Education

(1) Existing law requires, by no later than September 30, 2026, the State Board of Education to approve, and the State Department of Education to post on its internet website, criteria and guidance for the selection or development of inservice professional development programs for effective means of teaching literacy in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, with a list of inservice professional development programs that have been deemed to meet those criteria. This bill would require the department, before incurring substantial costs for the review of professional development programs, to require that a professional development program provider that intends to submit materials for review to first declare their intent to submit one or more professional development programs for review. After a professional development program provider has declared their intent to submit one or more professional development programs for review, and until September 30, 2026, the bill would authorize the department to assess a fee on the submitting professional development program provider in an amount that shall not exceed the reasonable costs to the department to conduct a review of the submitted materials, as provided. The bill would, among other things, limit the maximum amount of a reasonable fee to no more than $10,000 for each professional development program submitted for review and would require the department to take reasonable steps to limit costs of the review and to keep the fee modest. The bill would require the department to allocate specified funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2025 to the Marin County Office of Education to contract with a research organization or nonprofit organization with expertise in evidenced-based literacy instruction, subject to the approval of the executive director of the state board, to support the implementation of these provisions, as provided. Existing law appropriates $200,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to make available to local educational agencies to expend from the 2026–27 fiscal year to the 2029–30 fiscal year, inclusive, for purposes of training certificated and classified staff who provide literacy instruction, or who support any teacher who provides literacy instruction, to pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, using the professional development programs that meet the above-referenced criteria and guidance. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to apportion those funds to local educational agencies in an equal amount per full-time equivalent certificated staff who teach pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive. This bill would require the Superintendent to make those apportionments using the data submitted through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System as of October 2025. (2) The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, an initiative approved by the voters as Proposition 98 at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, amended the California Constitution to, among other things, set forth a formula for computing the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to apply for the support of school districts and community college districts based on one of 3 tests in any given fiscal year. If the Director of Finance determines pursuant to the certification process for the state's minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts that the state has applied moneys in an amount that exceeds the minimum funding obligation for the fiscal year being certified, existing law requires the excess moneys to be credited to the fiscal year being certified. Existing law provides that $5,442,143,000 allocated in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments to school districts and charter schools, and $770,786,000 allocated in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments to community college districts, are excess moneys credited to the 2022–23 fiscal year only for the purposes of determining the state's minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the 2022–23 and 2023–24 fiscal years. Existing law requires 10 proportional shares of $544,214,000 and $77,079,000, respectively, of those amounts to be recognized annually, from the 2026–27 fiscal year through the 2035–36 fiscal year, for budgetary and financial reporting purposes as allocations made in the 2022–23 fiscal year, but prohibits those amounts from being credited as allocations made to meet the minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the fiscal year in which the amount is recognized for budgetary and financial reporting purposes. This bill would reduce that allocation to schools districts and charters in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments by $20,000,000 to instead be $5,422,143,000. The bill would instead require 12 proportional shares of $437,769,000 and $62,231,000, respectively, of the revised $5,422,143,000 amount and the $770,786,000 amount, respectively, to be recognized annually from the 2027–28 fiscal year through the 2038–39 fiscal year, and shares of $168,915,000 and $24,014,000, respectively, of those amounts, to be recognized in the 2039–40 fiscal year, for budgetary and financial reporting purposes as allocations made in the 2022–23 fiscal year, and would continue to prohibit those amounts from being credited as allocations made to meet the minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the fiscal year in which the amount is recognized for budgetary and financial reporting purposes. (3) Existing law requires the department, by July 1, 2026, to create a data collection system for salary and benefits data for represented certificated and classified nonmanagement employees and requires the data collected to include salary, benefits, and full-time equivalent employee counts for certificated employees and for specified classified bargaining unit classifications, which are required to be collected in the same manner as for certificated employees, as determined by the department. Existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, and direct-funded charter schools, by August 31, 2026, and by July 1 annually thereafter, to complete the data collection process and to report the data to the department. This bill