(a) The Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program shall be administered by the department in consultation with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The department shall issue grants to applicants through a competitive process.

(b) (1) The department shall allocate grant funding to eligible local educational agencies, including county offices of education, school districts, charter schools, or a consortia of local educational agencies for purposes of providing professional development services to teachers or paraprofessionals who satisfy the requirements of subdivision (c). Grant recipients may partner with community colleges, public or private four-year institutions of postsecondary education, and professional organizations or nonprofit organizations with English learner expertise.

(2) The department shall issue a minimum of five grants under the program.

(c) (1) A teacher shall be eligible for professional development services pursuant to subdivision (b) if he or she possesses a teaching credential or an education specialist credential authorizing the holder to teach pupils with exceptional needs, and does either of the following:

(A) Possesses an authorization to provide instruction to English learners pursuant to Section 44253.3, 44253.4, or 44253.7 and has provided instruction solely in English-only classrooms for three years or more.

(B) Is fluent in a language other than English, and seeks an authorization pursuant to Section 44253.3, 44253.4, or 44253.7 to provide instruction to English learners.

(2) A school paraprofessional employee shall be eligible for professional development services if the employee is fluent in a language other than English, seeks to work with English learners or in a bilingual program, and intends to enter a pathway to become a credentialed teacher who holds a bilingual authorization.

(d) In selecting a grant recipient pursuant to subdivision (b), the department shall ensure that an applicant indicates how it plans to increase the number of teachers who obtain a bilingual authorization as a result of participation in the program and increase the number of teachers with a bilingual authorization who return to teaching in a bilingual or multilingual setting.

(e) In awarding funding to eligible applicants pursuant to subdivision (b), the department shall adopt criteria demonstrating an applicant’s ability to provide professional development services. The adopted criteria shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Demonstrated commitment to bilingual and multilingual education and bilingual teacher development.

(2) Demonstrated capability to fully prepare teachers to obtain bilingual authorizations and to improve or update a teacher’s knowledge and skills relating to biliteracy, English language acquisition, English language development, pupil assessment in English and other languages, and instruction in the components of a high-quality bilingual or multilingual education program.

(3) The availability of bilingual education staff with demonstrated experience and knowledge of bilingual and multilingual education for purposes of providing professional development programs.

(4) Demonstrated management and support services necessary to efficiently and effectively use funding provided under subdivision (b) to help meet the demand for bilingual teachers.

(5) Matching funds, or other in-kind matching resources, offered by the applicant in support of a professional development program funded pursuant to this article.

(6) Capacity to conduct an evaluation of a professional development program offered by the applicant for the purpose of identifying areas of strength, areas requiring improvement, and recommendations for making improvement.

(f) The department shall ensure grant recipients selected for purposes of this article, to the maximum extent possible, are balanced with regard to geographic regions and urban and rural settings.

(g) By January 1, 2021, grant recipients shall report to the department on the number of participants who were issued bilingual authorizations, the number of previously authorized teachers who have participated in the program and subsequently returned to bilingual teaching assignments, and the number of teachers who are still working at least 50 percent of the time in a bilingual setting.

(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 15, Sec. 54. (AB 99) Effective June 27, 2017.)