Legislators challenge Sacramento to tackle teacher shortage
CREDIT: LILLIAN MONGEAU/EDSOURCE TODAY
In the most concerted effort to tackle the teacher shortage in years, three California lawmakers have introduced a package of bills designed to attract new teachers to the profession, ease the burden of getting through preparation programs, and provide rigorous training in the form of year-long “residencies” under the guidance of a master teacher.
The lawmakers are state Sen. Carol Liu, D-Glendale, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica. All were intimately involved in public school education before they came to Sacramento.
Liu was a middle and high school teacher in Richmond for a dozen years, and an administrator for several more. Pavley taught middle school in Moorpark in Ventura County for 29 years. Allen was a school board member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
Whether the bills will garner the support of other lawmakers in the Legislature remains to be seen. So far, the Legislature has done little to address the shortage, despite pleas for action from various educator groups.
“We look forward to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move common sense legislation to rebuild the teaching profession so that our Legislators challenge Sacramento to tackle teacher shortage | EdSource: