BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-12 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1385
AUTHOR: Hancock
INTRODUCED: February 24, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: March 28, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : California After School Teacher Pipeline Program.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the California After School Teacher
Pipeline Program for the purpose of providing support to
instructors in specified after school programs who wish to
become teachers.
BACKGROUND
Current state and federal law establish various after school
academic enrichment programs including the 21st Century High
School After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens Program
(ASSETs), the After School Education and Safety Program (ASES),
and the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Program (CCLC). (Education Code � 8420, � 8482, and � 8484.7)
Current law establishes the California School Paraprofessional
Teacher Training Program (PTTP) for the purpose of assisting
paraprofessionals who work in public schools to become teachers.
Current law limits participation in the program to public
school employees who serve as instructional aides or assistants,
including library aides; pupil services aids, child development
assistants, and physical education aides. (EC � 44393)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Establishes the California After School Teacher Pipeline
Program (pipeline program) to recruit qualified after
school instructors to participate on a pilot basis in the
California Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program
(PTTP).
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2) Defines after school instructor to mean an employee who
meets the minimum standards of the paraprofessional job
classification as defined by an applicant local educational
agency (LEA) and who is employed in an ASSETs, ASES, or the
CCLC program.
3) Requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to
select up to four applicant school districts or county
offices of education already receiving PTTP funds to
participate in the pipeline program; requires applicants to
satisfy all PTTP requirements and demonstrate:
a) A screening process to determine if a pilot
participant's after school instruction experience
ensures readiness for the pilot.
b) How the applicant will ensure professional
support for participants through mentor teaching
oversight, classroom experience, and academic content
instruction experience.
c) How the applicant will track pilot participants
within their program.
d) How applicants and pipeline program participants
will meet all PTTP requirements, including but not
limited to, participant eligibility and commitments,
program design, and program reporting.
4) Requires the annual transfer of $150,000 from funds used by
the California Department of Education (CDE) for the
administration of the ASES to the CTC to implement the
pipeline program.
5) Requires the CTC to use the $150,000 to award a grant to
teach selected applicants of up to $3,500 per pilot
participant.
6) Requires the CTC to include pipeline program participant
data in its annual report to the Legislature on the PTTP
program.
7) Requires the CTC to report to the Legislature regarding the
pipeline program pilot before January 1, 2018; requires the
report to include information regarding the ability of
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applicants to successfully integrate the pilot into their
existing program and the number of pipeline program
participants who earn a teaching credential.
8) Specifies that the pilot pipeline program will be
inoperative on July 1, 2019, and sunsets on January 1,
2020, unless a later enacted statute that becomes operative
on or before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends the dates
on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
9) Declares that SB 1385 furthers the purposes of the After
School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : After school programs provide education
and enrichment activities that help support a child's
education. Nearly all (97%) of these programs serve low
income communities and after school employees are often
from and representative of the community in which they
work. Many after school program staff are well suited and
well qualified to enter a teacher training program, but may
not have the financial resources to complete teacher
credential requirements. The author maintains that access
to the PTTP will promote
employee retention in after school programs, which suffer
from high staff turn-over due to low pay and a lack of
career ladder options.
2) After school programs . The state and federal after school
programs specified in this bill provide education and
literacy as well as enrichment. The education and literacy
component provides tutoring and/or homework assistance in
language arts, math, history and social science, science,
or computer training. The educational enrichment component
may include fine arts, recreation, physical fitness, and
prevention activities. Programs are typically located on a
school site and operate from the end of the school day
until at least 6:00 pm. There are approximately 4,000
California schools that operate an after school program.
These programs employ approximately 20,000 individuals who
directly supervise students.
Many after school program providers are city, county, or
nonprofit agencies. Although program employees who
directly supervise students must meet the minimum
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qualifications of an instructional aide in the sponsoring
school district, these employees are not eligible to
participate in the PTTP unless they are school district
employees. This bill would enable after school program
staff who are employees of a school's partner agencies to
participate in the PTTP.
3) Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program . The PTTP
program is a career ladder teacher recruitment program that
enables districts to meet local teacher supply needs by
helping their paraeducators become teachers. Participants
work as instructional aids while they complete subject
matter requirements and continue to receive assistance
through the program while they complete professional
preparation requirements (typically completed in an intern
program). Participants are required to complete one school
year of classroom instruction in the district or county
office of education for each year they receive assistance
through the program. Candidates who do not fulfill the
service requirement must repay the assistance they received
from the program. According to the CTC, more than 2,175
instructional aides have become fully-credentialed teachers
as a result of the financial, academic, and mentoring
support provided through the PTTP. As PTTP participants
continue working while they are completing their education,
they can take six or seven years to become fully
credentialed, especially if they enter the program with
only an associate degree. Given the sunset date for this
pilot, would it make sense to strengthen the screening
criteria for the pipeline program to determine not only a
participant's readiness for the program but also their
likely completion by 2019? Alternatively, should the
sunset date be extended to 2021?
4) Categorical Program Flexibility . As part of the February
2009 budget process, LEAs were provided fiscal and policy
flexibility related to categorical programs through 2013.
This flexibility was subsequently extended through
2014-2015. The PTTP program is included in the categorical
program flexibility. Specifically, an LEA that received
PTTP funding is authorized to use this funding for any
other educational purpose. The LEA may choose to continue
operating the categorical program that it received funding
for or redirect it for any other educational purpose as it
deems appropriate. LEAs are deemed to be in compliance
with any program and funding requirements contained in
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statute and regulation that may be associated with the
program. Enrollment in the statewide PTTP program has
declined in recent years. The PTTP served 390 or 31% fewer
participants in 2010-2011 than in 2009-2010. Due in part
to choices LEAs have made with regard to categorical
flexibility, the decline in participants is also due to the
fiscal constraints that have reduced the availability of
jobs for new teachers. In its December 2011 annual PTTP
report, the CTC noted that the state's current fiscal
environment and categorical flexibility places continued
operation and administration of local programs in jeopardy
and noted that the statewide PTTP was no longer accepting
new participants.
The pilot pipeline program this bill would establish would not
be subject to the full flexibility requirements provided
because the funding for the ASES program is guaranteed by
Proposition 49, the 2002 voter initiative that established
the program.
5) Clarifying and technical amendments . To clarify that
funding for the pipeline program ends when the pilot
sunsets, the staff recommends the bill be amended to
specify the annual transfer of $150,000 will end December
31, 2019.
The teacher training program definition included in the bill is
not necessary since pipeline participants will be required
to satisfy the PTTP requirements, which includes completing
all of the requirements for and obtaining a multiple
subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching
credential. Staff recommends the bill be amended to delete
this definition.
To clarify that pilot pipeline program participants will be
required to meet the same repayment requirements as other
PTTP participants, staff recommends the bill be amended to
add "repayment requirements." at the end of paragraph (4)
of subsection (d) of Section 44394.
6) Prior legislation . The establishment of a teacher pipeline
program for after school programs staff was attempted in
the following legislative proposals:
AB 364 (Torlakson, 2009), proposed to establish a California
After School Teacher Pipeline Program by expanding
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eligibility for the PTTP. AB 364 was held under submission
by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 1674 (Torlakson, 2008) proposed to establish the California
After School Teacher Pipeline Program, expand the existing
ASES to allow weekend operation, and establish a minimum
grant level for small programs. The measure was passed by
this Committee on a 7-0 vote and subsequently vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger, who stated:
"As the primary author of Proposition 49 that created
the After School Education and Safety Program (ASES)
Act, I am very proud of the good work that after
school providers have done in serving kids over the
years. While providing students with educationally
enriching activities during weekend hours is a worthy
goal, this bill takes the program beyond the original
scope of the ASES program. After school programs are
intended to provide students with access to quality
tutoring, homework assistance, and educational
enrichment during weekday non-school hours, when they
are most at risk of being involved in dangerous
activities."
SB 43 (Torlakson, 2007) 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, at the request of
the author, and was subsequently returned to the Secretary
of the Senate because it did not meet the "house of origin"
deadline.
SUPPORT
Aspiranet
California After School Coalition
California School-Age Consortium
California Partnership for Children and Youth
Citizen Schools
LA's Best
Pro-Youth/HEART
THINK Together
OPPOSITION
None received.
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