This House Resolution declares January 2026 as School Board Recognition Month to honor the nearly 5,000 school board members across California's 1,000 school districts and county offices of education. The resolution recognizes these locally elected officials for their work in guiding public education and serving diverse communities, emphasizing their role in ensuring students' academic, social-emotional, and health needs are met. It calls on community members to join in acknowledging the dedication of school board members and collaborate to improve the education system. The bill has no operational effect beyond this symbolic recognition and does not change any laws or policies.
Existing law requires each county to develop and implement a memorandum of understanding (MOU) setting forth the roles and responsibilities of agencies and other entities that serve children and youth in foster care who have experienced severe trauma. Existing law requires that the MOU include provisions addressing, among other things, the establishment and operation of an interagency leadership team. Existing law requires the Secretary of California Health and Human Services and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a joint interagency resolution team consisting of representatives from specified state departments to support implementation of those MOUs, among other functions. Existing law requires the resolution team to develop and submit certain recommendations to the Legislature on various items, including a statewide plan for any additional development needed for a trauma-informed, therapeutic continuum of care to support youth in-state in the least restrictive setting. Existing law requires the team to track and report deidentified information of children and nonminor dependents in foster care who have been assisted to preserve, or secure new, intensive therapeutic options. This bill would require a county, in collaboration with the leadership team, inclusive of tribes, to submit plans to the resolution team describing how the county intends to ensure that coordinated, timely, and trauma-informed services are provided to children and youth in foster care who have experienced severe trauma. The bill would require the county to submit the first plan by January 1, 2027, and to submit updated plans every 2 years thereafter. The bill would require the county to take into consideration certain information regarding the placement and service options available to county child welfare agencies and county probation departments for children and youth in foster care who have experienced severe trauma, as specified. By creating new duties for counties relating to those plans, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals using federal, state, and county funds. Existing law establishes the CalWORKs Recipients Education Program (program) in the California Community Colleges under which community college districts are required to provide educational services and special services to recipients of aid under CalWORKs who are attending a community college, to the extent funding is provided in the annual Budget Act. Existing law authorizes those special services to include workstudy. Existing law prohibits program payments to an employer for workstudy from exceeding 75% of the wage for the workstudy positions and requires an employer to pay at least 25% of the wage for the workstudy positions. Existing law requires subsidized campus childcare to be provided to students participating in the program only if they are engaged in certain activities, through the completion of their initial education and training plan and for up to 3 months after completion or until the end of the academic year, whichever period of time is greater. This bill would expand who can participate in the program to include students who have exceeded the 60-month limit on CalWORKs cash aid and have one or more dependents who are recipients of aid under CalWORKs. The bill would add direct aid designed to meet ongoing basic needs and services, as described, as a special service for which program funds may be used. The bill would authorize programs to waive the requirement that an employer pay at least 25% of the wage for workstudy positions if the number of workstudy positions will not decrease. The bill would delete the limit on the provision of subsidized campus childcare for program participants. By expanding program eligibility and services, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges as one of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law establishes uniform residency requirements for purposes of ascertaining the amount of tuition and fees to be paid by students of public postsecondary educational institutions. Existing law requires a student classified as a nonresident to pay nonresident tuition, in addition to other fees required by the institution, except as provided. This bill, the California Community Colleges Access and Continuity for Deported Students Act, would, until January 1, 2030, exempt a community college student from paying nonresident tuition if the student departs the United States on or after January 1, 2025, for specified reasons, was not paying nonresident tuition at the time of departure, provides an attestation of specified information related to the departure, and reenrolls in a community college online education program no later than 3 years from the date the student departed the United States. The bill, until January 1, 2030, would require a deported student, as defined, who resumes in-person education at a community college to be eligible to retain residency status for the purpose of determining tuition and fees, provided the student was previously classified as a resident and eligible for the nonresident tuition exemption at the time of departure, and would require the student to be eligible to apply for financial aid upon reenrollment. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the World Language Teacher Exchange and Recruitment Law of 1963, requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules and regulations under which teachers employed by California school districts may exchange positions with teachers in schools in other countries for a period of one year or less. Existing law requires the arrangements for the exchanges to be made through the State Department of Education and in cooperation with the teacher exchange programs administered by agencies of the federal government. This bill would require the state board's rules and regulations for the exchanges to (1) expressly provide for exchanges with Mexico, (2) apply to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, and (3) authorize specified visa sponsors designated by the United States Department of State, in addition to the State Department of Education, to sponsor teachers from Mexico for placement in California school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to promote cultural exchange for specified purposes.
Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. For purposes of state apportionments based on average daily attendance, as provided, if the average daily attendance of a school district, county office of education, or charter school has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of a specified type of emergency, existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to estimate the average daily attendance in a manner that credits to the school district, county office of education, or charter school the total average daily attendance that would have been credited had the emergency not occurred, as provided. This bill would, until July 1, 2029, add an immigration enforcement activity, as defined, to the list of emergencies for which the above-described provisions related to calculating average daily attendance for purposes of state apportionments apply, as provided. The bill would, for purposes of these provisions related to calculating average daily attendance for purposes of state apportionments, prohibit a school district, county office of education, or charter school from being credited for more than 10 days of missed attendance for a pupil due to an immigration enforcement activity. For affidavits submitted to the Superintendent for emergency events occurring after September 1, 2021, but on or before June 30, 2026, that resulted in a school closure or material decrease in attendance, existing law requires a school district, county office of education, or charter school that provides an affidavit to the Superintendent to certify that it has a plan for which independent study will be offered to pupils, as provided, and requires that plan to comply with certain requirements, including, among other things, that independent study is offered to any impacted pupil within 10 instructional days of the first day of a school closure or material decrease in attendance. This bill would, for affidavits submitted to the Superintendent for an immigration enforcement activity that occurred on or after January 1, 2025, but on or before June 30, 2026, that resulted in a school closure or material decrease in attendance, require a school district, county office of education, or charter school that provides an affidavit to the Superintendent to additionally require the independent study plan to either (1) require the offering of live interaction or synchronous instruction to pupils, as provided, or (2) provide a description of both the extenuating circumstances that prevent the offering of live interaction or synchronous instruction and a description of what pupil engagement, services, and instruction will be provided to support pupils during or immediately after the period of closure or material decrease in attendance. The bill would, as applied to the above-described provisions for calculating average daily attendance for purposes of state apportionments and related affidavits certifying independent study plans, exempt from the California Public Records Act any documentation related to an immigration enforcement activity submitted to the Superintendent by a school district, charter school, county office of education, or county superintendent of schools, as provided. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2029, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2030. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
The California Constitution prohibits the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education and their respective institutions of higher education. A provision of the act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make the provision applicable. This bill would state that the California State University, the University of California, independent institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions may consider providing a preference in admissions to an applicant who is a descendant of slavery, as defined, to the extent it does not conflict with federal law.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, and to adopt procedures for the submission of instructional materials. This bill would require the state board to, on or before July 1, 2028, adopt instructional materials for health education, as specified.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate. Existing law establishes a statewide baccalaureate degree program that authorizes up to a total of 30 baccalaureate degree programs at community college districts to be approved per academic year, as provided. This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program that authorizes select community college districts to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The bill would limit the pilot program to 10 community college districts statewide and would require the chancellor's office to identify and select eligible community college districts based on specified criteria. The bill would require the chancellor's office to develop a process designed to assist community college districts with nursing programs that are applying for national accreditation for the purpose of qualifying for the pilot program, as provided. The bill would require each participating community college district to give priority registration for enrollment in the pilot program to students with an associate degree in nursing from that community college district. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to conduct an evaluation of the pilot program to determine the effectiveness of the program and the need to continue or expand the program, as specified, to be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2033. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2035.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to incorporate age-appropriate materials relating to, among other things, genocide and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of genocide and the Holocaust. Existing law, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establishes the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education to establish a statewide teacher professional development program on genocide, including the Holocaust, for school district, county office of education, and charter school teachers, and provides that the collaborative's mission is to ensure that genocide, including Holocaust, education is taught consistent with, among other things, content standards, curriculum frameworks, and instructional materials adopted by the State Board of Education, in ways that are interdisciplinary and age-appropriate to pupils of different grade levels. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish the Holocaust and Genocide Education Grant Program to provide direct allocations to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools for the purposes of providing Holocaust and genocide education and professional development on Holocaust and genocide education, as provided. The bill would establish the Holocaust and Genocide Education Grant Program Fund in the State Treasury, and would require moneys in the fund to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Superintendent for purposes of the grant program. The bill would require the department to issue a notice to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools serving pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, regarding genocide and Holocaust instruction, and would authorize the department to issue a survey to these local educational agencies on the status of Holocaust and genocide instruction at their schools, as provided.
