CTA-sponsored AB 1499 by Assembly Member Gloria Negrete Mcleod (D- Chino) would require districts receiving Teaching as a Priority block grant funding to help teachers defray the cost of earning a Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD) certificate or a Bilingual CLAD certificate.
The measure is aimed at helping districts attract and retain teachers trained in the most modern techniques of working with English language learners. The measure was approved on a unanimous or "consent calendar" vote in the Assembly Education Committee and is now in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file, pending a decision on whether the funds are available to implement it.
Like all measures before the Legislature at press time, the bill was facing a June 8 deadline for clearing its house of origin.