This measure would declare Monday, April 13, 2026, to Friday, April 24, 2026, inclusive, as High School Voter Education Weeks and would encourage local educational agencies to dedicate at least one of those 2 weeks to educating pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, on the electoral process, as provided. The measure would encourage local educational agencies to provide digital and physical resources necessary to provide this information and would encourage the governing boards or bodies of local educational agencies to contract with third-party nonprofit organizations, as provided, to accomplish this endeavor.
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 (CSU) shall offer undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree in the liberal arts and sciences and professional education. Existing law authorizes the CSU to award undergraduate and graduate degrees jointly with international institutions of higher education. Existing law vests the University of California (UC) with the sole authority in public higher education to award doctoral degrees in all fields of learning, except that the CSU may award doctoral degrees jointly (1) with the UC in selected fields, (2) with independent institutions of higher education if the proposed doctoral program is approved by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, and (3) with international institutions of higher education if, among other things, the doctoral degrees are for professional or applied doctoral degrees that do not duplicate UC doctoral degrees, and the CSU complies with a specified review and approval process, as provided. This bill would authorize the CSU to award doctoral degrees jointly with one or more independent institutions of higher education without approval by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. The bill would also authorize the CSU to award undergraduate and graduate degrees jointly with one or more independent institutions of higher education. The bill would authorize the CSU to jointly award doctoral degrees with accredited international institutions of higher education without (1) limiting it to professional or applied doctoral degrees that do not duplicate UC doctoral degrees, and (2) complying with the specified review and approval process.
The Open Enrollment Act authorizes the parent of a pupil enrolled in a low-achieving school to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district other than the school district in which the parent resides, as specified. The act defines "low-achieving school" to mean a school on a list created annually by the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 1,000 schools ranked by increasing Academic Performance Index score with the same ratio of elementary, middle, and high schools as existed in decile 1 in the 2008–09 school year. This bill would recast and revise the act. The bill would delete the definition of, and references to, the term "low-achieving school" in the act. The bill would instead generally revise the terminology of the act to specify that the parent of a pupil enrolled in a school district of residence, as defined, is authorized to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school district of enrollment, as defined. The bill would also delete from the act obsolete references to the Academic Performance Index and to the federal Race to the Top Fund.
Existing law requires that every individual with exceptional needs, as defined, who is eligible, be provided with educational instruction, services, or both, at no cost to their parent or guardian or, as appropriate, to them. Under existing law, a free appropriate public education is required to be made available to individuals with exceptional needs in accordance with specified federal regulations adopted pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to investigate a complaint alleging a violation of the act and to issue a written decision within 60 days of the complaint being filed, as provided. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2030, to create, or contract to create, and maintain a publicly available online aggregate database of all complaints that the department receives on and after July 1, 2027, that allege a violation of the federal law described above. The bill would require the database to include specified data for each complaint, including, among other things, the total number of complaints the department investigated disaggregated by school district, county office of education, or charter school. After the database has been created, the bill would require the department to ensure that the data required to be included in the database is updated and published on or before December 31 of each year.
Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to adopt a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) using a template adopted by the State Board of Education. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to update its LCAP before July 1 of each year and requires that annual update to be developed using a template adopted by the state board. This bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare a report that includes recommendations for (1) reducing and removing conflicting or redundant reports and reporting deadlines, as provided, (2) a statewide data submission portal, as provided, and (3) a statewide calendar that identifies the deadlines of all plans and reports required to be submitted by school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools, as provided. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office, on or before January 1, 2028, to submit the report to the appropriate budget and policy committees of the Legislature and to the Governor and, in preparing the report, to solicit and incorporate feedback from statewide organizations, as provided.
Existing law requires a certificated or classified school employee who exhausts all available sick leave and continues to be absent from duties on account of illness or accident for an additional period of 5 months to receive during those 5 months either (1) the difference between the employee's salary and the sum that is actually paid, or would have been paid, to a substitute employee employed to fill the position during the employee's absence, or (2) at least 50% of the employee's regular salary during the period of the absence. This bill would require a certificated or classified school employee who exhausts all available sick leave and continues to be absent from duties on account of illness or accident for an additional period of 5 months to instead receive the employee's full salary during those 5 months. The bill would make numerous related conforming and clarifying changes.
