A Legislative Advocacy Call to Action by Josiah Beharry and Patriccia Ordoñez-Kim

Every semester in California, many aspiring teachers enter K-12 classrooms to complete their required 600-hour “clinical practice.” They work full-time like licensed educators, but do not get paid for these hours. This issue is not just an oversight; it is a structural barrier that stops the candidates our schools need from participating.

As UC graduate students facing the financial pressures of advanced education, we have a chance—and duty—to support legislative changes that could improve teacher preparation in California. Two important bills are currently in the state legislature and need our united support to succeed.

The Hidden Crisis in Teacher Preparation

While other professions have evolved to support their trainees—nursing students receive stipends during clinical rotations, law students access paid externships, and social work students benefit from Title IV-E funding—teacher preparation remains trapped in an outdated model that demands free labor as the price of entry.

The numbers are stark:

• 44% of student teachers consider dropping out due to financial strain
• California requires 600 hours of unpaid clinical practice—equivalent to 15 full-time weeks
• In high-cost areas like the Bay Area and Los Angeles, student teachers face impossible choices between rent, food, and their professional dreams.
• This system not only harms individuals but also jeopardizes educational equity. The candidates most prone to exclusion—first-generation college students, low-income students, student parents, and students of color—are precisely those possessing the lived experiences and cultural competencies requisite for today’s diverse classrooms.

Legislative Opportunity: The Time Is Now

California stands at a crossroads. Two groundbreaking bills offer concrete solutions:

• Assembly Bill 1128 (Muratsuchi) proposes establishing the California Student Teacher Support Grant Program, providing daily stipends equivalent to substitute teacher rates (~$140/day) for all credential candidates during their student teaching placements. With an estimated annual cost of $300 million, this represents the state’s recognition that student teaching is labor deserving of compensation.
• Assembly Bill 291 (Gipson) advances the Credentialed Educator Apprenticeship Act, integrating California’s existing teacher residency infrastructure with federal apprenticeship pathways. This model would formalize teacher preparation as paid apprenticeships, ensuring candidates earn while they learn.

These bills expand California’s investment in training teachers, with more than $600 million dedicated to residency programs since 2018, and match Governor Newsom’s 2025-2026 budget, which includes a $100 million pilot program.

Why This Matters for Graduate Student Equity

As graduate students at the University of California, we are acutely aware of how financial obstacles can impede academic and professional ambitions. The similarities are evident: just as many of us balance teaching assistantships, research obligations, and coursework while addressing fundamental needs, student teachers encounter comparable—yet uncompensated—challenges.

The current system perpetuates what scholar Jarod Kawasaki identifies as racial capitalism in education—extracting value from aspiring educators while systematically excluding those without generational wealth. This disproportionately impacts candidates of color, who are overrepresented in lower-income brackets yet desperately needed in California’s increasingly diverse classrooms.

Research from California’s paid teacher residency programs demonstrates the transformative potential of compensation:

• 91%+ completion rates compared to traditional programs
• 93% three-year retention rates
• Significant increases in candidates from underrepresented backgrounds

Experiences of Teacher Candidates and Teacher Educators in the UC

UC Graduate & Professional Council (UCGPC) held a town hall to discuss the effects of unpaid student teaching and conducted interviews with teacher candidates and early-career educators at UC Merced. On April 14, 2025, UCGPC organized another town hall focused on the experiences of UC teacher credential students, emphasizing advocacy efforts like supporting AB 1128. Educators talked about financial barriers, while candidates addressed the challenges of unpaid teaching, particularly affecting working-class students and communities of color (Mathews et al., 2024). On April 30, 2025, UCGPC conducted interviews at UC Merced to share personal stories that support AB 1128 advocacy.

• Diana, a fifth-grade teacher, faces financial hurdles as a commuter, balancing debt, transportation costs, and program funding issues.
• Alex, pursuing a biology credential, battled “impostor syndrome” worsened by unpaid training stress, affecting confidence and persistence.
• Clarence, an experienced educator, shifted from media to teaching, emphasizing early childhood education’s importance and the need for living wages and diverse role models.
• Sandra, a third-grade teacher, cited financial challenges and unpaid student teaching, stressing diverse teachers’ role in connecting with students, especially English learners.

