Education

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 establishes the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, administered by the State Department of Education, with the purpose of encouraging, maintaining, and strengthening the delivery of high-quality career technical education programs. Existing law requires, for the 2021–22 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, $300,000,000 to be available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the program. Existing law requires a grant applicant to demonstrate a proportional dollar-for-dollar match and sets that amount at $2 for every $1 received from the program. Existing law prohibits an applicant from being awarded an amount higher than the amount that the allocation formula determines the applicant to be eligible to receive under the program. Existing law authorizes a grant recipient under the program to consist of one or more, or any combination, of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, or regional occupational centers or programs operated by joint powers authorities or county offices of education, as provided. Existing law provides that an applicant receiving a grant from the program in a prior fiscal year is eligible to apply to receive a renewal grant if the applicant's career technical education program continues to meet specified requirements, as provided. This bill would delete the prohibition against an applicant being awarded more than the amount determined by the allocation formula and would instead provide that an applicant receiving a grant from the program in a prior fiscal year is required to receive a renewal grant for at least 3 additional years, as provided. The bill would require the Superintendent to cease distribution of funding and recover previously distributed funding if certain conditions occur, including, among others, that the grant recipient did not implement the program substantively as was initially proposed, as provided.

Existing law requires the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, and the governing body of a charter school to, no later than July 1, 2026, develop and adopt, and update every 5 years, a policy to limit or prohibit the use by its pupils of smartphones while the pupils are at a schoolsite or while the pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of that local educational agency. Under existing law, a pupil shall not be prohibited from possessing or using a smartphone under specified circumstances, including, among others, when the possession or use of a smartphone is required in a pupil's individualized education program. This bill, commencing July 1, 2028, would require the above-described policy to continue to apply only to pupils in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive. The bill would require the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, and the governing body of a charter school that serves pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or grades 1 to 8, inclusive, to, no later than July 1, 2028, develop and adopt a policy that prohibits the use of smartphones by those pupils while the pupils are at a schoolsite or while the pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of that local educational agency, as provided. The bill, commencing July 1, 2028, would prohibit instruction provided to pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, from requiring the use of a smartphone by a pupil. The bill, commencing January 1, 2027, would require (1) a pupil in any grade to also be allowed to possess or use a smartphone when the possession or use of a smartphone is required in a pupil's plan developed pursuant to the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and (2) a policy adopted or updated pursuant to these provisions be included in a pupil handbook, if one is provided. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would constitute a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before January 1, 2029, to submit to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, and post on their internet website, a report that contains (1) a description of the pupil smartphone policies of at least 30 selected local educational agencies that have provided consent to participate and that are representative of the demographic and geographic diversity of the state, including a copy of each policy, as provided, (2) the results of a survey of those local educational agencies, which the bill would require the department to conduct, and (3) recommended best practices for future local educational agency pupil smartphone use policies. The bill would authorize the department to collaborate with specified organizations with relevant expertise in preparing the report. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2033. 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 Division of Apprenticeship Standards within the Department of Industrial Relations and requires the division, among other things, to evaluate apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs to ensure that the program evaluated is complying with its standards, as specified. Existing law requires the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards to perform various functions with respect to apprenticeship programs and the welfare of apprentices. This bill would establish the Career Apprenticeship Bridge Program to be administered by the division and would authorize the division to work with the State Department of Education and the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges in order to, among other things, identify resources to support youth apprenticeships. The bill would require a program applicant for a Career Apprenticeship Bridge Program to submit documentation to the chief, as specified. The bill would require the chief, before approving a Career Apprenticeship Bridge Program, to present the application, as described, to the State Department of Education to review whether specified requirements are met. The bill would authorize the chief, among other things, to issue rules and regulations that govern Career Apprenticeship Bridge Programs, as specified.

