SECTIONS 45340-45349 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 45340-45349

45340. This article may be cited as the Instructional Aide Act of
1968. The provisions of this article shall apply to personnel
referred to in Sections 35021, 44833, 44835, 54422, 54481, 54482,
54525, or any other section heretofore or hereafter enacted, who
perform the duties of instructional aides.

45341. The Legislature recognizes the need to provide classroom
teachers and other certificated personnel with more time to teach and
to provide the means for them to utilize their professional
knowledge and skills more effectively in the educational programs of
the public schools. It is the intent of the Legislature to authorize
the employment of instructional aides in order that classroom
teachers and other certificated personnel may draw upon the services
of such aides to assist them in ways determined to be useful in
improving the quality of educational opportunities for pupils.

45342. Instructional aides shall not be utilized to increase the
number of pupils in relation to the number of classroom teachers in
any school, any school district, or in the state. Notwithstanding the
foregoing provisions, class size ratios existing in special
education classes prior to November 13, 1968, may be maintained or
decreased, but not increased, by use of instructional aides.
All instructional aide positions in a school district shall be
assigned the basic title of "instructional aide" or other appropriate
title designated by the governing board. To provide for differences
in responsibilities and duties, additions to the basic title may be
assigned such as "instructional aide I or II" or "instructional
aide--volunteer," or other appropriate title.

45343. (a) As used in this article, "instructional aide" means a
person employed to assist classroom teachers and other certificated
personnel in the performance of their duties and in the supervision
of pupils and in instructional tasks which, in the judgment of the
certificated personnel to whom the instructional aide is assigned,
may be performed by a person not licensed as a classroom teacher.
(b) "Any school district" means a school district or a county
superintendent of schools who employs classroom teachers in the
public schools.

45344. (a) Subject to the provisions of this article, any school
district may employ instructional aides to assist classroom teachers
and other certificated personnel in the performance of duties as
defined in Section 45343. An instructional aide shall perform only
such duties as, in the judgment of the certificated personnel to whom
the instructional aide is assigned, may be performed by a person not
licensed as a classroom teacher. These duties shall not include
assignment of grades to pupils. An instructional aide need not
perform such duties in the physical presence of the teacher but the
teacher shall retain his responsibility for the instruction and
supervision of the pupils in his charge.
(b) Educational qualifications for instructional aides shall be
prescribed by the school district employer and shall be appropriate
to the responsibilities to be assigned.

45344.5. (a) No person shall be initially assigned to assist in
instruction as an instructional aide unless the person has
demonstrated proficiency in basic reading, writing, and mathematics
skills pursuant to Section 45330.
(b) A school district may charge prospective aides taking the
district's proficiency test a fee to fund the costs incurred by the
district in giving the test. This fee may be subject to negotiation
between the district and the exclusive representative of
instructional aides, but in no event shall the fee exceed seven
dollars ($7).
(c) An instructional aide who passes a district proficiency test
as required by this section, transfers to another district, and is
employed in the same capacity shall be considered to have met the
proficiency standards for purposes of this section unless the
district to which he or she has transferred determines that the test
taken by the aide is not comparable to the standards required by the
employing district.

45345. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 48950, no
instructional aide shall give out any personal information concerning
any pupil who is not his own child or ward, except under judicial
process, to any person other than a teacher or administrator in the
school which the pupil attends. A violation of this section may be a
cause for disciplinary action, including dismissal.

45346. Classroom teachers and other certificated personnel shall
not be required to hold a standard supervision credential or a
standard administration credential as a prerequisite to the
supervision and direction of instructional aides.

45347. (a) An instructional aide shall not be deemed a certificated
employee for the purposes of apportioning state aid and no
regrouping of pupils with instructional aides shall be construed as a
class for apportionment purposes.
(b) Instructional aides shall be classified employees of the
district, and shall be subject to all of the rights, benefits, and
burdens of the classified service, except as specified in Section
45105 for "restricted" positions.

45348. The school district shall pay to each person employed as an
instructional aide compensation at a rate not less than the minimum
hourly rate prescribed by federal law.

45349. Notwithstanding the provisions of this article, or any other
provisions of law, a school district may utilize volunteers in the
supervision and instruction of pupils, but any such volunteer shall
be subject to the provisions of Section 35021 and this article.