The 2022-23 Budget: Educator Workforce Proposals

The 2022-23 Budget: Educator Workforce Proposals FEBRUARY 2022 Summary. In this post, we provide background Center on Teaching Careers (Center) program from on teacher shortages and recruitment, describe 1997 to 2002. This program operated out of several the Governor’s proposals related to these California State University campuses to attract more issues, assess these proposals, and offer individuals to the teaching profession. Between associated recommendations. 2001 and 2004, the state funded the Teacher Recruitment Incentive Program which established Background six county offices of education (COEs) as regional California Has About 300,000 School Teachers. teacher recruitment centers to recruit teachers for In 2018-19, about 295,000 full-time equivalent low-performing schools. The authorizing legislation teachers (latest data available) were employed in designated the Sacramento COE to select the California’s public school system. This is an increase regional recruitment centers and administer the of 9.8 percent over the 2010-11 level (the low point program. Between 2006 and 2009, the state funded during the Great Recession). Coupled with the regional Personnel Management Assistance Teams effects of statewide declining student enrollment, (PMATs) to work with school districts to improve the statewide student-to-teacher ratio, in turn, has personnel management, recruitment, and hiring dropped every year since its peak in 2010-11 when practices. COEs in six regions across the state were it was 23:1. In 2018-19, this ratio was about 21:1— selected to serve as PMATs. comparable to the level prior to the Great Recession. In Recent Years, State Has Funded Various Some Districts Unable to Find Credentialed Programs to Address Teacher Shortages. Teachers. Despite growth in the teacher workforce Figure 1 on the next page describes the programs prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, some school that have received one-time state funding since districts in the state typically experience more 2016-17 to address teacher shortages. Some challenges finding credentialed teachers than others. programs are aimed at increasing the supply In 2018-19, almost 3 percent of the teacher workforce of teachers. For instance, the 2016-17 budget (about 8,700 teachers) had an emergency credential. re-established the Center at a COE. The Commission The share of teachers on emergency credentials has on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) administered the risen every year since 2009-10, when the demand for competitive grant ($5 million one-time Proposition 98) teachers was lower. Certain subject areas and types and selected the Tulare COE to run the Center. of schools are more likely to rely on underprepared Pandemic Has Likely Worsened Teacher teachers. Specifically, in reports required by the Shortages. Districts report challenges stemming U.S. Department of Education, California has from the pandemic with hiring a range of school staff, identified shortages of special education, science, including qualified teachers. A national survey of and math teachers nearly every year since 1990-91. teachers from January 2021 found that 23 percent Additionally, low-income urban schools and rural of teachers were likely to leave their current job due schools experience many difficulties with staffing, to pandemic-related stress by the end of 2020-21, often heavily relying on underprepared teachers. compared to an annual average of 16 percent Statewide Teacher Recruitment Efforts Date before the pandemic. Data in California is consistent Back Several Decades. The state has a history of with this finding. According to the California State somewhat short-lived statewide teacher recruitment Teachers’ Retirement System, which manages the efforts. For example, the state ran the California state’s pension system for teachers, 3,202 California 2022-23 Budget Series 1 Figure 1 State Has Provided $1.2 Billion Since 2016‑17 to Address Teacher Shortages General Fund Unless Otherwise Indicated (In Millions) Program Year Description Funding Allocation Amount Golden State Teacher 2020-21 and Provides financial assistance to CSAC awards funds to $515 Grant Program 2021-22 students enrolled in teacher participating teachers. This preparation programs who commit program was funded with to working in certain subject areas $15 million federal funding at schools where more than in 2020-21 and $500 million 55 percent of students are low one-time General Fund in income or English learners. 2021-22 Teacher Residency Grant 2018-19 and Supports establishing and expanding CTC competitively awards 401 Program 2021-22 teacher residency programs in grants to districts, COEs, special education, STEM, and and school-university bilingual education. partnerships. There are two grant types: (1) planning grants of up to $50,000 and (2) residency grants of up to $20,000 per resident in the new or expanded program. Classified School 2016-17, 2017-18, Provides financial assistance to CTC competitively awarded 170 Employee Teacher and 2021-22 classified school employees, such grants of $4,000 per Credentialing Program as instructional aides, to pursue participant per year for up to teaching credentials. five years to districts, COEs, and schools. Local Solution Grants 2018-19 Provided funding to local efforts to CTC competitively awarded 50 recruit and retain special education grants of up to $20,000 teachers. per participant to districts, COEs, and schools. Grantees required to provide a dollar-for-dollar