The well-publicized teacher shortages in recent years have impacted local educational agencies across the country. Shortfalls of qualified credentialed teachers are particularly pronounced in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes and dual-language immersion programs. As a result, some districts and county offices of education (COEs) have had to cancel these types of classes or seek emergency credentials for teachers to teach in these areas, with the problem disproportionately impacting rural areas, communities of color and low socioeconomic areas.

Senate Bill 941, which became effective Jan. 1, 2023, is intended to address the issue of teacher shortages in STEM and dual-language immersion programs. SB 941 allows boards to enter into agreements with other districts, COEs or charter schools to offer the same or similar corresponding individual classes and coursework to students from another LEA that has been impacted by disruptions, cancellations or teacher shortages in STEM classes and dual-language immersion programs. These agreements — called instruction collaboration agreements — enable districts to broaden their reach, allowing more students to access quality education options.

Prior to accepting students for classes pursuant to an instruction collaboration agreement, the district or COE, with board approval, is required to determine the maximum number of students the LEA can accept for these purposes, and then accept students who apply until they reach maximum capacity. Students must be admitted through an unbiased process that prohibits inquiry into, or evaluation or consideration of, whether a student should be authorized to participate in the course or coursework based upon the student’s current academic or athletic performance, proficiency in English, physical condition, any of the individual characteristics specified in Education Code 200 or family income. If the number of applicants exceeds the number of seats available, a random public drawing at a regularly scheduled board meeting must be held to determine approval for participation.

To ensure parents, guardians and students know about the opportunity to access STEM and dual-language immersion programs offered by another district under the agreement, each district and COE that enters into an instruction collaboration agreement is required to post online forms and timelines related to the agreement.

Instruction collaboration agreements can especially benefit small and rural districts with limited resources where recruitment and retention of certificated teachers is challenging, and educators are often required to serve in multiple roles. For example, a district that has been unable to hire a teacher to offer a biology high school course can allow its students to attend that class in a school in a neighboring district. In this way these agreements can allow districts to continue to offer a diverse and robust menu of STEM and dual-language programs when working through staff shortages.

Unlike interdistrict transfer agreements, students would not be transferring to the other district, they would simply be joining the individual course. When the instruction collaboration agreement is negotiated, a shared cost structure should be agreed upon.

To fully utilize the potential benefit of instruction collaboration agreements, districts impacted by teacher shortages in STEM or dual-language programs may want to reach out to neighboring districts or COEs to explore whether there is a shared interest in forming an instruction collaboration agreement. With strong collaboration, these agreements could offer impacted districts opportunities to share resources and create opportunities for students that would otherwise be unavailable.

In mid-June, CSBA updated sample Board Policy 5117 – Interdistrict Attendance to address SB 941 and instruction collaboration agreements.

Concurrently, CSBA also updated sample BP 6174 – Education for English Learners to highlight that districts with dual-language immersion programs that do not have enough qualified teachers can enter into instruction collaboration agreement(s) rather than cancelling classes, its program or issuing emergency credentials.