June 8, 2025—Twenty-five years after landmark Williams v. California guaranteed every student a qualified teacher, California lawmakers are poised to betray that promise! Assembly Bill 1224 threatens to roll back hard-won protections for the state’s most vulnerable students. The proposed legislation would double the time untrained substitute teachers can remain in classrooms—from 30 to 60 days—effectively allowing unqualified “warm bodies” to teach for a full third of the school year.

John Affeldt, who served as lead counsel on the original Williams case, warns that this misguided response to teacher shortages will create a two-tiered education system where privileged students get qualified teachers while low-income students and English learners get educational placeholders with zero training. Instead of lowering standards, California should be doubling down on evidence-based solutions that attract and retain qualified educators.

Read why the state’s answer to teacher shortages is abandoning the very students Williams was designed to protect—and what we should be doing instead.