match. Integrated 2016-17 Supported expanding integrated CTC competitively awarded 10 Undergraduate Teacher programs that allow participants to planning grants of up to Preparation Grants earn an undergraduate degree and $250,000 to universities. a teaching credential within four years. Programs focused on special education, STEM, and bilingual education received funding priority. California Educator 2017-18 Assisted districts with recruiting and California Center on Teaching 9 Development Program preparing teachers, principals, and Careers competitively other school leaders. awarded grants to 26 districts, COEs, and schools. This program was federally funded. California Center on 2016-17 and Established a statewide teacher CTC competitively awarded 7 Teaching Careers 2021-22 recruitment center to recruit grant to Tulare COE to qualified and capable individuals operate center. into the teaching field, particularly to low-income schools in special education, STEM, and bilingual education. Bilingual Teacher 2017-18 Supported teachers pursuing CDE competitively awarded 5 Professional authorization to teach bilingual and grants to eight districts and Development Program multilingual classes. COEs. Total $1,167 CSAC = California Student Aid Commission; STEM = science, technology, engineering, and math; CTC = Commission on Teacher Credentialing; COE = county office of education; and CDE = California Department of Education. 2022-23 Budget Series 2 teachers retired in the second half of 2020—a Nine geographic lead COEs are charged with 26 percent increase relative to 2019. Although the building the capacity of the COEs within their region pandemic appears to have accelerated teachers to provide targeted assistance to local districts. leaving the workforce, data on teachers entering the COEs providing targeted assistance may also workforce—such as district hiring of new teachers request the help of the Fiscal Crisis and Management and enrollment in teacher preparation programs in Assistance Team (FCMAT)—the state agency that 2021-22—have not yet been released. In addition provides fiscal advice, management assistance, to teacher supply challenges, recent state efforts teacher workforce review, and other technical to expand Transitional Kindergarten to include all assistance to school districts. four-year-old children will increase demand for Governor’s Proposals classroom teachers. Provides Nearly $54 Million for Various Statewide System of Support Targets Teacher Recruitment and Support Activities. Additional Assistance to Low-Performing Of this amount, $46 million is provided on a Districts. California made major changes to its one-time basis, while the remaining $8 million statewide system of support for districts starting in 2013-14, in tandem with significant changes to the is ongoing, as seen in Figure 2. The Governor provides mostly non-Proposition 98 funding state’s school financing system. The state currently for these proposals, with the one exception of has a school dashboard that reports school and $5.2 million ongoing Proposition 98 included for district performance based on measures aligned with the PMATs proposal. Three proposals provide key state priority areas. A district that is identified as additional funding for programs previously low performing based on the school dashboard is to funded by the state, such as credential fee receive targeted support from its COE. In providing waivers, grants for integrated undergraduate this support, COEs sometimes consult with other teacher preparation programs (hereafter referred regional agencies known as geographic leads. Figure 2 Governor Proposes $54 Million in New Educator Workforce Spending (In Millions) Proposal Amounta Description Teacher assessment fee waivers $24 Waives certain examination fees for new teachers. Initial credential fee waivers 12 Provides second round of funding to waive first-time credential fees. The 2021-22 budget provided $20 million for the first round of funding. Integrated Undergraduate 10 Supports expanding integrated programs that allow participants to earn an Teacher Preparation Grants undergraduate degree and a teaching credential within four years. Programs for early childhood education, special education, and other high-needs fields would receive funding priority. K‑12 Personnel Management 6 Re-establishes regional PMATs to assist districts and charter schools with improving Assistance Teams (PMATs) hiring, retention, and recruitment practices. CDE and CCEE would select seven regional COEs to serve as PMATs. Geographic lead COEs would be selected as PMATs. CCEE would evaluate the program by December 31, 2025. Of this funding, $322,000 is ongoing non-Proposition 98 General Fund to fund one new position each at CTC and CDE. The remaining funding is ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund. New CTC teacher recruitment 2 Establishes eight career counselors to provide technical assistance for prospective and support educators and one position to develop a new teacher recruitment web portal. Also includes a $900,000 contract for a public outreach campaign to highlight teaching profession. CTC would report on all outreach efforts by April 30, 2024 (and bi- annually afterwards). Funding is ongoing non-Proposition 98 General Fund. Total $54 a Unless otherwise specified, funding is one-time non-Proposition 98 General Fund. CDE = California Department of Education; CCEE = California Collaborative for Educational Excellence; COE = county office of education; and CTC= Commission on Teacher Credentialing. 