These forums show that unpaid student teaching creates economic challenges and contributes to a lack of diversity in the workforce, especially affecting commuter students who cannot afford the costs or work during their placements.

A Strategic Investment in California’s Future

Critics cite the $300 million price tag of AB 1128 as prohibitive. This shortsighted view ignores the massive long-term savings from improved retention and reduced turnover. Large districts spend approximately $25,000 per teacher replacement, and national turnover costs exceed $8.5 billion annually. Simply reducing attrition through compensation-based models could recoup upfront investments within a single year.

Moreover, compensation doesn’t undermine program rigor—it elevates the profession by acknowledging the labor, commitment, and expertise required of future educators. Programs with paid student teaching maintain all coursework, clinical hours, and assessment requirements while enabling candidates to persist and perform without economic precarity.

Furthermore, compensation does not diminish the stringency of the program; rather, it enhances the profession by recognizing the effort, dedication, and specialized knowledge demanded of prospective educators. Programs that incorporate compensated student teaching uphold all academic coursework, clinical hour stipulations, and evaluative criteria, thereby enabling candidates to persevere and achieve without economic instability.

Our Call to Action: Making Your Voice Count

As members of the UC Graduate and Professional Council community, we have both the platform and the responsibility to advocate for systemic change. Here’s how you can make a difference:

Immediate Actions:

• Contact your state legislators to express support for AB 1128 and AB 291
• Share your own experiences with financial barriers in graduate education
• Amplify this message through social media using #PayStudentTeachers
• Engage with local teacher preparation programs at your UC campus

Ongoing Advocacy:

• Attend UCGPC’s Sacramento Advocacy Days to share you stories
• Join campus conversations about teacher pipeline diversity and equity
• Support teacher preparation students in your communities and departments

Template for Legislative Contact:

“As a UC graduate student and constituent, I urge you to support AB 1128 and AB 291. These bills address critical barriers in teacher preparation that mirror challenges we face as graduate students. Compensating student teachers isn’t just about fairness—it’s about building the diverse, qualified teacher workforce California’s students deserve.”

The Intersection of Justice and Strategy

This matter extends beyond teacher education alone. It involves addressing systemic inequities pervasive in higher education and professional training. Advocating for paid student teaching challenges the normalized exploitation of aspiring educators and affirms that all academic labor warrants proper recognition and remuneration.

As UC graduate students who benefit from teaching assistantships, research stipends, and other forms of academic support, we understand that compensation enables focus, persistence, and excellence. Student teachers deserve the same foundation.

Beyond Symbolic Support: Structural Change

The policy recommendations in our research extend beyond individual bills to systematic reform:

• Mandating paid clinical practice across all credentialing programs
• Leveraging federal and state funding streams for sustainable support
• Incentivizing university-district partnerships in high-need communities
• Expanding registered apprenticeship pathways for debt-free teacher preparation

California has the infrastructure and resources to lead national reform. What we need is the political will and organized advocacy to make it happen.

A Defining Moment for UC Graduate Student Leadership

Assembly Bills 1128 and 291 serve as important opportunities to dismantle barriers that have historically excluded generations of potential educators from serving California’s students. As UC graduate students, we bring credible insights to these discussions. We possess a deep understanding of academic labor, financial precarity, and the transformative potential of structural support.

The question is not whether student teachers should be compensated; rather, it concerns whether we will act in accordance with our principles of equity, justice, and educational excellence. The era of half-measures and symbolic gestures has concluded. California requires comprehensive reforms that acknowledge teacher preparation as a legitimate professional pathway, supported by adequate remuneration and institutional dedication.

Contact your legislators today. Share your story. Demand action. The future of California’s teaching workforce—and the students they’ll serve—depends on the choices we make now.

Josiah Beharry is the Council Chair of the University of California Graduate and Professional Council and co-authored the paper “Teaching Without Pay: Reimagining Compensation Models for Equitable Teacher Preparation.” Patriccia Ordoñez-Kim is the Executive Director of UCGPC and a co-author of the same paper. A complete version of this research was submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

For more information about UCGPC’s advocacy efforts, visit ucgpc.org or contact chair@ucgpc501c3.org.