A new year is a time of promise and opportunity. We all hope that the turn of the calendar brings with it a fresh start, particularly when the previous year was as exhausting as what we experienced in 2021. Indeed, the first month of 2022 has provided reasons for optimism, particularly over the medium to long term. Yet, no one can deny that the recent past has been extremely challenging for public schools and that the immediate future contains its own trials.

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.

Of course, CSBA has been engaged in finding solutions to the teacher shortage since long before the pandemic and will continue to press for structural changes that provide schools with a stronger foundation for recruiting, training and retaining staff. I’m fortunate that my role on the California Commission for Teacher Credentialing gives me an opportunity to influence this work. One such example came during CTC’s December meeting, when we unanimously approved revisions to the current Bilingual Authorization standards so there are multiple pathways to complete the fieldwork requirement, making the path a bit easier for current credential candidates or teachers already in the classroom looking to add the bilingual authorization to their resumes..

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.

The commission also received a promising update on the California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program, a program that awards grants to LEAs for recruiting noncertificated school employees to become certificated classroom teachers. Over the past two years, a total of $45 million in funding was awarded to 53 LEAs; this summer, $125 million in additional one-time funding was used to extend the program another five years. By the time you read this, applications for the latest grant should be available.

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.