The After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002, an initiative statute approved by the voters as Proposition 49 at the November 5, 2002, statewide general election, establishes the After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program under which participating public schools receive grants to operate before and after school programs serving pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 9, inclusive. The act requires an amount not to exceed $550,000,000 to be continuously appropriated to the State Department of Education from the General Fund in each fiscal year for purposes of the program, and requires the amount to be allocated to public elementary, middle, and junior high schools according to a specified priority scheme, as provided. The act authorizes the Legislature to appropriate funds for the program in excess of this continuous appropriation. The act makes each public elementary, middle, and junior high school in the state eligible to receive a 3-year renewable after school grant for after school programs to be operated during the regular school year, as provided. The act authorizes the Legislature to amend the provisions containing the priority scheme only by a statute, enacted by a 2/3 vote of each house and signed by the Governor, that furthers the purposes of the act. Existing law establishes the 21st Century High School After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (High School ASSETs) program to create incentives for establishing after school enrichment programs to provide academic support and safe, constructive alternatives for high school pupils in the hours after the regular schoolday and to support college and career readiness. Under existing law, a High School ASSETs program is authorized to operate as either (1) an after school only program or (2) a program with both after school elements and any combination of before school, weekend, summer, intersession, or vacation elements. This bill would, notwithstanding the above-described ASES priority scheme and commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, prohibit the department from renewing any ASES grant to a school in which less than 55% of the enrolled pupils are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, as provided. This bill would establish the High School After School Education and Safety Grant Program as a component of the ASES Program. The bill would require program grantees to comply with the rules and requirements governing the High School ASSETs program and provide a daily funding rate of $13.81 per pupil. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, and notwithstanding any other law, including the above-described priority scheme, require ASES Program appropriations in excess of the minimum requirement that have not been otherwise awarded, as provided, to be allocated to the department for expenditure consistent with the High School After School Education and Safety Grant Program. The bill would also require the department to annually allocate funds generated pursuant to the above-described nonrenewal of ASES grants for expenditure consistent with the High School After School Education and Safety Grant Program. By authorizing the expenditure of continuously appropriated funds for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the department to allocate these funds pursuant to a specified hierarchy, with first priority given to existing High School ASSETs grantees to fund an increase in their per pupil daily rate to $13.81 and second priority given to fund new high school programs that comply with the grant requirements, as provided. The bill would include a legislative finding and declaration that the bill furthers the purposes of the After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002. This bill would, for the purposes of attendance tracking for the High School ASSETs program, authorize pupils to be counted as attending twice if they participated in both an after school element and a before school element of a High School ASSETs program. Existing law establishes the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program and requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate funding appropriated in the annual Budget Act to local educational agencies pursuant to specified rules based on those local educational agencies' percentage of unduplicated pupils, as defined, and average daily attendance of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, as provided. Existing law requires local educational agencies to annually declare their operational intent to the department to run an expanded learning opportunity program. This bill would, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, and annually thereafter, require a local educational agency, before opting out of expanded learning opportunity program funding and programming for the year, to share with the department how the local educational agency meaningfully engaged and notified those families and pupils that would have otherwise received expanded learning opportunity program priority. To the extent this requirement imposes new duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year and annually thereafter, require the department to publicly post on its internet website the list of local educational agencies that intend to not offer expanded learning opportunity programs. This bill, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, would require the department or a local educational agency designated by the department to convene a stakeholder workgroup with specified representatives to provide recommendations related to providing quality care to transitional kindergarten and kindergarten pupils, as provided, and submit a report to be posted on the department's internet website on the full cost of providing accessible and quality expanded learning programs. Existing law requires the department to develop and submit a biennial report to the Legislature related to the pupils attending, and the program quality of, expanded learning programs. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by requiring the department to develop and submit an annual report to the Legislature related to the pupils attending expanded learning programs, including High School ASSETs programs, ASES programs, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and expanded learning opportunities programs. The bill would require the report to include, among other things, data derived from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and aggregate reporting on specified pupil information. The bill would require the department to make the data collected in CALPADS available and accessible to the public, at the local educational agency level, and would require the department to develop summaries of the annual report for policymakers and the public. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law establishes childcare resource and referral programs to serve a defined geographic area and provide prescribed services. Among the services provided by these programs is the establishment of a referral process that responds to parental need for information and that makes referrals to licensed child daycare facilities, as specified. Existing law requires, when making referrals, every agency operating both a direct service program and a resource and referral program to provide at least 4 referrals, at least one of which shall be a provider over which the agency has no fiscal or operational control, and information to a family on the family's ability to choose a license exempt provider. This bill would require every resource and referral program to provide information about expanded learning opportunities programs in its region, as provided. 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.