would require the department to make the data submitted by school districts, county offices of education, and direct-funded charter schools publicly available in a downloadable open file data format, as specified. (4) 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. Existing law requires $5,000,000 of that amount to be made available to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for specified purposes, including conducting a related multimedia campaign and the establishment of a grants management system, as specified. This bill would instead require up to $6,000,000 of that amount to be made available to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for those same specified purposes. By reallocating the amounts of authorized uses of an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (5) Existing law establishes the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program. Existing law authorizes school districts and county offices of education to elect to participate in the program, and authorizes a classified employee of a participating local educational agency who meets specified requirements to withhold an amount from the employee's monthly paycheck during the school year to be paid out during the summer recess period, as provided. The Budget Act of 2023, the Budget Act of 2024, and the Budget Act of 2025 appropriated $90,000,000, $99,000,000, and $90,000,000, respectively, for purposes of the program. Each annual Budget Act requires its appropriations to be available for encumbrance or expenditure for the use for the fiscal year in which the funds are appropriated, unless otherwise provided therein. This bill would, commencing with the 2023–24 fiscal year, require appropriations made in the annual Budget Act for purposes of the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program to instead be available for encumbrance during both the fiscal year in which the funds are appropriated and the immediately following fiscal year. By extending the time for which previously appropriated moneys are available, the bill would make an appropriation. (6) Existing law authorizes a school district, county office of education, or charter school, beginning July 1, 2025, to implement attendance recovery programs for pupils to make up lost instructional time and offset absences, as specified. For the purposes of computing average daily attendance for these attendance recovery programs, existing law prescribes general minimum daily instructional minute requirements on all local educational agencies, as provided, and specific schoolday and instructional minute requirements on county community schools, continuation high schools, juvenile court schools, and community day schools that are applicable to those settings, as provided. This bill would, for the purposes of computing average daily attendance for these attendance recovery programs for opportunity schools, instead apply the instructional minute requirements that are applicable to opportunity schools. (7) Existing law establishes the Golden State Teacher Grant Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law requires the commission, among other grants within the program, for California resident applications received under the program on July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, inclusive, to provide reduced one-time grants of up to $5,000 to each student enrolled in a professional preparation program leading to a preliminary teaching credential or a pupil personnel services credential if the student commits to working at a priority school or a California preschool program for 2 years within 4 years following the date the student completes the professional preparation program, as specified. The bill would extend the availability of those grant program funds to applications received under the program on July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive. By expanding the time in which applications can be received under the program, which is funded by an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (8) Existing law requires the local control funding formula to include, in addition to the base grant, supplemental and concentration grant add-ons that are based on the percentage of pupils who are unduplicated pupils, as defined to include English learners, pupils eligible for free or reduced-price meals, and foster youth, as specified. Notwithstanding any other law, for purposes of the local control funding formula for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 fiscal years only, existing law requires the count of English learner pupils enrolled in transitional kindergarten to be equal to the count of English learner pupils enrolled in kindergarten, as specified. This bill would instead require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to determine a proxy count of English learner pupils enrolled in a transitional kindergarten that is based upon the percentage of English learners enrolled in kindergarten who are either not eligible for free or reduced-price meals or not a foster youth. (9) The Budget Act of 2020, among other things, allocates $350,000 of specified appropriated funds to a county office of education selected by the executive director of the State Board of Education for the purpose of convening a workgroup that will design a state standardized individualized education program (IEP) template. The Budget Act of 2022, among other things, allocates $200,000 of specified appropriated funds to be available on a one-time basis for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence to convene a panel to continue refining the IEP template for usability, as provided. Existing law, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, appropriates $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent to allocate to the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence for the digitization of the IEP template. Existing law requires the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, in consultation with the executive director of the state board, to enter into a contract with a California special education student information system vendor to convert the IEP template into a user-dynamic software platform, develop an interactive digital version of the IEP template that is accessible to the public