Teacher credentialing: substitute teachers: days of service.

The bill now sunsets on January 1, 2029 instead of remaining in effect indefinitely. The Assembly version would have reestablished the 60-day substitute authorization permanently; the Senate version makes it temporary.

The urgency clause (Section 2) was removed entirely. The bill no longer takes effect immediately and now requires only a majority vote instead of a two-thirds supermajority.

A new subdivision (c) requires school districts and charter schools to obtain governing board approval at a regularly scheduled public meeting before assigning a substitute for more than 20 cumulative days in special education or 30 cumulative days in any assignment. If the assignment is unforeseeable due to urgent circumstances, the district must provide informational notice at the next regularly scheduled meeting.

New subdivisions (f) and (g) clarify that the bill does not exempt LEAs from Section 44258.9 compliance or assignment monitoring requirements, and does not amend existing permit regulations for short-term staff permits, provisional internship permits, or teaching permits for statutory leave.

County superintendents of schools must report quarterly to their county board of education the total number of substitute teachers who exceeded the 20-day (special education) or 30-day (any assignment) thresholds during the prior quarter.

Local educational agencies must annually report to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, starting with 2026-27 school year data, the number of assignments where a substitute exceeded the day thresholds. Reports must separately identify placements due to vacant positions versus teacher leave.

A new Section 1 adds legislative findings and declarations stating the 60-day flexibility is intended as a stopgap only, affirming that the long-term solution is fully credentialed teachers, and directing CTC to review whether existing substitute permit options could be made more flexible.

The requirement to employ all available substitute teachers with teaching permits for statutory leave is now explicitly limited to situations where the teacher of record is currently on statutory leave. A new clause clarifies that reasonable recruitment efforts apply to vacant positions or where a statutory leave permit is not allowed under existing law.

A new subdivision (h) defines 'local educational agency' to include school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, explicitly adding county offices of education to the scope.

New subdivision (e) requires that if a substitute teacher assigned under this section does not hold a preliminary or professional clear credential, the local educational agency must within 30 days provide: (A) access to professional development opportunities, (B) orientation training covering classroom management, academic instructional strategies, and pupil and staff safety protocols, and (C) mentoring opportunities including partnership with an experienced teacher or school administrator. Existing trainings may be used to satisfy these requirements.

New subdivision (g)(1) clarifies that the section does not constitute a change in existing law providing that emergency credentialed substitute teachers serving beyond their authorized period or substitute teachers in vacant positions are not considered properly assigned under Sections 33126, 35186, and 44258.9.

New subdivision (g)(2) clarifies that the section does not amend the definition of a vacant teacher position under Section 33126 or a teacher vacancy under Section 35186.

The word 'indefinitely' was removed from the legislative digest description of the 60-day authorization, and the digest language was simplified to more concisely describe the conditions for using the authorization.

The document was reformatted from a printed enrolled bill (with page numbers, clerk signatures, and chapter heading) into a web page layout with navigation menus, search tools, version history links, and share buttons. No changes to the underlying law.

School districts with a collective bargaining agreement that includes a specific process for assigning substitute teachers are now exempt from the two preconditions (employing statutory-leave permit holders and making reasonable recruitment efforts) before using the 60-day substitute authorization.

The preconditions in subdivision (b) now apply only to local educational agencies that have NOT entered into a collective bargaining agreement with a specific substitute assignment process, narrowing who must comply with those steps.

New subdivision (b) requires local educational agencies to employ all available and suitable substitute teachers who hold a teaching permit for statutory leave (per Section 80022 of Title 5, California Code of Regulations) before using the 60-day authorization, but only when the substitute will fill a position where the teacher on record is currently on statutory leave.

New subdivision (b)(2) requires local educational agencies to have made reasonable efforts to recruit an individual for the assignment pursuant to Section 44225.7 before using the 60-day authorization.

The 60-cumulative-day substitute teaching authorization in subdivision (a) is now conditional on compliance with the new subdivision (b) requirements, rather than being an unconditional authorization as in the introduced version.