(1) Existing law prohibits a permanent school employee from being dismissed, except for one or more of certain enumerated causes, including egregious misconduct, and prescribes specific procedures for dismissals and suspensions based solely on acts of egregious misconduct. Existing law authorizes a first- or 2nd-year probationary employee of a school district to be dismissed during the school year for unsatisfactory performance or for cause, pursuant to specified procedures. Existing law specifies that those provisions do not apply to a probationary employee in a school district having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils and instead authorizes their suspension or dismissal for cause, including for egregious misconduct, pursuant to separate procedures that are applicable to permanent employees of a school district. Existing law also prescribes various reporting requirements relating to egregious misconduct for both certificated and noncertificated employees. Existing law, for these purposes, defines "egregious misconduct" as specified sex offenses, controlled substance offenses, and acts subject to the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. This bill would expand the definition of egregious misconduct for those purposes to include additional offenses, including, among other offenses, those relating to human trafficking, child abandonment and neglect, and impermissible contact or communication with a minor, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, on or before July 1, 2027, and contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute, to develop a statewide data system that includes information relating to investigations of allegations of egregious misconduct of individuals serving in a noncertificated position for a local educational agency, as defined, or in any position for a private school. Existing law requires local educational agency employers and private school employers, following both the start of, and completion of, an investigation of egregious misconduct, to submit notice to the statewide data system, as provided. This bill would require the commission to include a section in the above-described statewide data system that identifies whether the commission received any reports of a certificated employee's possible misconduct submitted to the commission by a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school. The bill would require the section of the data system to include the full name, date of birth, and last four digits of the social security number of the credentialholder or applicant, and the name of each school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school that has submitted a complaint, information, or indictment against the credentialholder or applicant, including specified reports. The bill would require the commission, within 5 business days of receiving a request for access to the statewide data system from a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school, to provide the requesting entity access to the data system for the purposes of these provisions. (3) Existing law requires a person applying for a certificated position at a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the State Department of Education, or private school to provide that prospective employer with a complete list of every school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, and private school that previously employed the applicant. Existing law requires those entities, when considering an applicant for a certificated position, to inquire with each disclosed entity as to whether the applicant, while previously employed by the disclosed entity, was the subject of any credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct. Existing law requires the responding entities that have made a report of an employee's egregious misconduct to the commission to disclose this fact to the inquiring entity, and to provide the inquiring entity with a copy of all relevant information within its possession that was reported to the commission. This bill, commencing July 1, 2027, would require a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school considering an applicant for a certificated position to instead (A) check the section of the statewide data system maintained by the commission as to whether the commission received a copy of a complaint, information, or indictment, or specified report, relating to the applicant being the subject of a credible complaint of, substantiated investigation into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, (B) identify any reporting entities, and (C) request from each reporting entity a copy of all relevant information within its possession that was reported to the commission. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school identified in the data system as having submitted a report for a certificated employee to provide a copy of all relevant information within its possession to the inquiring entity. The bill would authorize, instead of require, a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school that is considering an applicant for a certificated position to directly inquire with a disclosed entity, as described above. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local agencies or officials, 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 requires school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools to adopt and update a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) using a template adopted by the State Board of Education that requires an LCAP to include certain information, including, among other information, (1) a description of the annual goals to be achieved for specified state priorities, including, among others, pupil achievement and pupil outcomes, (2) a description of the specific actions that the local educational agency will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve these goals, and (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided. This bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the state board and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, to (1) on or before December 31, 2027, prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that receive specified federal funding, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into their LCAPs, (2) conduct at least 3 informational webinars in 2028 for those local educational agencies to understand how to incorporate the best practices and model policy into their LCAPs, and (3) on or before December 31, 2028, identify ways to (A) encourage local educational agencies to incorporate the compilation of best practices and the model policy into their LCAPs, and (B) showcase local educational agencies that have demonstrated success integrating technology in a manner than has positively impacted pupil achievement.
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 the local control funding formula, existing law requires a school district's fiscal year average daily attendance to be computed using the 2nd principal apportionment regular average daily attendance for the greater of the current fiscal year, the prior fiscal year, or the average of the 3 most recent prior fiscal years, as specified. This bill, for purposes of the local control funding formula, would require a school district's fiscal year average daily attendance to be computed using the average of the 5 most recent prior fiscal years, if that average is greater than the 3 averages described above.
