Article 5. Special Teacher Employment Programs of California Education Code >> Division 4. >> Title 2. >> Part 29. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 5.

From moneys specially appropriated therefor by the Legislature, grants shall be made to school districts pursuant to this article for projects approved by the Director of Compensatory Education involving a particular school or schools to be expended for the employment and in-service education of teachers in grades kindergarten or 1 through 6, with special emphasis on kindergarten and primary grades, and any needed teacher materials and supplies to the end that the number of pupils in these grades in relation to each full-time equivalent classroom teacher in the particular school will be reduced to a ratio of 25 to 1. For purposes of this article a full-time equivalent classroom teacher is a person employed in a position requiring certification qualifications and whose duties require him to teach pupils in regular day classes for the full time for which he is employed during the regular schoolday. In computing the total number of full-time equivalent classroom teachers, there shall be included, in addition to the employees defined in the preceding sentence, the full-time equivalent of all fractional time for which employees in positions requiring certification qualifications are required to devote to teaching pupils in regular day classes during the regular schoolday.

It is the intent and purpose of the Legislature that the money appropriated for the purposes of this article be expended primarily for the employment of teachers to the end that the number of pupils in the designated grades in relation to each full-time equivalent classroom teacher be reduced to and sustained at a ratio of 25 to 1. Emphases shall be placed on kindergarten and primary grades for the purpose of continuing to provide small classes for children with preschool experiences. The Director of Compensatory Education shall consider this intent in approving projects submitted pursuant to this article. In the event an applicant district is unable to employ the number of teachers necessary to effect the purposes of this article, the Director of Compensatory Education, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 54480, is authorized to approve projects that provide for the employment of noncertificated teachers' aides for grades kindergarten or 1 through 6, inclusive, to the end that the number of pupils in those grades in relation to the number of both classroom teachers and teachers' aides employed for such grades shall not exceed 20 to 1. All teachers' aides shall be trained in a specially designed in-service education program. Not more than 25 percent of the total allocated to a school district shall be devoted to the employment of teachers' aides. The use of any portion of the total allocated shall be approved for the employment of noncertificated teachers' aides by the Director of Compensatory Education only upon certification of the applicant district, approved by the county superintendent of schools which has jurisdiction over the applicant district, that teachers are unavailable for employment in accordance with the primary legislative intent of this article.

Noncertificated teachers' aides employed under this article shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of certificated classroom teachers and shall not be utilized to carry out administrative duties other than those administrative duties which may be assigned by the classroom teacher. A school district may employ as a teachers' aide any person determined to be qualified, including pupils in attendance in grades 11 and 12 in high schools, and students in attendance in community colleges and in colleges and universities. The employment may be on a regular full-time, or on a part-time basis. The employment of pupils in attendance in grades 11 through 14, in public high schools and community colleges, shall be arranged so that no reduction in attendance credit and State School Fund apportionments results therefrom. Teachers' aides shall be compensated by the employing school district at a rate no lower than the federal minimum hourly wage for time in which service was actually performed. A person employed as a teachers' aide shall be under the direct supervision of a certificated employee of the school district for no less than 75 percent of the time for which he is engaged in the performance of the duties during any day. The employment of college and university students as teachers' aides may, where appropriate, be undertaken for student teaching credit purposes.

The Director of Compensatory Education, acting pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the State Board of Education, upon the advice of the Directors of the Departments of Finance, Social Services, Employment Development, and Industrial Relations, shall designate the most concentrated areas of poverty and social tension in the state, taking into consideration such factors, among others, as the high incidence of poverty and low family and per capita incomes, unemployment, juvenile delinquency, persons receiving assistance under the program of aid to families with dependent children, and especially the low level of academic achievement by pupils in the public schools. The Director of Compensatory Education shall allocate the funds available for programs under Section 54480 proportionately by public school population among the areas designated by him. He shall then approve projects proposed to be undertaken by school districts within such areas at particular schools with the highest concentration of low-income children and with the lowest records of academic achievement. Funds not fully utilized in one designated area may be reallocated to the other designated areas. Upon the request of a school district, the Director of Compensatory Education may authorize funds to be used outside the designated areas to serve children from the designated areas.

Apportionments for purposes of this article shall be made upon order of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and by warrant of the State Controller. Moneys apportioned shall be expended precisely as directed by the Director of Compensatory Education, with not more than five percent (5%) of the total apportionments expended for in-service education.

Apportionments to a school district shall be in the form of grants, no part of which shall be required to be matched by a district as a condition to receiving state aid under this article. In making allocations pursuant to this article the Director of Compensatory Education shall use an allocation factor equivalent to the average statewide teacher salary per full-time equivalent classroom teacher.

The Director of Compensatory Education shall require that the class size reduction project undertaken pursuant to this article be coordinated with and be an integral part of the school district's overall compensatory education plan and evaluation report, and that a significant portion of all funds which may be received by a district for purposes of this chapter shall be devoted to the purposes of this article.