Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature have agreed to allocate a half billion dollars for a range of programs to enhance “teacher effectiveness” in California, the largest amount to be dedicated for that purpose in years.
The funds, which will be set aside as a block grant, will flow to each of California’s nearly 1,000 districts based on the number of credentialed teachers and school administrators they have on their payrolls. Districts can spend the funds at any time over the next three years.
Ratified by the Legislature on Friday, the funds represent a massive increase over the $10 million that Brown had included in his proposed 2015-16 budget in January to address the quality of teacher preparation programs. The fact that lawmakers were able to agree less than six months later to send 50 times that amount directly to school districts underscored the high priority the state is placing on teacher preparation and effectiveness.
The funds will come at a time when California’s nearly 300,000 teachers, along with tens of thousands of principals and other administrators, are grappling with how to implement the Common Core State Standards, the new set of academic standards in math and English language arts, as well as the Next Generation Science Standards.
“It is a very big deal,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor of education who also is chair of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. “It is really a first step towards rebuilding the professional development infrastructure in the state that evaporated during the years of budget cuts.”
The notion of a block grant “dedicated to professional learning…to meet local needs” was first floated in the influential “Greatness by Design”report issued in September 2012 by the Task Force on Educator Excellence established by State Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson. The task force was co-chaired by Darling-Hammond and Long Beach Unified Superintendent Chris Steinhauser.
The new funds also reinforce the emphasis Brown and the Legislature have placed on creating a culture of support for teachers in California. That represents a marked a departure from the regimen of sanctions imposed by the No Child Left Behind law over the last 15 years on schools and districts that failed to improve student test scores to the levels specified by the law.
“This $500 million investment helps continue the efforts underway in schools and districts to support teachers and administrators,” said Michael Kirst, president of the State Board of Education and a close ally of Brown since his first term as governor in the 1970s. Kirst said new funds were especially needed because of the “monumental shifts in classroom instruction” demanded by the new standards.
“The big challenge in California’s implementation of the Common Core is to provide teachers with professional development and support they need to implement the new standards,” said David Plank, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education, or PACE, a joint UC, USC and Stanford initiative. “This is a significant down payment on that obligation.”
© Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305.
