The Shortage of Bilingual Teachers in California

The shortage of bilingual teachers in California is really good news for the teaching profession and for the job market, in general. Through the passing of Prop 58 in 2016, it lifted the restrictions on bilingual education programs for the state’s English Language Learner (ELL) students, allowing school districts to develop more bilingual and immersion programs, says the article “Bilingual Teacher Shortages in California: A Problem Likely to Grow.”

California will need approximately 135,000 more teachers to reach the US average, says a 2016 article by ABC10. The California Department of Education indicates that about 22 percent of the state’s public school students are English Learners (EL), and that adds up to around 1.4 million students.

Prior to 2016, Proposition 227 was in place, which greatly limited bilingual education in the state, said the article on bilingual teacher shortages. Now, under Prop 58, families and schools have more latitude, increasing the demand for bilingual educators. To meet the shortage of bilingual teachers in California, interested educators must be fluent in English and the foreign language of instruction.

Progressive Pulse, a policy watch group in North Carolina, reports on one proposed solution in solving California’s shortage: exempt them from paying income taxes. This proposal by California marks the first time a state has considered something like this for teachers, it said. Prop 58 also gives school districts the choice of how they want to work with communities and parents in developing these programs, said the ABC10 article.

Addressing the largest segment of California’s English Learners, Hispanic kids, the Latino Family Literacy Project is the back support for the bilingual education teacher. With most of the research indicating that parental involvement plays a huge role in a child’s academic success, through its teacher training programs, the Project educates and guides parents in how to set up an at-home, bilingual reading program that not only strengthens the overall English and reading skills of kids but often parents, too. Teachers can attend a one-day, program training at a workshop near them or via an online webinar.