Amended  IN  Senate  May 23, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 18, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 30, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 672

Introduced by Assembly Member Jackson

February 13, 2023

An act to add and repeal Section 44299 of the Education Code, relating to teacher credentialing. An act to amend Section 12931 of the Government Code, relating to discrimination.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 672, as amended, Jackson. Teacher credentialing: Teacher Credentialing Task Force. Civil Rights Department: community assistance.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and sets forth its powers and duties relating to enforcement of civil rights laws.
Existing law authorizes the department to provide assistance to communities in resolving disputes, disagreements, or difficulties relating to discriminatory practices, and to make its services available only upon the request of an appropriate state or local public body, or upon the request of any person directly affected by a dispute, disagreement, or difficulty.
This bill would, instead, authorize the department to offer its services in cases of these disputes, disagreements, or difficulties, or upon the request of an appropriate state or local public body, or upon the request of any person directly affected, as specified above.
Existing law requires the department to conduct conciliation assistance in confidence and without publicity, and to hold confidential any information acquired in the regular performance of its duties. Existing law prohibits department employees from performing investigative or prosecuting functions of any department or agency in any litigation arising out of a dispute in which the employee acted on behalf of the department. Existing law also provides that any department employee who makes public in any manner whatever any such information, as specified, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
This bill would specify that the above-described confidentiality requirement and prohibition on department employees from performing investigative or prosecuting functions, and department employee prohibition on revealing confidential information, apply to the services the department makes available to communities and persons therein in resolving disputes, difficulties, or disagreements relating to discriminatory practices.

Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires, as a minimum requirement for a preliminary multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential, the satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation that includes a teaching performance assessment that meets specified requirements and has been approved by the commission, as provided.

This bill would require the commission to convene a Teacher Credentialing Task Force, as provided, by no later than March 1, 2024. The bill would require the task force to examine, among other things, the available research on factors that enable and constrain recruitment, credentialing, and retention of a diverse teaching workforce and the experiences of student candidates in various credentialing pathways, as provided, and to report to the appropriate committees of the Legislature, on or before March 1, 2027, on any policy recommendations based on those findings, for increasing the number of, and diversity of, qualified teachers in California. The bill would require the commission to contract with a nationally recognized, neutral, nonpartisan, nonprofit education policy organization to facilitate the task force’s work, including completing the required report.

This bill would make these provisions inoperative on March 1, 2031, and would repeal it as of January 1, 2032.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 12931 of the Government Code is amended to read:

12931.
 (a) The department may also provide assistance to communities and persons therein in resolving disputes, disagreements, or difficulties relating to discriminatory practices based on race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, veteran or military status, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, familial status, age, reproductive health decisionmaking, or sexual orientation that impair the rights of persons in those communities under the Constitution or laws of the United States or of this state. The services of the department may be made available in cases of these disputes, disagreements, or difficulties only when, in its judgment, peaceful relations among the persons of the community involved are threatened thereby. The department’s services are to be made available only upon the request of an appropriate state or local public body, or upon the request of any person directly affected by the dispute, disagreement, or difficulty.
(b) The department may offer its services in cases of these disputes, disagreements, or difficulties, or upon the request of an appropriate state or local public body, or upon the request of any person directly affected by the dispute, disagreement, or difficulty.

The

(c) The assistance of the department pursuant to this section shall be limited to endeavors at investigation, conference, conciliation, and persuasion.
(d) Subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 12932 apply to the provision of services established in this section.

SECTION 1.Section 44299 is added to the Education Code, immediately following Section 44298, to read:
44299.

(a)(1)The commission shall convene a Teacher Credentialing Task Force by no later than March 1, 2024.

(2)The task force shall be composed of 19 members, as follows:

(A)Three teacher educator faculty representing both undergraduate and graduate education programs as follows:

(i)One member from the California State University.

(ii)One member from the University of California.

(iii)One member from the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.

(B)Three representatives from organizations representing university faculty, credentialed teachers, or school administrators.

(C)One representative from a teacher education research organization.

(D)Five practicing teachers from public elementary and secondary schools in California, the majority of which shall be within their first five years of teaching.

(E)Three teacher preparation candidates.

(F)Three practicing school administrators from public and elementary and secondary schools in California, as follows:

(i)One administrator at an elementary school.

(ii)One administrator at a middle school or junior high school.

(iii)One administrator at a high school.

(G)One human resources representative from a public elementary or secondary school in California.

(b)The task force shall do all of the following:

(1)(A)Review and examine available research on factors that enable and constrain recruitment, credentialing, and retention of a diverse teaching workforce.

(B)Gather and review input or data, or both, from the department, the commission, local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and other relevant stakeholders regarding the state’s teacher shortage.

(C)Prioritize speaking with current student candidates, new teachers in the workforce, and representatives from local educational agencies that are responsible for recruiting and hiring new teachers.

(2)(A)Examine the experiences of student candidates in various credentialing pathways from preparation, credentialing, and induction, through the first five years of teaching, including, but not necessarily limited to, the requirements to complete all of the following:

(i)The California Subject Examinations for Teachers (CSET).

(ii)The California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST).

(iii)The Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA).

(iv)The California Teaching Performance Assessments (CalTPAs).

(v)The provisions and principles of the United States Constitution requirement.

(vi)Instruction in health education.

(vii)Instruction in foundational and advanced computer technology.

(B)In examining the requirements in various credentialing pathways pursuant to subparagraph (A), focus on the extent to which the requirements support the recruitment, development, and retention of a diverse teaching workforce while maintaining teacher quality and effectiveness.

(C)The research design pursuant to this paragraph shall examine candidates and preliminary credentialed teachers in each of these phases of development simultaneously.

(3)Research outcomes during the first five years of individuals being credentialed by determining if those individuals have stayed in the profession, left the profession, or have expressed a desire to leave the profession.

(4)Identify any barriers to entry for prospective teachers, and in particular, prospective teachers from diverse backgrounds during the current teacher recruitment process, the current teacher preparation process, and the current teacher enrollment process.

(c)The commission shall contract with a nationally recognized, neutral, nonpartisan, nonprofit education policy organization to facilitate the task force’s work, including completing the report required pursuant to subdivision (d).

(d)(1)The commission shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, on or before March 1, 2027, covering any policy recommendations based on those findings pursuant to subdivision (b), for increasing the number of, and diversity of, qualified teachers in California.

(2)Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section shall become inoperative on March 1, 2031, and, as of January 1, 2032, is repealed.