Would paying teachers-in-training more money help California solve its teacher shortage? One state lawmaker thinks it should, but faces an uphill battle as California also grapples with a $12 billion budget shortfall, reports CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones.
To become a California K-12 public school teacher, candidates need a bachelor’s degree and a teaching credential. The credential is usually earned after completing a one-year program that can cost as much as $40,000. During this time, candidates work with experienced teachers or lead their own classes to obtain 600 hours of classroom experience.
Roughly 60% of teachers in 2020 took out loans to finish their degrees, with loans averaging about $30,000, according to the Learning Policy Institute. Meanwhile, the average starting teacher salary in California is $58,000, so it can take some people more than a decade to pay off these debts.
Under these circumstances, about 65% of California teachers surveyed skipped out on family vacations, 37% delayed medical care and 30% took on gig work to earn more income, according to a report by the California Teachers Association union released in January.
To address pay issues and encourage more people to join the profession, Assembly Bill 1128 would create a grant program for school districts to pay student teachers the same amount as substitute teachers — about $140 a day. While the bill has no formal opposition, an Assembly bill analysis estimates that the proposal, if passed, would cost up to $300 million a year.
- Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Torrance Democrat and bill author: “This bill ensures that more talented, diverse, and committed educators can complete their training and serve in our public schools.”
The bill advanced through the Assembly Monday and now sits before the Senate.
Award nominations: CalMatters’ collaboration with PBS SoCal is nominated for a Los Angeles Area Emmy award. The informational series nomination is for SoCal Matters, a weekday video series that recently marked a one-year milestone.
Focus on Inland Empire: Each Wednesday, CalMatters Inland Empire reporter Deborah Brennan surveys the big stories from that part of California. Read her newsletter and sign up here to receive it.
Other Stories You Should Know
Tariff fight continues 🥊
Two months ago, businesses and multiple states, including California, filed separate lawsuits against President Donald Trump’s administration to halt its tariff policies. On Monday a federal court judge threw out California’s lawsuit, setting the stage for an appeals process before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, writes CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay.
The dismissal is considered a minor win for California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Legal experts anticipate the lawsuit to ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Trump administration had requested that California’s lawsuit be transferred to the U.S. Court of International Trade. Though the federal court judge agreed the lawsuit should be before the federal trade court, they ruled that the administration “could not articulate why transfer … serves the interests of justice.”
Raising the standard for charging accomplices
This week the California Supreme Court ruled to resentence a prisoner’s murder charge, in the first case that tests a 2018 state law to raise the bar for an accomplice’s murder conviction.
As CalMatters’ Nigel Duara explains, seven years ago California passed a law barring prosecutors from pursuing felony murder charges against accomplices unless they “aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, induced, solicited, requested, or assisted the actual killer … and acted with reckless indifference to human life.”
Under that policy, the state’s highest court ruled that Louis Emanuel, who was at the scene of a 2012 shooting death in San Jose but did not fire the gun, should be resentenced because his conduct did not reflect “a reckless indifference to human life.”
Emanuel was initially convicted of first-degree felony murder in 2015. This week’s ruling kicks his case back to trial court for resentencing.
And lastly: CA’s burning landfill
Los Angeles County residents say foul odors from the Chiquita Canyon landfill are causing serious health problems. CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on an Assembly bill that aims to compensate residents as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.
SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: California has a relatively sluggish economy, but that doesn’t stop Gov. Gavin Newsom from boasting that the state has the world’s “fourth-largest” economy.
AmeriCorps provides California support through emergency disasters, and the federal government’s gutting of the program is shortsighted and dangerous, writes Lauren Levitt, a California Emergency Response Corps member with AmeriCorps.
Other things worth your time:
Justice Department ratchets up pressure on CA school districts to bar trans athletes // Los Angeles Times
Eight of nine CA agriculture field offices will remain open, USDA says // The Sacramento Bee
State Farm lists 17 activities it says are too risky to insure under key CA policy // San Francisco Chronicle
Timber company knew it would lose negligence case in deadly CA Mill Fire, court docs show // The Sacramento Bee
Bay Area leaders condemn Trump’s threat to rename USNS Harvey Milk // KQED
Fired former DOGE employee speaks out // The San Francisco Standard
Landowners who proposed quarry sell large chunk of property in Santa Clara County // The Mercury News
DA to seek death penalty against Half Moon Bay mass shooting suspect // The Mercury News
Bakersfield girl who faced deportation and loss of lifesaving medical care can stay in US // Los Angeles Times
San Diego County water officials just settled a 15-year-long rate dispute // The San Diego Union-Tribune