The California Latino Legislative Caucus is proposing that the education and health needs of California's working families and their children "must be the top legislative and budgetary priorities for 2001-2002," according to Senator Richard Polanco, caucus chair, and Assembly Member Marcos Firebaugh, caucus chair-elect.
The 22 members of the state Legislature are proposing to increase incentives for the recruitment of teachers in low-performing schools and ensure that no more than 10 percent of a school's teaching force is made up of non-credentialed teachers.
The caucus is also seeking to guarantee that 20 percent of any new school bond will be available for qualified schools ranked in the lowest 20 percent on the Academic Performance Index (API).
It also wants to "establish new criteria that will be equivalent to the standards and accountability measures to demonstrate the academic success and failure of English language learners."
To assure that all students have fully credentialed teachers, the caucus has introduced a bill that would create a $500 million block grant for schools ranking in the bottom 20 percent on the Academic Performance Index (API). CTA has taken an interim* position as co-sponsor for the bill, AB 481 by chair-elect Firebaugh and Assembly Member Manny Diaz. [CTA takes interim positions between meetings of its State Council of Education on the advice of its Legislative Committee. Council delegates are asked to ratify the positions at the next statewide meeting.]
The caucus is also proposing legislation that:
- Requires districts to distribute less than fully credentialed teachers evenly among all schools within a district [AB 401 (Cardenas)]. CTA has taken an "interim support" position on the bill.
- Requires districts participating in the Teacher as a Priority program (TAP) to raise the number of credentialed teachers at each school to at least 90 percent of the faculty by 2006 [SB 319 (Alarcon)]. CTA has taken a "watch" position on the bill.
- Appropriates $500 million to schools within the lowest 20 percent on the API, with $250 million for schools making certain improvements, including having a full-time vice principal, a full-time school counselor, and textbooks aligned to state standards [SB 466 (Ortiz)]. The schools must also set measurable goals to identify low-achieving students and create, implement and evaluate improvement strategies with a parental involvement component. The remaining $250 million is to be used for teacher salaries, subject to collective bargaining. CTA has taken an "interim support" position on the bill.
To assist English language learners, the caucus is proposing legislation that:
- Requires districts receiving block grant funds as part of the TAP program to recruit and retain credentialed teachers interested in securing cross-cultural, language acquisition and development (CLAD) certification or bilingual CLAD certification (BCLAD) [AB 1499 (McLeod)]. CTA is sponsoring the bill.
- Creates the English Language Learners Teacher Coaching Program to train up to 100 teachers around California each year to coach other teachers about instructional strategies that are effective in teaching English language learners [SB 280 (Soto)]. CTA has taken an "approve" position on the bill.
To provide facilities needed for low performing schools, the caucus is proposing bills that:
- Require full funding of the existing Year Round School Grant Program, at a cost of about $100 million, to offset the costs of serving additional students in year-round settings [SB 1091 (Alarcon)]. CTA has no position on the bill.
- Guarantee that at least 25 percent of any new school bond funding will go to qualified schools ranked in the lowest 20 percent on the API. CTA is reviewing the bond proposal.
Under its proposals to improve immigrant rights, the caucus wants access to higher education institutions for all California students who have demonstrated academic achievement. AB 540 (Firebaugh) would provide that all California high school students are subject to in-state, rather than out-of-state, fees at state colleges and universities, regardless of the students' immigration status. CTA has taken an "approve" position on the bill.
The caucus also hopes to:
- expand eligibility for the Healthy Families Program to families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level [CTA has taken an "interim support" position on AB 59 (Cedillo)];
- provide tax incentives to companies offering health benefits for their employees;
- allocate $100 million to compensate non-profit community clinics for the costs of an additional 1.2 million medical visits annually.
It also wishes to guarantee access to drivers' licenses, health and social services, and participation in government to qualified residents of California.
Len Feldman