at no cost, and make those digitized templates available to local educational agencies and to the public, respectively, on or before June 30, 2026. Existing law requires the department, by January 1, 2027, or no later than 18 months after the IEP template is converted to a digital platform, whichever date comes first, to translate the IEP template into the top 10 most commonly spoken languages used across the state other than English and, among other things, to make those templates available on its internet website, as provided. This bill would require the contracted vendor to be a vendor that currently transmits federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act-compliant data to the department through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System and would require the vendor, upon the availability of the translated IEP template, as specified, to integrate those translations into the digitized IEP template in order to ensure that users can access the IEP template in the top 10 most commonly spoke languages used in California other than English. (10) Existing law appropriates, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, $160,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to establish the Universal School Meals Support Grant, as provided. Of that amount, existing law requires (A) $145,000,000 to be made available to award to local educational agencies to expend for specified purposes for the continued implementation of universal school meals, (B) $10,000,000 to be provided to local educational agencies to support the retention and recruitment of food service workers, as specified, and (C) $5,000,000 to be made available to the department to contract with the Marin County Office of Education for a study of particularly harmful ultraprocessed foods being offered in school meals in California, as provided. Existing law requires the Marin County Office of Education to contract with the University of California for purposes of the study and requires the department to provide a report to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2027, again on or before January 1, 2030, and finally on or before January 1, 2032, with the findings of the study. This bill would revise and recast those provisions by, among other things, (A) requiring the above-described $5,000,000 to instead be made available to the department for allocation to the Marin County Office of Education for a study of ultraprocessed foods of concern and restricted school foods instead of particularly harmful ultraprocessed foods, (B) specifying that the Marin County Office of Education is required to contract with the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources' Nutritional Policy Institute for those purposes, (C) requiring the department, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, to approve the scope of work, timelines, and study elements, (D) changing all references for these purposes from particularly harmful ultraprocessed foods to ultraprocessed foods of concern, as defined, and restricted school foods, as defined, and (E) extending the reporting deadlines, as provided. By revising the purposes of an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (11) The bill would update cross references and make nonsubstantive changes. (12) Certain funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. (13) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 45500 of the Education Code proposed by AB 378 to be operative only if this bill and AB 378 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (14) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to issue a clear multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential to an applicant who satisfies, among other requirements, the state requirements for teaching English learners. Existing law requires the commission to issue authorizations for a teacher to provide specific services to limited-English-proficient pupils, if certain minimum requirements are met, including, among other requirements, completion of at least 6 semester units, or 9 quarter units, of coursework in a 2nd language at a regionally accredited institution of higher education. Existing law authorizes the commission to approve any regionally accredited institution of higher education to recommend to the commission the issuance of credentials to a person who has successfully completed a teacher education program with the institution, if the program meets the standards approved by the commission. This bill would, notwithstanding any other law, authorize the commission to approve a teacher education program offered by a school district or county office of education administered for purposes of earning a cross-cultural language and academic development certificate or a bilingual authorization certificate, including a California Teacher of English Learners program. The bill would require the commission to apply the standards for approval of a program of professional preparation offered by a regionally accredited institution of higher education to a program of professional preparation offered by a school district or county office of education under these provisions.

Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to fix the length of the schoolday for grades and classes of the schools maintained by the school district, subject to certain conditions and requirements. Under existing law, in continuation high schools and continuation education classes, a day of attendance is 180 minutes of attendance and a pupil is prohibited from being credited with more than 15 hours of attendance per school week, proportionately reduced for those school weeks having weekday holidays on which classes are not held. This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district that maintains a continuation high school or continuation education classes to offer youth workforce development programs, as defined, to pupils on one or 2 weekdays per school week if it ensures that those pupils are otherwise enrolled in at least 15 hours of class attendance per school week. The bill would require a school district that implements a youth workforce development program for these purposes to establish procedures to track pupil attendance and pupil participation while engaging in a youth workforce development program.

Existing law establishes the California DREAM Loan Program, which authorizes a student attending a participating campus of the University of California or California State University to receive a loan, referred to as a DREAM loan, if the student satisfies certain requirements. Existing law prohibits a student from borrowing more than $4,000 within a single academic year and more than $40,000 in the aggregate under the program. Existing law prohibits a student enrolled in an undergraduate program from borrowing more than $20,000 as an undergraduate student and prohibits a student enrolled in a graduate program from borrowing more than $20,000 as a graduate student. This bill would instead prohibit a student enrolled in an undergraduate program from borrowing more than $4,000 within a single academic year, and a student enrolled in a graduate program from borrowing more than $20,500 within a single academic year. The bill would increase the aggregate limit under the program for a student enrolled in a graduate program to $118,500 as a graduate student, while maintaining the $20,000 aggregate limit under the program for a student enrolled in an undergraduate program, thereby increasing the overall aggregate limit under the program for a student who receives a DREAM loan for both undergraduate and graduate enrollment to $138,500.

Existing law establishes the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund, under the administration of the California School Finance Authority, and authorizes loans to be made from the fund to (1) a chartering authority for charter schools that are not a conversion of an existing school or (2) directly to a charter school that qualifies to receive specified funding and is not a conversion of an existing school. Under existing law, moneys appropriated to the fund remain available for purposes of the fund until reappropriated or reverted by the Legislature. Existing law limits the amount loaned to a qualifying charter school from the fund to $250,000 over the lifetime of the charter school and authorizes a qualifying charter school to receive money obtained from multiple loans made directly to the charter school or to the school's chartering authority from the fund, as long as the total amount received from the fund over the lifetime of the charter school does not exceed $250,000. Existing law requires the Controller, commencing with the first fiscal year following the fiscal year the charter school receives the loan, to deduct from apportionments made to the chartering authority or charter school, as appropriate, an amount equal to the annual repayment of the amount loaned to the chartering authority or charter school for the charter school and to pay the same amount into the fund, as provided. Existing law requires moneys in the fund to be loaned at the interest rate earned by the moneys in the Pooled Money Investment Account as of the date of disbursement of the funds to the charter school. This bill, among other things, would increase the maximum loan amount and the maximum lifetime loan limitation by $250,000 to instead be $500,000, would revise and recast the maximum repayment period of a loan, as specified, would no longer make the charter school solely liable for repayment of a loan in the event of a default, and would revise criteria for receiving priority in the granting of loans. The bill would require moneys in the fund to instead be loaned at the interest rate described above or at a rate equal to 50% of the interest rate paid by the state on the most recent sale of state general obligation bonds, whichever is less, except that the bill would prohibit the interest rate from being set at a rate lower than 3%. Existing law creates the Charter School Security Fund, under the administration of the California School Finance Authority, and requires moneys in the fund to be available for deposit into the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund in case of default on any loan made from the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund. Existing law requires the California School Finance Authority, by October 1 of each year, to provide detailed fund condition information for the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund and the Charter School Security Fund to the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst's Office. This bill would require the above-described annual report to also be provided to specified committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the report due by October 1, 2029, to additionally include an analysis and summary of the expenditures of loan funds made by the charter school loan recipient for loans issued on or after July 1, 2026, as provided.

Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the public segments of postsecondary education in the state. This bill would establish the South County Higher Education Planning Task Force for purposes of evaluating the feasibility of establishing a mixed-used intersegmental educational facility in the City of Chula Vista, with its membership appointed by specified entities, including, among other representatives, at least one representative from the Sweetwater Union High School District, at least one representative from the City of Chula Vista, and at least one public member appointed by the City of Chula Vista. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on the Sweetwater Union High School District and the City of Chula Vista, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the task force to conduct specified activities, convene its first meeting on or before July 1, 2026, and submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before July 1, 2027, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2031. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Chula Vista. 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 requires, on or before January 1, 2020, the Superintendent of Public Instruction to recommend to the State Board of Education criteria for awarding a State Seal of Civic Engagement to pupils who have demonstrated excellence in civics education and participation and have demonstrated an understanding of the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the democratic system of government. Existing law requires the Superintendent to, among other criteria, consider the successful completion of history, government, and civics courses, including courses that incorporate character education, and voluntary participation in community service or extracurricular activities. Existing law requires, on or before January 31, 2021, the state board to adopt, reject, or modify the criteria recommended by the Superintendent. This bill would require the Superintendent to, when the state board next revises the criteria for the State Seal of Civic Engagement, recommend to the state board revised criteria for awarding the State Seal of Civic Engagement, requiring, along with meeting all other eligibility criteria for the award, a demonstrated understanding of the importance of preserving democracy and its vital institutions, as specified.

