Article 9. Exchange And Recruitment of California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 25. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 9.

This article shall be known as the "Foreign Language Teacher Exchange and Recruitment Law of 1963."

The purposes of this article are to encourage and promote the temporary exchange of teachers between school districts in California and schools in foreign countries and to make available to California schools as teachers foreign-born persons and others who are especially qualified to provide instruction in one or more modern foreign languages in order that the schools of this state may comply with the requirement of the state law that foreign language instruction be given to pupils in grades six, seven, and eight as of July 1, 1965. It is the finding of the Legislature that California teachers will become more fluent in a foreign language and more knowledgeable about peoples of other countries and their environment by teaching service in a country where that language is used in daily life, and that it will be of substantial benefit to California pupils beginning the study of a foreign language to be instructed by teachers who are fluent in the language and conversant with the attendant culture and are therefore able to instill and reinforce the appropriate speech habits early in the learning experience of the pupil. It is the purpose of the Legislature to encourage and enable California schools to benefit from the language abilities of citizens of foreign countries who are now or in the future may be residents of this state.

The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and regulations under which teachers employed by California school districts may exchange positions with teachers in schools in other countries for a period of one year or less. The arrangements for such exchanges shall be made through the Department of Education and in cooperation with the teacher exchange programs administered by agencies of the federal government. The first such exchanges shall take place during the 1964-1965 school year. Grants from the federal government or any department or agency thereof may be accepted by the state and its agencies to be expended pursuant to the programs and plans enumerated in this article. The Department of Education shall administer the teacher exchange program provided for in this article and shall do all acts necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.

Teachers employed by California school districts desiring to participate in an exchange of positions under this article shall file with the Department of Education an application setting forth a plan of study to be completed during the year of service in a foreign country and shall agree to teach in a California school district for a minimum of two years following the year of exchange service.

The exchange of teachers with a foreign country under the provisions of this article shall be conditioned upon the fact that the employing school district in California shall not be required to pay the salary of the teacher from the foreign country. Teachers employed by California school districts shall, while serving as teachers in a foreign country pursuant to this article, continue to receive from their employing school districts the full amounts of the regular salaries which would be payable to them if they were serving in the schools of the particular employing districts, and the district shall make all deductions provided by law for retirement purposes during such period. The Department of Education may pay to the teachers from a foreign country employed by a school district in California under this article, part or all of the difference between the salary being paid them by their respective foreign employers and the salary being paid by the California school district to the particular teachers with whom they are exchanged, as the department shall determine to be appropriate in each instance; except that no such payment to a foreign teacher shall exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) in one school year nor shall such payments be made to more than 500 teachers from foreign countries in any one fiscal year. The Department of Education may pay the travel expenses of teachers in the exchange program but such payments shall not be made to more than 500 California teachers and 500 teachers from foreign countries in any one fiscal year. Such payments shall be for the actual expense involved in travel to and from the exchange assignments or for one thousand dollars ($1,000), whichever is the lesser amount. The Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing shall establish minimum standards for credentials for such exchange teachers from a foreign country and shall provide for the issuance of such credentials to such teachers.

The Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing shall adopt rules and regulations providing for the recruitment of, and issuance of special credentials in the teaching of a foreign language to foreign-born persons or others having native fluency in a modern foreign language to teach foreign languages in the public schools of California. The issuance of special credentials in the teaching of foreign languages pursuant to this section shall be limited to 500 persons a year. The commission shall prescribe the minimum standards for such special credentials and shall provide for the renewal of such credentials. In issuing the credentials to any applicant the commission shall take into consideration fluency in the language to be taught, academic preparation, previous teaching experience, a knowledge of modern methods of foreign language instruction and a knowledge of peoples of other countries and their environment. The commission shall adopt rules and regulations which require the holder of a special credential issued under this section to undertake, within a reasonable time, a course of study which will enable the holder to become eligible for a standard teaching credential.

The Department of Education may contract with universities and colleges in this state approved by the Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing as a teacher education institution for furnishing refresher courses in which applicants for a special credential in the teaching of a foreign language issued under Section 44615 who have not had previous recent teaching experience may secure instruction in the teaching of a foreign language that will enable them to meet the standards prescribed by the commission. Instruction in the teaching of foreign languages pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be limited to 500 persons a year. The Department of Education may pay to each person enrolled in such a refresher course a stipend of seventy-five dollars ($75) a week for a total of six weeks or a stipend paid in some other manner but the total amount paid to an individual shall not exceed four hundred fifty dollars ($450).

Section 44854 applies to exchange teachers.