For Immediate Release
December 4, 2023
Media Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications

School Districts Fail to Submit Critical Data to Inform Teacher Shortages, Student Investments

Civil Rights Law Firm Issues Warning to Fifteen Districts Out of Compliance

San Francisco—Today Public Advocates, a statewide public interest, civil rights law firm and advocacy organization, wrote to 15 school districts* who failed to submit critical assignment and credentialing information on their teachers. The letter warned them of their obligation to provide and certify these numbers in the state’s educational data system and provided the updated consequences if they continue to fail to certify their data in accordance with the California Department of Education’s (CDE) deadlines.

California is facing a serious teacher shortage statewide. The data school districts provide are critical to seeing what student groups are most impacted by teacher mis-assignments, and vital to fixing the issue. Last June the CDE published the Teaching Assignment Monitoring Outcomes (TAMO) data for the second time covering the 2021-22 school year. As state and local leadership continue to address the needs of California’s students, this data will prove to be even more critical to understand where the state and districts should invest to attract, recruit, train, and support a diverse and prepared teacher workforce.

“Teachers are the single most important in-school influence on student learning. Monitoring school districts for teacher credentials and illegal assignments is critical to supporting all California students,” said Angelica Salazar, senior policy advocate at Public Advocates. “We reached out to the 15 districts that currently come up blank if you try to find their data on fully prepared teachers for the 2021-22 school year. This is unacceptable. We hope this warning will result in more troubleshooting and compliance in the future to ensure data transparency, support, and accountability for 100% of our districts.”

*The 15 school districts include Albany City Unified (Alameda), Bay Area Technology (Alameda), San Lorenzo Unified (Alameda), Calaveras Unified (Calaveras), Loleta Union Elementary (Humboldt), Lassen Union High (Lassen), Grace Hopper STEM Academy (Los Angeles), Montebello Unified (Los Angeles), Whittier City Elementary (Los Angeles), Round Valley Unified (Mendocino), Howell Mountain Elementary (Napa), Temecula Valley Charter (Riverside), Arcohe Union Elementary (Sacramento), Robla Elementary (Sacramento), Los Olivos Elementary (Santa Barbara)

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Public Advocates Inc. is a more than 50 year old nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing, transportation equity, and climate justice.