BTSA funding bill clears Assembly Education Committee
Published: April 6, 2016April
Assembly Bill 2401 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach), which would provide an annual appropriation of an unspecified amount from the General Fund to the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program, passed the Assembly Education Committee earlier today. AB 2401, which is supported by CSBA, is one of several active 2016 bills that address California’s teacher shortage.
“Participation in induction programs is highly beneficial and significantly helps reduce attrition among new teachers,” said Carlos Machado, CSBA legislative advocate. “Unfortunately, access to BTSA and similar programs was significantly reduced during the last recession – this bill is an opportunity to restore that access and help school districts retain effective teachers.”
CSBA is seeking input from school and county board members on improving BTSA and addressing the teacher shortage. Please contact
Carlos Machado to submit suggestions.
California’s rapidly emerging teacher shortage is being felt by districts statewide, and poses an especially large challenge for schools with high populations of low-income students, and in the subjects of math, science and special education.
A 2016 report from the Learning Policy Institute,
“Addressing California’s Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and Solutions” finds that enrollment in education preparation programs has dropped 70 percent over the last decade, and that districts would need to hire 60,000 new teachers beyond their other hiring needs to just to return student-teacher ratios to pre-recession levels. The
Legislative Analyst’s Office concludes that new credentials issued in California dropped 36 percent from 2008-09 to 2012-13.
Additional 2016 legislation to address the teacher shortage includes SB 62 (Pavley, D-Agoura Hills), which would restore the reach and impact of the Assumption Program of Loans for Education (APLE), and SB 915 (Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge), which would re-establish the California Center on Teaching Careers (CalTeach). CSBA supports both bills, and is tracking several additional bills related to the teacher workforce.