(1) Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, provides awards to certain California postsecondary students to help pay the costs of postsecondary education. Existing law sets the maximum Cal Grant A and B tuition award amount for new recipients in the 2023–24 award year at $9,358 for students attending independent institutions of higher education. Existing law authorizes community colleges to award an associate degree for transfer, and provides that the Cal Grant A and B tuition award amount for future years for students attending independent institutions of higher education depends on the number of commitments those institutions make to accept associate degrees for transfer. Beginning with the 2024–25 award year, existing law sets the maximum tuition award amount for new Cal Grant A and B recipients at either $9,358 or $8,056, depending upon whether the number of new unduplicated transfer students accepted by those institutions who have been given associate degree for transfer commitments in the prior award year exceeds statutory targets. This bill would set, beginning with the 2026–27 award year, and subject to an appropriation for this purpose, the maximum tuition award amount for new Cal Grant A and B recipients at either $9,708 or $8,056, with the higher amount conditioned on the achievement of the target numbers for associate degree for transfer commitments that apply for the prior award year. (2) Existing law establishes a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award for students who were not awarded a Cal Grant A or B award at the time of the student's high school graduation but who will be enrolled at a California community college during the award year and meet other criteria. Existing law authorizes a student who receives a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award to subsequently transfer to a University of California or California State University campus and remain eligible to receive the award. Existing law also authorizes a student who receives a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award and who subsequently transfers to an independent institution of higher education to remain eligible to receive the award, but only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act to implement the Cal Grant Reform Act. This bill would instead authorize a student who receives a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award and who subsequently transfers to an independent institution of higher education to remain eligible to receive the award without the above-described conditions.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before January 1, 2024, to develop a plan to expand mental health instruction in California public schools. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to develop a plan to expand digital wellness instruction in California public schools, as provided.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to identify an evidence-based online training program that a county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, can use to train school staff and pupils as part of their policy on pupil suicide prevention. Existing law requires the department, subject to an appropriation for these purposes, to provide a grant to a county office of education to acquire a training program identified by the department and disseminate that training program at no cost to specified educational entities, as specified. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by (1) deleting the requirement to provide the above-described grant, (2) deleting the requirement of the department to identify the above-described evidence-based online training program, (3) instead requiring the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to develop an online training program to train school staff, pupils who are 13 years of age or older, and parents, guardians, or caregivers of pupils as part of the policy on pupil suicide prevention adopted by county offices of education, school districts, state special schools, and charter schools that serve pupils in kindergarten or in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as specified. The bill would require those educational entities that elect to conduct suicide risk screenings to report, on or before June 30, 2027, and June 30 annually thereafter, the number of pupils screened, and which screening instruments were used, for the reporting year, to the department, as provided, and would require the department to compile and post statewide aggregate data on these screenings on its internet website, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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 issue a single subject teaching credential only in specified subjects, including in world language. Existing law requires the commission to adopt examinations and assessments to verify the subject matter knowledge and competence of candidates for those specified single subject teaching credentials, as provided. 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 the passage of one or more examinations that the commission determines is necessary for demonstrating the knowledge, skills, and language proficiency required for effective delivery of the services included in the authorization. Existing law authorizes the commission to issue an authorization for bilingual-cross-cultural competence for specified persons who will be serving English language learners and requires candidates for that authorization to demonstrate, by oral and written examination or by completing an approved program, among other things, that the person is competent in both the oral and written skills of a language other than English. This bill would authorize a candidate for any of the above-described credentials or authorizations to fulfill the applicable subject matter examination or language requirement in a world language for which the commission does not administer a subject matter examination by successfully completing a comparable postsecondary language proficiency assessment.

Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. This bill would require the commission, during the next revision of the publication "Health Framework for California Public Schools," to consider including, and recommending for adoption by the state board, specific content related to the prevention of, and recognizing and responding to the signs and symptoms of, heat illness, as described, and, for those purposes, to consider relevant guidance issued by the State Department of Public Health and policies adopted by the California Interscholastic Federation, as specified.

Existing law establishes the California College Promise, under the administration of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to provide funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to each community college meeting prescribed requirements. Existing law authorizes a community college to use that funding to waive some or all of the fees for 2 academic years for first-time community college students and returning community college students, as defined, who are enrolled in 12 or more semester units or the equivalent, or less for students certified as "full time," as specified, and who complete and submit either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act application, except that a student who has previously earned a degree or certificate from a postsecondary educational institution is not eligible for this fee waiver. This bill would prohibit a certificate awarded to a student by a postsecondary educational institution as part of a course sequence leading to an associate degree from making the student ineligible for that fee waiver.