2022-23 Budget Series 3 to as “integrated programs”), and PMATs. The immediate demand. Alternatively, if the state waited remaining two proposals would fund new teacher to act until widespread teacher shortages were assessment fee waivers and CTC to implement apparent, many districts would struggle to find fully new teacher recruitment and support activities, credentialed teachers in the meantime, especially such as developing a new virtual portal for given the lag between recruitment efforts and prospective teachers. completing the teacher preparation process. …But Governor’s Proposal for New Teacher Assessment Recruitment Activities Duplicates Other Long-Term Demand for More Teachers Existing Efforts. The Governor’s proposal would Remains Uncertain. Demand for new teachers can provide ongoing non-Proposition 98 funding for be influenced by a variety of factors. Some factors CTC to develop a new virtual portal and teacher are likely to drive up unmet demand. For instance, counseling team to support prospective teachers. the pandemic likely increased short-term demand The state, however, already has two other online for teachers, as more teachers left the profession platforms operated by separate entities to recruit early due to pandemic-related working conditions. new teachers and provide information about Transitional Kindergarten expansion also will teacher credentialing requirements. The California increase demand for elementary school teachers Department of Education (CDE) hosts the over the next several years, as schools will need TeachCalifornia.org platform using ongoing funding to serve more students in smaller class sizes. to provide accessible information for individuals Furthermore, even prior to the pandemic, the state interested in teaching, with an emphasis on faced teacher shortages in the areas of special teacher shortage areas. This platform was initially education, math, science, and bilingual education. developed by the Sacramento COE, in its role In contrast, other factors could reduce demand for running the Teacher Recruitment Incentive Program teachers. The state is expected to have declines between 2001 and 2004. (The Sacramento COE in the school-aged population for the foreseeable continues to operate the platform as a contractor future, primarily driven by historically low birth rates. for CDE.) Separately, Tulare COE uses one-time In addition, data from 2019-20 indicated that the Proposition 98 General Fund to operate the number of new teaching credentials issued was at a Center’s online platform, CaliforniaTeach.org, aimed five-year high, increasing by 16.5 percent compared at recruiting new teachers and matching prepared to 2015-16 levels. Pandemic-related impacts on teachers with employment opportunities. (The two teacher supply could also be alleviated moving platforms are not coordinated but do reference forward as schools and the state better manage each other.) The state has a history of rather the pandemic, and as the direct effects of the short-lived statewide teacher recruitment efforts, pandemic on schools begin to diminish. as previously mentioned. Changing the statewide Some State Action to Recruit and Support strategy for recruiting new teachers every few New Teachers Seems Reasonable… Although years, however, results in state funding to develop long-term demand for more teachers is unclear, multiple resources with very similar information, efforts to attract more individuals to the rather than one coordinated, authoritative platform teaching profession are warranted to address that all prospective teachers can use to guide them the widespread, near-term teacher shortages, through a complex process and learn more about particularly those driven by the pandemic. Even if recent state educator workforce initiatives. these more acute shortages subside over the next Building Off of Existing Efforts Could Start few years, the state could benefit from having New Teacher Recruitment Sooner. Since the teacher sustained efforts in place, particularly in state might benefit from acting swiftly to address the areas of special education, math, science, and short-term shortages, CDE or the Center may bilingual education. This would allow the state to be better positioned than CTC to begin teacher act early and proactively to recruit new teachers recruitment activities sooner. Both CDE and the if teacher supply would otherwise not meet Center already have developed online platforms 2022-23 Budget Series 4 and established partnerships with higher education though initial credential fee waivers were available institutions, COEs, school districts, and other in 2021-22, many new teachers submitted paper organizations across the state. The Center also applications and payments by mail. By November has experience running statewide promotional 30, 2021, CTC had more than 10,000 credential campaigns to target prospective teachers. fees that then needed to be manually processed In contrast, CTC would need time to hire for the new and reimbursed. Furthermore, given the significant proposed positions, develop their online teacher time and/or money prospective teachers would recruitment platform, and award the contract for a spend to pursue a teaching credential, waiving statewide promotional campaign. these fees are unlikely to make a difference in Re-Establishing PMATS Likely to Have whether individuals decide to become teachers. Limited Impact. The Governor’s proposal to Other efforts, such as streamlining the state’s establish regional PMATs to provide personnel complex credentialing requirements, could more management