The unprecedented rate of staff absences prompted by the spread of COVID-19 and related quarantine measures is taxing school systems to the limit — and beyond. Yet, through it all, school districts and county offices of education are standing firm and reinforcing our collective commitment to in-person instruction.
From listening to education leaders throughout the state, viewing media reports, and talking to colleagues, I know that our schools have taken every measure possible to keep students in the classroom despite staff absence rates approaching or exceeding 20 percent in many instances. It’s true that a small percentage of local districts were forced to return to hybrid models that featured a heavy dose of virtual learning, but that was the exception, not the rule — and even then, it was only a last resort once there weren’t enough adults to offer safe, meaningful in-person instruction districtwide. I want to applaud you for the work you’ve done to keep schools open and to provide instruction, support and opportunity for millions of students across California. Your actions have made a powerful difference in the lives of students as we push through the pandemic, accelerate learning recovery and address longstanding issues of opportunity and achievement that predated COVID-19.
CSBA’s advocacy is focused on providing you with the resources and policy environment required to facilitate and sustain this work. We saw the fruits of this labor on Tuesday, Jan. 11 when Gov. Newsom issued an executive order that temporarily relaxed regulations related to credentialing and compensation so that local educational agencies could fill in for classroom teachers and help maintain on-campus instruction. While not a cure-all, these measures were responsive to CSBA advocacy and reflect steps the administration can take to help mitigate the staffing shortage.
The commission was also tasked with deciding whether current conditions warrant an extension to specific measures related to licensure examinations through June 2022. After careful debate, we decided to move the performance assessment requirement and Reading Instruction Competence Assessment requirement to Clear Credential if the candidate was impacted by COVID. In addition, we suspended the California Basic Educational Skills Test requirement for program entry and the requirements for programs to use the CBEST data to support candidates. These short-term measures should help get us through the worst of the crisis while long-term strategies to increase recruitment and retention are developed at the state level.
Clearly there’s more work to be done. In a fall 2016 survey by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) and the CSBA, 75 percent of districts reported having a shortage of qualified teachers for the 2016–17 school year. Circumstances have only worsened since then and it is our students who suffer the most as a result. The teacher shortage is a crisis all on its own — the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem and made it more visible. In order to eliminate shortages, particularly in high-need fields and schools, California’s leaders must move with even greater urgency to implement evidence-based teacher recruitment and retention strategies that are strong enough to meet the moment, but flexible enough to adapt to the local circumstances of California’s 1,000 school districts.