allen) establishes the California Teacher Corps
program that would provide matching grants to local school
districts to create or expand teacher residency programs in
which the funds can be used to pay for master teacher
stipends, stipends and tuition for residents, and costs of
mentoring and induction. This bill is pending in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
None on the current version of the bill.
OPPOSITION
None received.
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