SECTIONS 44735 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 44735

44735. (a) The Teaching As A Priority Block Grant is hereby created
to be administered by the department with the approval of the State
Board of Education. The department shall award block grants to school
districts on a competitive basis to provide incentives to attract
credentialed teachers to be employed and retained in high-priority
schools.
(b) (1) To be eligible to receive a full block grant in the third
year of participation, a school district shall demonstrate a net
decrease in the number of teachers holding an emergency permit or
waiver at each school ranked in the bottom half of the Academic
Performance Index pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section
52051) of Chapter 6.1.
(2) After two years of receiving a block grant, a school district
that fails to demonstrate a net decrease in the number of teachers
holding an emergency permit or waiver at any of its schools ranked in
the bottom half of the Academic Performance Index shall have the
amount of the school's block grant reduced by the amount of funds
generated by pupils enrolled in that school.
(3) For purposes of this subdivision, "net decrease" shall be
determined by comparing the number of teachers employed who hold an
emergency permit or waiver at the end of the second year of
implementation to the number of teachers employed who held an
emergency permit or waiver prior to the implementation of the block
grant.
(4) This subdivision does not apply to any school district with
fewer than 2,501 units of average daily attendance that is in a
county that is within the fourth through eighth class as defined in
Section 1205.
(5) This subdivision is applicable only when stable funding for
the Teaching As A Priority Block Grant program is provided in the
annual Budget Act. For purposes of this subdivision, stable funding
means no more than a 5-percent variation in funding from one fiscal
year to the next.
(c) (1) Block grant funds may be used at the discretion of a
school district for teacher recruitment and retention incentives with
the target of reducing the number of teachers on emergency permits.
Incentives shall only be used to hire and retain credentialed
teachers. Teacher recruitment and retention incentives may include,
but are not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Signing bonuses.
(B) Improved work conditions.
(C) Teacher compensation.
(D) Housing subsidies.
(2) A school district receiving block grant funds pursuant to this
section may offer incentives to recruit and retain credentialed
teachers interested in attaining certification pursuant to Section
44253.3 or 44253.4. Those incentives may include, but are not limited
to, both of the following:
(A) Reimbursements to cover the costs of examinations necessary to
attain certification pursuant to Sections 44253.3 and 44253.4.
(B) Reimbursements to cover the costs of coursework necessary for
preparation programs offering emphasis in certification pursuant to
Sections 44253.3 and 44253.4.
(d) Funding shall be allocated to school districts on a per-pupil
basis for pupils enrolled in schools ranked in the bottom half of the
Academic Performance Index pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with
Section 52051) of Chapter 6.1. Within the bottom half of the academic
performance index, schools ranked in deciles 1, 2, and 3 shall
receive 1 1/2 times the funding per pupil of schools ranked in
deciles 4 and 5. No less than the amount of funding generated by
pupils in schools ranked in deciles 1, 2, and 3 shall be expended in
those schools.
(e) School districts shall apply to the department on behalf of
their schools. The district application shall contain information
that is specific to each school. Applications shall contain baseline
information on the number of teachers with waivers or emergency
permits at each school in accordance with subdivision (c).
(f) School districts that participate in the program established
in this section shall be encouraged to participate in regional
teacher recruitment centers operated by consortia pursuant to Section
44751.
(g) Funds appropriated for the purposes of this chapter shall
supplement, and not supplant, existing efforts to recruit and retain
fully credentialed teachers in the school district.
(h) The State Board of Education shall submit an evaluation of the
program created by this chapter to the Legislature by January 1,
2004.