On September 29, 2024, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 2245 into law, amending Education Code section 44910 to require school districts to grant service credit to regional occupational center or program (“ROCP”) teachers, if the ROCP is operated by a single school district.
Existing law establishes ROCPs for students to engage with and learn career technical education skills. While ROCP teachers are certificated employees, their ROCP service previously did not count toward attaining permanency. Prior to AB 2245, ROCP teachers remained in perpetual temporary status. Following two significant Court of Appeals’ decisions in 2006 and 2007,[1] ROCP instructors were properly designated as “probationary,” even though their status would not lead to permanent status (commonly referred to as “prob zeroes”).