Assembly OKs Plan to Make It Easier to Become a Teacher

Driven by new demands created by an upcoming reduction in class size that will require thousands of new classrooms, the Assembly on Thursday gave final legislative approval to a measure easing the requirements for college-educated people to become teachers.

Current state credentialing rules require prospective teachers to spend at least one year taking college courses specifically related to education. The new bill would allow college graduates with a bachelor’s or higher degree to proceed straight to the classroom after passing a state-administered examination.

The new teachers would spend two years as interns, teaching classes at “modest” salaries of around $25,000 a year and attending education workshops, said the bill’s author, Assemblyman Bernie Richter (R-Chico). Then, upon approval of local school authorities and the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing, they would become full-fledged teachers.

“This bill changes permanently the way teachers are credentialed,” Richter said, “and opens up a huge pool of qualified individuals,” consisting not only of recent college graduates but older adults with degrees in various fields.

Gov. Pete Wilson is expected to sign the bill (AB 1432), which was approved Monday by the state Senate.

With the state’s ambitious plan to reduce class sizes for kindergarten through third grade slated to take effect as early as September, more than 20,000 new teachers will be needed in the near future, according to the state Department of Education.

The state currently licenses only about 5,000 new teachers per year. Presently, districts facing teacher shortages can hire people with emergency credentials, but only in certain subject areas, and many of them must return to school to complete an education curriculum before being permanently licensed to teach.

The bill does not remove the requirement that all new teacher candidates pass the California Basic Education Skills Test--the state’s basic teacher licensing tool.

But opponents of the measure, including the California Teachers Assn., warn that it may encourage districts to replace veteran instructors with less-skilled, but cheaper, intern teachers. “Certified teachers could be replaced by interns in California classrooms,” said union spokeswoman Sandra Jackson.

The measure would attract interns from a variety of fields, Richter said. “Women who have raised the kids and want to put their degrees to work, military specialists--even termed-out legislators knowledgeable in civics or history” could qualify, Richter said.

At the local level, an official of the Los Angeles Unified School District said the new credentialing procedures would be welcome in the huge district. Carla Smotherman, a personnel specialist for the district’s intern program, said loosening hiring requirements “certainly is going to help,” given the demand for new teachers.

But she said the district already has a substantial intern program and prospective teachers coming into the system will still have to pass exams other than the state test required under the bill.