The UC system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California State University, and corporate leaders announced Tuesday the creation of a bold new effort to enhance the supply and preparation of science and mathematics teachers for California's public schools.

Under the "California Teach" program, the UC system over the next several years will quadruple its annual production of credentialed science and mathematics teachers, from 250 per year to 1,000 per year by 2010. Undergraduate students at UC will be able to achieve, in four years of study, both a bachelor's degree in science, mathematics, or engineering and the preparation to enable them to become a secondary-school science or mathematics teacher.

Faculty leaders from UC Davis will serve on a special oversight committee for the initiative. They are Winston Ko, dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Phyllis Wise, dean of the Division of Biological Sciences; Cynthia Passmore, assistant professor in education; Wendell Potter, chair of the Graduate Group in Education; Joe Kiskis, professor of physics; and Eldridge Moores, professor emeritus in geology.

The overall effort is aimed at bolstering California's long-term economic prospects. The governor has pledged $1 million and corporate leaders have pledged $4 million to support the program.

"America's business and academic leaders (including the National Research Council) are alarmed by the erosion of the United States' preeminence in mathematics and science caused, in part, by the dramatic advances of other nations," said Ko.

Fred Wood, vice provost for undergraduate studies at UC Davis, said that a strong California economy depends on a skilled workforce in the science- and technology-related fields.

Under the proposed program, Wood said, UC students will be able to complete their bachelor's degree in science, math or engineering, as well as the required coursework for their credential, within four years. In addition, substantial financial support will be provided to students who complete the program, he added.

How big is the problem? Nearly 1,500 mathematics and 800 science classes in California high schools were taught by teachers with no teaching credential in 2002-03. Even more classes were taught by teachers with a credential in an unrelated subject area. Worse yet, within the next decade, nearly one-third of our K-12 teachers will retire — with an even higher proportion among science and math teachers.

And in national comparisons of 8th graders, California scored last in the country in sciences and 7th from the bottom in mathematics, according to a recent report by the National Science Foundation.

Wise said the initiative comes at the right time. "First, it will enable all of the students in California to be educated by the most qualified teachers in the most up-to-date concepts in the life sciences," she said. "Second, some of the students who are taught by these highly qualified teachers will become the next generation of well-prepared undergraduate students in California universities and colleges."

The CSU system will join in the effort by expanding its own teacher preparation programs for science and mathematics teachers as well as its recruitment of students to the profession.