BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 933 (Allen) - Teachers: California Teacher Corps Act of
2016: teacher residency programs
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|Version: March 29, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 11, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: Contingent upon funding provided in the budget or
another enacted statute, this bill establishes the California
Teacher Act of 2016, a grant program to assist local educational
agencies (LEAs) in establishing and maintaining teacher
residency programs. This bill defines a teacher residency
program as a school-based teacher preparation program and
authorizes expenditure of these funds for master teacher's
stipends, stipends and tuition for residents, teacher residency
program management, and costs of mentoring and induction
following initial preparation. Participants are required to be
enrolled in a credentialing program while teaching under the
supervision of a mentor teacher, and agree to teach at the LEA
for a specified period of time.
Fiscal
Impact:
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Grant program: The cost of this program is unknown as it is
contingent upon funding provided in the budget or another
statute but could be in the hundreds of millions per grant
cycle. To fund one round of three year grants for ten percent
of school districts, costs to the state would be $200 million
Proposition 98 and a local cost pressure of $100 million to
meet the matching requirement. Staff notes that some grant
funding may eventually be recovered both at the state and
local level if participants fail to meet the terms of the
placement period and are required to pay back the proportion
of training costs incurred.
Administrative costs: The CDE estimates that administering
this program would cost about $100,000 in the first year and
$158,000 ongoing, for as long as the program operates.
Additionally, the CDE estimates that it would need $300,000 to
complete the program evaluation. (General Fund)
Background: The Budget Act of 2013 implemented the Local Control Funding
Formula (LCFF) and permanently consolidated the vast majority of
categorical programs, including the Beginner Teacher Support and
Assessment Program (an induction program of mentorship and
support for new teachers) and the Professional Development Block
Grant (which supported activities such as teacher recruitment
and retention incentives) into a single source of funding along
with former revenue limit apportionments. The statutory and
programmatic requirements for almost all of these categorical
programs were also eliminated, leaving any related activities to
local districts' discretion.
While school districts may choose to undertake these activities
with their LCFF entitlements, the state has provided funding
specifically for teacher support activities. For example, as
part of the Budget Act of 2015, the state provided $490 million
in one-time Proposition 98 funds for the educator effectiveness
block grant, which school districts can use for a variety of
teacher-related purposes, such as professional development and
beginning teacher support and mentoring.
Each new teacher must first complete preliminary credential
requirements and additional requirements within a specified
period of time to clear a teaching credential to remain teaching
in California public schools.
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Proposed Law:
This bill establishes the California Teacher Act of 2016, a
grant program to assist LEAs, or a consortium of LEAs, in
establishing and maintaining teacher residency programs. These
are school-based teacher preparation programs in which
prospective teachers teach at least half-time alongside a mentor
teacher for one academic year while engaging in initial
preparation coursework. Participants also receive tuition
assistance that eliminates training costs and a living stipend;
attain a preliminary teaching credential upon completion of the
program; and receive mentoring, induction support, and
professional development during the first years of teaching.
Mentor teachers must receive specific training and compensation
and/or appropriate release time to serve as a mentor in the
initial preparation or induction component of the teacher
residency program.
This bill authorizes the CDE to issue an unspecified number of
grants beginning in the 2017-18 fiscal year, on a competitive
basis, with preference to LEAs or a consortium of them, on the
basis of their high-need status as defined in federal law for
the most recent school year. The bill also requires the CDE to
evaluate this program's effectiveness.
Eligible prospective participants are required to: (1) enroll
simultaneously in a teacher credentialing program that meets
certain requirements; (2) complete at least nine months of
teaching a class under supervision of a mentor in a school
chosen by the LEA that is the recipient of the grant; and (3)
agree in writing to be placed for four years as a teacher of
record in the high-need LEA after completing the initial year of
preparation and obtaining a preliminary teaching credential. If
participants fail to complete the placement period, they are
required to pay back the cost of the training on a pro rata
basis.
Related
Legislation: SB 933 is part of a legislative package with SB 62
(Pavley) and SB 915 (Liu) to address teacher recruitment and
retention. SB 62 makes various programmatic changes and
authorizes additional warrants for the existing Assumption
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Program of Loans for Education. SB 915 reestablishes the
California Center on Teaching Careers to recruit individuals
into the teaching profession. SB 915 is scheduled to be heard
in this committee on April 11, 2016.
Staff
Comments: The implementation of this bill is contingent upon an
appropriation provided in the annual Budget or in another
statute. Therefore, the number of grants that the CDE could
issue is unknown.
This bill provides that grant amounts are required to be for at
least three school years, and the lesser of the following two
options: (1) an annual amount of up to $30,000 per resident, as
matched by the LEA, or (2) a total of $2 million over three
school years, as matched by the LEA. Therefore, the CDE would
have discretion in issuing grants that could range widely in
duration (such as surpassing the three year grant minimum) and
number of participants it would support.
Assuming all grants are issued at a level of $2 million over
three years and 10 percent of school districts receive a grant
(for simplicity, but charter schools are also eligible to
apply), costs to the state would be $200 million ($66.7 million
annually). In addition, grantees are required to provide a
match of funds equal to 50 percent of their grant award. Under
this scenario, each school district would have to contribute $1
million, or $100 million statewide ($33.3 million annually).
This bill authorizes LEAs to meet the matching requirement with
funding provided by community partners, institutions of higher
education, or others. However, without an identified funding
source, LEAs would likely need to meet the matching requirement
by redirecting or using new general purposes dollars provided
through the LCFF to support this program.
According to the author's office, the author envisions
implementation of this bill to include $100 million in
Proposition 98, one-time funding, for $20 million per year for
five years.
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