Existing law establishes the State Board of Education and requires the state board to study educational conditions and needs of the state and to make plans for the improvement of the administration and efficiency of the public schools of the state. Existing law establishes the State Department of Education under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and assigns to the department numerous responsibilities relating to the governance of the public elementary and secondary schools in the state. This bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office, on or before December 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, and as a component of the assessment of the state budget, to assess and publicly report to the Legislature and the Governor the state's progress in closing pupil academic achievement gaps and to include recommendations of actions that the state can take to meet its specific goals and benchmarks to support local educational agencies in closing the achievement gap proposed to be established by AB 2225 of the 2025–26 Regular Session. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to consult with education stakeholders to develop each annual report. This bill would become operative only if AB 2225 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2027, and adds Section 52090 to the Education Code.
Existing law establishes the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence to advise and assist school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools in achieving their local control and accountability plan goals. Existing law requires a local educational agency to exempt an individual with exceptional needs who satisfies specific eligibility criteria from all courses and other requirements adopted by the governing board or body of the local educational agency that are additional to the statewide course requirements and to award the pupil a diploma of graduation from high school, as provided. The bill would, subject to an appropriation, require the State Department of Education and the collaborative to, on or before July 1, 2027, establish a statewide resource focused on establishing alternate pathways to a diploma for individuals with exceptional needs through capacity building within the state's system of support, training, and technical assistance.
Existing law establishes the State Board of Education and requires the state board to study educational conditions and needs of the state and to make plans for the improvement of the administration and efficiency of the public schools of the state. Existing law establishes the State Department of Education under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and assigns to the department numerous responsibilities relating to the governance of the public elementary and secondary schools in the state. This bill would establish the Closing the Achievement Gap Commission as an advisory body to the state board. The bill would require the membership of the commission to consist of 17 voting members and one nonvoting member with an advisory vote, as provided. The bill would require 11 members of the commission to be appointed by the Governor and one member each to be appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly, pursuant to a specified application process and would require those members to reflect geographic, demographic, and local educational agency-type diversity. The bill would limit members appointed to the commission to one 4-year term, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually elect a chair and vice chair and meet at least 2 times annually in the first year after its creation, and as needed thereafter, at the call of the chair or the state board. The bill would require the commission to, among other things, continually assess the extent to which there are gaps in state support for local educational agencies in their efforts to close achievement gaps. The bill would require the commission, on or before December 1, 2028, and every 2 years thereafter, to submit a report to the Governor, the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, the state board, and the department with recommendations and proposed actions that the state can take to help and support local educational agencies in closing the achievement gap. The bill would require the state board to consider those reports as an agenda item at a regularly scheduled public meeting or as provided and would require the department to post those reports on the department's internet website. This bill would become operative only if AB 2225 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2027, and adds Section 52090 to the Education Code.
Existing law establishes the California Serves Program under the administration of the State Department of Education, in collaboration with CaliforniaVolunteers, for purposes of promoting access to effective service learning for pupils in grade 12 who are enrolled at participating local educational agencies. Existing law requires the department, in partnership with CaliforniaVolunteers, to review available evidence on ways to incorporate effective service learning for pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, and provide recommendations to the Legislature on, and post on the department's and CaliforniaVolunteers' internet websites information related to, evidence-based strategies to expand access to high-quality service learning programs, as provided. Existing law, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, appropriates $5,000,000 from the General Fund, each fiscal year, to the department to award grants of up to $500,000 annually to local educational agencies in which at least 55% of enrolled pupils are unduplicated pupils, as defined, to be used for, among other things, the purchase of instructional materials and participation and personnel costs, as provided. This bill would expand the California Serves Program to promote access to effective service learning for pupils in grades 6 to 12, inclusive, who are enrolled at participating local educational agencies. By expanding the purposes of ongoing appropriations, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the department, in partnership with CaliforniaVolunteers, on or before January 1, 2028, to (1) review available evidence on ways to incorporate effective service learning for pupils in grades 6 to 12, inclusive, and (2) provide recommendations to the Legislature on, and post on the department's and CaliforniaVolunteers' internet website information related to, evidence-based strategies to expand access to high-quality service learning programs for grades 6 to 12, inclusive, as provided.
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law establishes various programs for the recruitment of teachers. Existing law establishes the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program, administered by the State Department of Education in consultation with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, for teachers seeking to provide instruction in bilingual and multilingual settings. This bill, which would be operative upon appropriation by the Legislature, would establish the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program and would require the commission to develop and implement a program to award, on a competitive basis, grants of up to $600,000 to local educational agencies to form consortia with 4-year institutions of higher education, or 4-year institutions of higher education and community colleges, to establish or expand pathways to bilingual teaching to enable bilingual pupils to earn a multiple subject, single subject, PK-3 early childhood education specialist, or education specialist teaching credential, with a bilingual authorization, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on any grants funded until funds are fully expended, as specified.