(1) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish and implement a system of complaint processing, known as the Uniform Complaint Procedures, for specified educational programs, and requires the State Department of Education to review those regulations pertaining to uniform complaint procedures for specified types of complaints, including those that allege unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying against any protected group, as provided. Existing law requires the department to, on or before March 31, 2019, commence rulemaking proceedings to revise those regulations, as necessary, to conform to specified provisions. Beginning July 1, 2026, this bill would require, upon receipt by the department of a complaint subject to the Uniform Complaint Procedures that alleges unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying, the Superintendent to collect specified information, including, among other things, a description of the complaint received. The bill would require the Superintendent to create and post on the department's internet website a summary report of the data described above. (2) Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, among other things, establishes the Civil Rights Department and authorizes it to receive, investigate, conciliate, mediate, and prosecute complaints alleging various civil rights violations, including violations of provisions regarding individuals with disabilities. Existing law, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Disparities Reduction Act, requires the Civil Rights Department, among other specified state entities, in the course of collecting demographic data directly or by contract as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians, to collect voluntary self-identification information pertaining to sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics/intersex status, as specified. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, generally requires public records to be open for inspection by the public. Existing law provides numerous exceptions to this requirement. This bill would require the Civil Rights Department to collect, for a complaint received, certain demographic information, including the ethnicity, race, and gender of the individual submitting the complaint, and certain information related to the complaint. The bill would require the department, commencing July 1, 2027, to publish a summary report no later than October 1 of each year of the compiled information for the preceding calendar year on its internet website. This bill would require, for any information or data acquired pursuant to the bill's provisions, that information or data to be confidential and protected from public disclosure, including disclosure pursuant to the California Public Records Act, except that the information may be disclosable pursuant to that act to the same extent as the underlying complaint. The bill would also prohibit the above-described summary reports, dashboards, and transmitted data from containing any personally identifying information about any individual. The bill would require information in the summary reports, dashboards, and transmitted data to be sufficiently deidentified to prevent the identification of the individuals involved in a complaint. (3) 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.

Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University, the governing boards of community college districts, and independent institutions of higher education that are qualifying institutions for purposes of the Cal Grant Program, and requests the Regents of the University of California, to the fullest extent consistent with state and federal law, to implement various precautionary measures when federal immigration enforcement activities are undertaken on campuses of those segments, as specified. Existing law requires those precautionary measures to include, among other measures, that in the event that an undocumented student is detained, deported, or is unable to attend to their academic requirements due to the action of an immigration officer in relation to a federal immigration order, as specified, a requirement that the college or university make all reasonable efforts to assist the student in retaining any eligibility for financial aid, fellowship stipends, and exemptions from nonresident tuition fees, among other benefits the student has been awarded or received, and a requirement that the student be permitted to reenroll if and when the student is able to return to the college or university. This bill would require the Trustees of the California State University, and would request the Regents of the University of California, to implement additional precautionary measures, including, among others, requiring adoption of a systemwide policy addressing course grades, administrative withdrawal, and reenrollment for undocumented students who are unable to attend their courses by the final drop date due to immigration enforcement activity, as specified.

Existing law prohibits, except as required by state or federal law or as required to administer a state or federally supported educational program, school officials and employees of a local educational agency from collecting information or documents regarding citizenship or immigration status of pupils or their family members. Existing law requires the governing board or body of a school district, county office of education, or charter school to perform specified actions relating to pupils and immigration status, including, among others, providing information to parents and guardians, as appropriate, regarding their children's right to a free public education, regardless of immigration status or religious beliefs. This bill would require the governing board or body of a local educational agency to post specified information related to immigration enforcement in the administrative buildings and on the internet websites of the local educational agency and each of its schoolsites, as provided. To the extent the bill imposes additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 234.7 of the Education Code proposed by AB 49 to be operative only if this bill and AB 49 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.