BILL ANALYSIS
AB 364
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Date of Hearing: April 1, 2008
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 364 (Torlakson) - As Introduced: February 23, 2009
SUBJECT : California After School Teacher Pipeline Program
SUMMARY : Establishes the California After School Teacher
Pipeline (CASTP) Program. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides definitions for the implementation of the CASTP as a
pilot program that are similar to those under the existing
California School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program
(PTTP). Defines an "after school instructor" as an employee
who meets the minimum standards of the paraprofessional job
classification as defined by the local education agency (LEA)
and who is employed in an after school program by a school
district, city, county, or nonprofit organization that
receives specified state or federal after school program
funds. Defines "pilot" as the CASTP program, and "pilot
participant" as an after school instructor who elects to
participate in the PTTP and the CASTP.
2)Establishes the CASTP for the purpose of recruiting qualified
after school instructors to participate on a pilot basis in
the PTTP and requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing
(CTC) to do the following to implement the program:
a) Select up to four LEA applications to participate in the
pilot.
b) In addition to satisfying all of the CASTP requirements,
require LEA applicants for the pilot to demonstrate all of
the following:
i) A screening process to determine that the
participant's after school instruction experience ensures
readiness for the CASTP;
ii) How the applicant will ensure professional support
for participants, such as mentor teacher oversight,
classroom experience, and experience providing academic
content instruction;
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iii) How the applicant will track CASTP participants
within the PTTP; and
iv) How applicants and CASTP participants will meet all
PTTP requirements, including but not limited to,
participant eligibility and commitments, program design,
and program reporting.
c) Award a grant to each selected applicant, not to exceed
$3,500 per CASTP participant per year. The CTC may award
funding for after school instructors to participate in the
CASTP only to the extent that allocated funds cover all of
the costs associated with instructor participation in the
CASTP and any costs incurred by the CTC.
d) Include information regarding the CASTP and pilot
participants in all existing PTTP reporting requirements.
e) Submit a report before January 1, 2015 to the
Legislature regarding the CASTP, including the ability of
LEA applicants to successfully integrate the pilot into
their existing programs and the number of participants in
the pilot who receive teaching credentials.
3)Requires, beginning with the 2010-11 fiscal year, the
California Department of Education (CDE) to transfer $150,000
from funds used to provide the After School Education and
Safety (ASES) Program technical assistance, evaluation,
training services, and local assistance to the CTC to
implement the CASTP program.
4)Provides that the provisions establishing the CASTP program
sunset on July 1, 2016 and are repealed as of January 1, 2017.
5)Requires the LEA applicant, in addition to providing
appropriate support and information, to mentor and advise PTTP
participants throughout the course of their studies.
6)Expands existing LEA data reporting requirement to the CTC and
the CTC's reporting requirement to the Legislature to include
the number of prospective participants who annually apply for
the PTTP and are not accepted due to program capacity
restraints.
7)Makes minor, technical changes.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the ASES program through the 2002 voter approved
initiative, Proposition 49. The ASES program funds the
establishment of local after school education and enrichment
programs, which are created through partnerships between
schools and local community resources to provide literacy,
academic enrichment and safe constructive alternatives for
students in kindergarten through ninth grade.
2)Establishes the PTTP for the purpose of helping
paraprofessionals become teachers. The CTC allocates funds to
LEAs based on criteria established in law and adopted by the
CTC. Local programs use the funds to help participants defray
costs associated with completing requirements for a
preliminary teaching credential.
FISCAL EFFECT : The bill requires reallocation of funds of
$150,000 from the $8.25 million the CDE receives for
administration and technical assistance to the CTC.
COMMENTS :
The CASTP pilot program . This bill establishes a pilot program
to enable after school instructors employed by school district,
city, county, or nonprofit organization that receives state ASES
or federal 21st Century funds to participate in the PTTP. The
existing PTTP assists paraprofessionals who work in public
schools to become teachers. According to the CTC, more than
1,700 instructional aides have become credentialed teachers as a
result of the financial, academic, and mentoring support
provided through the PTTP. The PTTP was designed as a
"grow-your-own" career ladder program to meet local teacher
supply needs. Programs provide participants with financial
assistance to help defray the costs of meeting credential
requirements (e.g., tuition, fees, books). Participants work as
instructional aides while they complete subject matter
requirements and continue to receive assistance in the program
through the completion of the professional preparation
requirements (typically completed in an intern program). The
CTC serves as the budgetary and administrative agent for this
program disbursing grant funds to applicant school districts and
county offices of education. In 2007-08, the CTC funded 37 PTTP
sites, serving 1,726 participants. The CTC reports that of the
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1,726 participants,
457 are enrolled at the community college level; 707 are working
on completing their B.A.
degrees at a California four-year college /university; and the
remaining 562 are enrolled in a
teacher preparation program at a California four-year
college/university and/or a district or
university intern program. SB 193 (Scott), Chapter 554,
Statutes of 2007, increased per participant funding from $3,000
to $3,500 per year. The program was cut by $1.8 million in 2007
and sustained another $1 million cut in addition to the 15
percent reduction as part of the budget agreement's categorical
flexibility. The allocation is currently $5.2 million; however,
districts may use the funds for other purposes.
