The governing board of any school district may employ or engage as an independent contractor a qualified person to serve as limited-term or part-time reader assistant in connection with instruction in composition and writing, and in mathematics, to teachers. Any person employed as a reader shall not be deemed to be employed in a position requiring certification qualifications, and, unless otherwise determined by the governing board, shall not be subject to the provisions of Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 45100) of this part. The governing board may pay such hourly or unit compensation rates as it deems proper for the services rendered. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section not to authorize an increase in the number of pupils who may be assigned to any class, but to provide an opportunity for improvement in the quality of student writing and mathematics abilities through more frequent assignments of compositions and more work in mathematics made possible by the employment of suitably trained persons to assist the instructor in the careful marking and analysis of the pupils’ work. Furthermore, the means adopted for employing persons as reader assistants is not intended as an encroachment upon the merit system of public employment, but is adopted as the most practical arrangement, since most work of such nature will be done as part-time work and in the home.
(Enacted by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1010.)