(a) Credentials for teaching specialties, including, but not limited to, bilingual education, early childhood education, and special education, shall be based upon a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education, completion of a program of professional preparation, and any other standards which the commission may establish.

(b) In adopting the necessary rules and regulations establishing the requirements for the preparation of special education specialties, the commission shall ensure that teachers have sufficient knowledge of subject matter that is the core of the California public school curriculum and experience with nonspecial education pupils to the extent deemed appropriate by the commission.

(c) All administrative regulations governing special education specialists credentials that were in effect on December 31, 1989, shall continue to be operative until the commission amends or repeals those regulations to implement this section.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 663, Sec. 16. (AB 320) Effective January 1, 2022.)