A former California “teacher of the year” sobbed in court as she admitted to sexually abusing two of her students, aged 11 and 12.

Jacqueline Ma, 35, who faces 30 years in prison, muttered “guilty” and broke down in tears as the charges were read out in court earlier this week.

She has been in custody since she was first arrested at Lincoln Acres Elementary in San Diego in 2023, months after she was one of five people named teacher of the year in San Diego County.

Two months before her trial, she changed her plea to guilty on two counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 14 with duress.

She also admitted to a lewd act involving the second child and another count of possessing material containing a minor engaged in or simulating sexual conduct.

According to prosecutors, Ma had a months-long relationship with one of the boys and sent him explicit pictures of her while asking him to do the same back.

During a hearing in December 2023, detectives read aloud messages between the two, in which Ma professed her love for the boy, The San Diego Tribune reported.

The child reportedly wrote: “Sometimes I think you don’t understand that I am a kid still and this is my only real relationship.”

A second victim was discovered as detectives continued to investigate Ma. They claimed the teacher used her position of power to coerce the two into behaviour that “was beyond inappropriate, beyond wrong”.