assistance upon request of a effectively lower barriers to becoming a teacher. district largely overlaps with existing expertise No Concerns Over Additional Funding available through FCMAT and COEs. Districts for Integrated Programs. We think additional can already request FCMAT to study and provide state funding for integrated programs is an recommendations to streamline and improve the efficient approach to attract new teachers. district’s teacher hiring process, teacher retention Through integrated programs, individuals can rate, extent of incorrectly assigned teachers, and earn an undergraduate degree and a teaching supply of highly qualified teachers. COEs can credential within four years, rather than pursuing a also provide personnel management advice and fifth year of education through a separate one-year convene district-level human resource teams to teacher preparation program. Integrated programs discuss local issues related to teacher recruitment are also aligned with how other states prepare new and hiring practices. We also believe the PMATs teachers. From the initial $10 million provided in proposal might have some limitations. For instance, 2016-17, CTC awarded grants to 41 institutions. research generally finds that targeted, ongoing Many grantees began enrolling undergraduate salary increases are the most effective type of students in their integrated programs in 2018-19. financial incentive for attracting and retaining highly By 2019-20, a total of 629 undergraduate students qualified teachers, especially in shortage subjects were enrolled in an integrated program, and and hard-to-staff schools. Such financial incentives, 72 individuals had obtained their undergraduate however, are subject to collective bargaining, and degree and teaching credential. teachers have a longstanding tradition of a single Recommendations salary schedule. If districts’ current practices are primarily driven by collective bargaining Modify Proposal for New Teacher agreements, assistance from a PMAT is unlikely to Recruitment Activities. To more quickly change district practices. implement teacher recruitment activities, we recommend the Legislature provide funding to Fee Waivers Unlikely to Address Teacher one of the existing entities that already do similar Shortages. Credential and assessment fee work. CDE and the Center are already positioned waivers could accelerate the time line for some to build off existing infrastructure and expertise individuals already pursuing teaching to become to respond more quickly to growing demand fully credentialed, but are unlikely to result in for more teachers. The Legislature will want to additional new teachers joining the workforce. consider the various trade-offs associated with For these fee waivers to be an effective recruitment funding either entity. For example, the Center has tool, prospective teachers would have to know regional partnerships and experience running a about the waivers when they consider applying statewide promotional campaign, but the CDE for a teacher preparation pathway. Evidence platform has more accessible information tailored suggests that many prospective teachers do not based on an individual’s background (such as know about these waivers. For example, even 2022-23 Budget Series 5 high school students and out-of-state teachers). priorities. Providing credential and assessment fee The Legislature’s options for how to fund these waivers would not address the underlying need for activities would somewhat depend on which more new teachers to enter the workforce. For the entity it tasked with conducting these activities. PMATs proposal, districts already have access to Providing state operations funding at CDE would personnel management assistance from FCMAT require ongoing non-Proposition 98 General Fund upon request. If the Legislature is interested in (limited-term positions would be difficult to fill), but providing more statewide personnel management the state also could provide Proposition 98 funding if assistance, it could consider providing one-time CDE were to use a COE as a contractor (consistent funding for FCMAT to train COEs on effective with its current activities). Providing funding to personnel management practices and incorporate the Center would require Proposition 98 funding. this expertise when COEs provide broad-ranging Regardless of the selected entity, the Legislature support and targeted assistance to school districts. could consider requiring broader coordination Approve Funding for Integrated Programs. across CTC, CDE, higher education, K-12 schools, We recommend the Legislature approve additional and any designated entity to reduce further funding for the integrated programs. These duplication of teacher recruitment efforts. programs offer a cost-efficient and quicker option Reject Proposals for Fee Waivers and for interested undergraduate students to receive PMATs. We recommend the Legislature reject the training and become teachers after graduating. Governor’s fee waiver and PMAT proposals—freeing The funding previously provided to establish up $36 million non-Proposition 98 General Fund and more integrated programs also shows some $5 million Proposition 98 funding for other legislative promising results. 2022-23 Budget Series 6 2022-23 Budget Series 7 LAO PUBLICATIONS This post was prepared by Amy Li, and reviewed by Edgar Cabral and Anthony Simbol. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) is a nonpartisan office that provides fiscal and policy information and advice to the Legislature. 2022-23 Budget Series 8