If you agree to teach for fours years in the rural areas of California, in an “approved” subject—or a district with a large number of disadvantaged students (LA, San Fran, Oakland or ANY large district in the State, the taxpayers will finance your college education. Then after four years, like a military enlistment, you can move on with your life. Just another welfare program to assure inexperienced teachers for those most in need of quality teachers, while for four years these teachers will be working to get a real job when their sentence, ur, time is up. All at your expense and the expense of quality education for those in government schools.
“To be eligible, participants would be required to teach in a subject area with a declared shortage for four years in a rural school, or one with a large number of emergency permits or disadvantaged students.
“Every child has a right to a quality education and that right is threatened when qualified teachers are lacking,” Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego, said in an email to Cabinet Report. “Teacher shortages in critical areas such as math and science also threaten California’s role as an innovative leader in the sciences and technology.”
Do they want to be teachers or get a free ride—and a job for four years? Why are we doing to our kids? Maybe charter schools, schools of choice, vouchers and not forcing teachers to pay bribes to work in the classroom . LAUSD with ”experienced” teachers just announced that 46% of seniors, expected to graduate in June are NOT on track to graduate. Imagine teachers that are doing it JUST for the college degree. Sick.
Lawmakers eyeing loan repayment as teacher incentive
by Alisha Kirby, Cabinet Report, 2/11/16
(Calif.) In light of a statewide teacher shortage, California legislators are moving forward a plan to resuscitate an abandoned loan repayment program designed to attract new educators to the profession.
SB 62 would reinstate the Assumption Program of Loans for Education and include provisions to address specific needs of the state.
To be eligible, participants would be required to teach in a subject area with a declared shortage for four years in a rural school, or one with a large number of emergency permits or disadvantaged students.
“Every child has a right to a quality education and that right is threatened when qualified teachers are lacking,” Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego, said in an email to Cabinet Report. “Teacher shortages in critical areas such as math and science also threaten California’s role as an innovative leader in the sciences and technology.”
Funding for the loan assumption program was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012, nine years after his Teacher Fellowship and Cal Grant Teacher recruitment and financial aid programs were eliminated.
Between 2004 and 2014, the number of teaching credentials issued decreased by 45 percent.
Education officials speculate that many would-be teachers were turned away from the profession during the recession, which resulted in wide spread layoffs, and instead opted for degrees that led to higher paying, more stable careers. Other factors said to have discouraged potential teaching candidates included inadequate preparation programs and policies that punish educators for poor student performance. According to the California Department of Education, schools are regularly short on teachers for English language arts, computer science, history and social sciences as well as all elementary-level subjects and special education.
SB 62 would require that teaching candidates who demonstrate financial need and enroll in the loan assumption program agree to teach those hard-to-staff subjects.
“SB 62 helps to address the teacher shortage crisis, particularly in the area of special education and for kids in disadvantaged and rural areas or where districts have a large number of long-term substitutes,” said Block, who co-authored the bill with Senators Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar.
In an effort to incentivize more incoming teachers, the bill was amended in the Assembly last week to remove a limitation that would have allowed just 1,000 loan assumption agreements each academic year.
When the loan assistance program was originally in place, the California State University system reported that 95 percent of its 15,000 program participants between 2005 and 2012 earned a teaching credential and that many entered the field.
“We need to invest in the teaching profession and encourage young professionals to come into our classrooms,” Pavley said in a statement. “Schools can provide the newest books, the most cutting-edge technology and the best curriculum. But the most important tool in the classroom is the teacher.”
Most states offer some form of financial aid incentives for new teachers. Texas, Tennessee and Mississippi are among 14 states that offer loan forgiveness programs. Others, such as Illinois, Massachusetts and Kansas, provide grants, and Connecticut offers teachers 30-year, fixed-rate home mortgages.
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