Robert Garcia

Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, requires the department to administer childcare and development programs that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive.

Existing law, the Early Education Act, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide an inclusive and cost-effective preschool program. 

Those acts authorize a person to serve in an instructional capacity in a childcare and development program or a preschool program if they possess a current credential issued by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing authorizing teaching service in elementary school or a single-subject credential in home economics, and 12 units in early childhood education or child development, or both, or 2 years' experience in early childhood education or a childcare and development program.

This bill would, notwithstanding these provisions, authorize the commission to issue an assistant teacher permit that authorizes the permitholder to assist in the care, development, and instruction of children, subject to specified supervision requirements. The bill would require the applicant to meet specified requirements, including, among others, having at least 6 units from an accredited institution of higher education in early childhood education, child development, or human development, or a combination thereof. The bill would require a contracting agency that employs a person who holds an assistant teacher permit to maintain a copy of the permitholder's education plan in their employee file. The bill would prohibit the number of assistant teacher permitholders employed by a contracting agency at one site from exceeding 50% of the number of classrooms at that site. The bill would prohibit a contracting agency from assigning more than one assistant teacher to each classroom. The bill would make these permits valid for no more than 2 years and would prohibit their renewal. The bill would require the commission to implement these provisions by no later than January 30, 2026.

This bill would make these provisions inoperative one year after the implementation of the commission's revised child development permit matrix, or January 1, 2029, whichever is later, and would repeal these provisions as of that date.

The bill would authorize the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Director of Social Services, respectively, to require a contracting agency that employs a person who holds an assistant teacher permit to provide data on the number of employees who have been issued an assistant teacher permit pursuant to the above-described provisions, or who qualified for waivers, as specified. The bill would authorize the collection of this data by survey or by another collection method and require the data be provided as part the contracting agency's annual plan for its program self-evaluation process, or as part of an existing reporting process, as specified. The bill would also make certain findings and declarations.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.