Statewide, schools will need to hire 11,900 to 15,600 new credentialed TK teachers by then,additional credentials
TK classrooms also will need more instructional aides, with a state requirement of one adult for every 12 children tightening to one adult for every 10 studentsState funding is tied to student average daily attendance, so Modoc Joint Unified would draw in more money if it offered an expanded TK program — but it can’t, without more teachers.
Charliz Campos, 16, left, and Adam Gallardo, 17, recline during a student activity day at Modoc High School in May. But, the spokesman, Brody Fernandez, said in an email, “It is the California Department of Education’s position that all public school districts in CaliforniaIt remains unclear what will happen to school districts that fail to offer the program. Fernandez said his department does not have the authority to issue a penalty.
Rulison, 46, describes herself as a “rug teacher” who spends her days at eye-level with her young students, sitting criss-cross applesauce on a big blue carpet decorated with numbers and letters. Backpacks are left hanging outside a classroom at Alturas Elementary School. Alturas’ plight is common to small towns throughout the U.S.
The children started filtering in just after 8 a.m., playing in reading nooks with tiny couches and bean bags and a kitchen area with toy food and a hand-painted sign that read: Snowbucks. The children rotated among what Rulison called “centers” — some doing handwriting exercises, some reading, some assembling puzzles and some playing educational games on Chromebooks.Amid the shuffling were small moments of grace. At the TK table, a tiny girl told Dorton: “Everybody calls me annoying.”
One skinny brunette girl, wearing a headband with kitty cat ears, thought she had been demoted back to TK.