Existing law sets forth the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education, and details the ways in which their respective institutions are to be differentiated. Existing law specifies that the California State University shall offer undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree in the liberal arts and sciences and professional education. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the Chancellor of the California State University to establish a pilot program to offer an associate degree in general studies or, if applicable, an associate degree with an area of emphasis that is consistent with the former student's completed coursework, that is jointly conferred by a California State University campus and a community college or independent institution of higher education that awards associate degrees to former California State University students who are no longer enrolled at a California State University campus but have successfully completed coursework equivalent to the requirements for an associate degree and not previously earned an associate degree. The bill would require the associate degree to be awarded at no cost to the former student. The bill would require California State University, Long Beach, to participate in the pilot program and would authorize the chancellor to include up to 4 additional California State University campuses in the pilot program. The bill would require the chancellor, on or before January 1, 2032, to submit a report to the Legislature evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot program, as provided. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on June 30, 2032, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2033.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health, headed by the State Public Health Officer, and sets forth its powers and duties, including the administration of provisions relating to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. Existing law authorizes the department to take necessary measures to ascertain the nature and prevent the spread of communicable diseases. Existing law prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting or advancing to the 7th grade level any person as a pupil of any public or private elementary or secondary school, childcare center, day nursery, nursery school, family daycare home, or development center, unless, prior to their admission or advancement to that institution, they have been fully immunized against various communicable diseases, as provided, subject to any specific age criteria. Existing law requires the governing authority of a school or other institution, on at least an annual basis, to file a written report on the immunization status of new entrants to the school or institution under their jurisdiction with the department and the local health department at times and on forms prescribed by the department. This bill, the Informed Parents, Healthy Schools Act, would require the department to establish, and update as needed, levels of immunization rates needed to prevent the spread of specified communicable diseases. The bill would require the department to establish notification procedures designed to annually inform designated parties, including schools, daycare centers, and county departments of public health, when an immunization rate is determined to fall below the rate established by the department, among other things. The bill would require that the notification be translated into any language, in addition to English, that is spoken by 15% or more of enrolled children. The bill would require the department to apply existing data de-identification standards and methodologies to protect individual privacy, consistent with applicable state and federal law, in implementing these provisions. The bill would require a school or institution, as defined, to distribute the above-described notification to parents or guardians of enrolled children within 10 business days of receiving the notification from the department. The bill would authorize the school or institution to determine the manner of distribution for the notification, consistent with specified requirements. The bill would require the governing authority of the school or institution to cooperate with the department in carrying out these provisions. By requiring school districts to comply with these requirements, this 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 a system of public elementary and secondary education in this state. Under this system, local educational agencies throughout the state provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and existing law establishes courses of study for those pupils. This bill would encourage school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to integrate outdoor learning into standards-aligned instruction across all grades and subject areas, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Department of Education under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and assigns the department numerous duties relating to the governance and funding of local educational agencies. This bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2028, to curate and maintain on its internet website resources for educators on outdoor learning. The bill would also encourage the department, in carrying out these provisions, to consult with county offices of education, classroom educators, tribal partners, mental and physical health professionals and researchers, environmental literacy experts, and community organizations with experience in outdoor learning. The bill would authorize the department to provide resources to address the particular needs of each local educational agency. The bill would authorize the department to accept voluntary contributions to be deposited into the Outdoor Learning and Environmental Literacy Account, which the bill would create in the State Treasury, to fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the costs of these provisions.
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for this purpose. Existing law requires a school of a school district or county office of education and a charter school to notify pupils and parents or guardians of pupils no less than twice during the school year on how to initiate access to available pupil mental health services on campus or in the community, or both, as provided. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2027, the State Department of Education to enter into a contract with one or more local educational agencies with capacity and established expertise, as provided, to serve as lead entities in providing support for the implementation of integrated, universal social-emotional learning, behavioral health, and restorative practices for pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the lead entities, selected pursuant to a competitive process, to make available guidance, resources, and technical assistance to local educational agencies to expand the statewide implementation of integrated, universal social-emotional learning, behavioral health, and restorative practices, as provided. The bill would make the implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation, as provided.
Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires the commission to adopt standards for the accreditation of postsecondary teacher preparation programs. Existing law prescribes "clinical practice" as one of the commission-adopted standards and requires that teaching credential candidates perform 600 hours of clinical practice throughout the candidate's teacher preparation program, including, as a component of those hours, student teaching. Existing law establishes the Student Teacher Stipend Program to support prospective educators, as defined, during their completion of 500 or more hours of student teaching, as provided, and appropriates, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission for allocation to support the Student Teacher Stipend Program. This bill would, contingent upon an appropriation of one-time funding by the Legislature, establish the Experienced Mentor Teacher Stipend Program, under the administration of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, to expand the Student Teacher Stipend Program to award stipends of $3,000 each to compensate experienced mentor teachers, as defined, who mentor student teacher candidates who are in teacher preparation programs, as provided. In administering the Experienced Mentor Teacher Stipend Program, the bill would require the commission to expand the online process for local educational agencies, as defined, to submit an experienced mentor teacher's information, as provided. The bill would require local educational agencies awarded funding under the Experienced Mentor Teacher Stipend Program to also partner with a commission-approved teacher preparation program to create an experienced mentor teacher recruitment and selection process accompanied by planned professional learning and support activities, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually report to the education and policy committees of both houses of the Legislature certain information regarding the Experienced Mentor Teacher Stipend Program, as provided.
