Students pursuing degrees in teaching could get paid for the mandatory classroom hours they work to obtain education credentials under a proposed California bill.
Currently, California’s student teachers must complete 600 hours of unpaid student teaching to earn education credentials, according to California’s Commission on Teaching Credentialing.
Assembly Bill 238, introduced in March by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat, would use one-time state funds to create the California Student Teacher Support Grant Program.
Districts that apply for and receive the grant will receive funds to pay their student teachers at the same rate as substitute teachers.
Mr. Muratsuchi said in a statement that the bill is intended to help incentivize more people to become teachers amid an ongoing state teaching shortage.
“The state’s ongoing educator and workforce shortage has only increased as a result of the pandemic,” he said. “Schools are having trouble finding appropriately credentialed teachers, especially in STEM and special education fields. [This bill] helps relieve the teacher shortage ... [and] financial stress at an important time in the teacher preparation process.”
A bill analysis estimated that the program would cost the state $300 million annually.
The bill passed the state Assembly in June but was placed on hold by the Senate Appropriations Committee in late June so legislators could more fully consider its ongoing fiscal impacts.