This bill will expand the PTTP to include an estimated 42
after-school instructors, including those employed by non-LEA
after school programs, who meet the classification of
paraprofessional as established by the LEA. Current law, under
the PTTP, defines a "school paraprofessional" as an educational
aide, instructional aide, special education aide, special
education assistant, teacher associate, teacher assistant,
teacher aide, pupil service aide, library aide, child
development aide, child development assistant, and physical
education aide. The $150,000 allocation for the pilot derives
from the $8.25 million CDE receives to administer the ASES and
to provide technical assistance, evaluation, and training. The
CDE contracts with various entities such as West Ed and UC
Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science to provide youth training
and develop literacy, math and science programs with those
funds. The author may wish to consider amending the bill to
specify that the number of participants enrolled in the PTTP
shall be limited to the $150,000 available pursuant to this
bill.
This bill also requires the CTC to submit a report to the
Legislature indicating the ability of LEAs to successfully
integrate the CASTP program into their existing PTTP and the
number of participants who receive teaching credentials. The
pilot sunsets on July 1, 2016.
Arguments in Support . The author states, "With the
implementation of Prop 49's $550 million dollar investment in
state after school programs in 2006, California increased after
school offerings statewide from 1,000 to over 4,000 school
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sites. Almost 75% of these school sites are in the lowest five
deciles, and all the schools are in high poverty communities.
With this dramatic increase in programs, there has been an
equally dramatic rush to hire qualified individuals to staff
these school site programs.
"Many of these after school program staff are well suited and
well qualified to enter a teacher training program, however, not
all are employed by a Local Education Agency (LEA). Under
current law, only employees of LEA's are eligible to participate
in the PTTP program. This bill would enable after school
program employees of a school's partner agencies, such as a
city, county, or non-profit organization, to receive this
benefit in a pilot.
"After school employees are more likely to be representative of
the community in which they work. In keeping with the original
intent of the PTTP program, providing a career ladder for these
after school instructors will diversify the teacher workforce
and encourage community members to work in their local schools.
Access to the PTTP program will also help promote retention in
local after school programs, which suffer from high turn-over,
largely due to low pay and a lack of perceived career ladder
options."
Related Legislation . AB 434 (Block), also scheduled for today's
hearing, reduces the required match for the ASES program from
one-third of the total grant to 15 percent of the total grant
for two years, and includes the cost of a program site
supervisor as a direct cost.
AB 983 (Skinner), pending in this committee, authorizes the ASES
program to operate on weekends.
Prior Legislation . The provisions of AB 364 is almost identical
to last year's SB 1674 (Torlakson). The CASTP pilot program
provisions were deleted by the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
The January 7, 2008 version of SB 43 (Torlakson) is a similar
bill that would have expanded eligibility for the PTTP by
defining staff that provide academic assistance in specified
after school programs as school paraprofessionals. SB 43 was
not heard in the Senate Education Committee at the request of
the author.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
A World Fit For Kids!
After-School All-Stars, Los Angeles
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
ASPIRE After School Program
Avalon Schools (Long Beach)
Bancroft Middle School
Bay Area Partnership for Children and Youth (sponsor)
Boys & Girls Clubs of East Los Angeles
Boys & Girls Clubs of Garden Grove
Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor
Boys & Girls Club of Venice
California Alliance of Boys & Girls Club
California School Boards Association
California School-Age Consortium
Camp Fire USA Long Beach Area Council
Conservation Corps of Long Beach
Enrichment Educational Experiences (Valley Village)
Gang Alternatives Program
Gompers K8 School
Hill Middle School
John Muir Academy
LA's BEST
LACER Afterschool Programs (Los Angeles)
League of California Afterschool Providers
Long Beach Community Action Partnership
Long Beach Unified School District
Long Beach Unified School District's Research Office
Long Beach WRAP
Old Adobe Union School District
Phoenix Accounting
Project APPLE/Project REACH
Phoenix Accounting Corporation
Rogers Middle School
Samuel Gompers K8 School
Stanford Middle School
STAR Education
Stephens Middle School (Long Beach)
Stevenson Elementary (Long Beach)
Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center
William Cullen Bryant Elementary School (Long Beach)
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Woodcraft Rangers
YWCA Greater Los Angeles
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087