Existing law establishes the State Department of Education 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 department, on or before October 1, 2027, to create and post to its internet website a standardized template, as specified, for use by school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools when completing programmatic or expenditure reports for competitive state grant programs, except as provided. In drafting the template, the bill would require the department to ensure that the template creates reporting efficiencies for local educational agencies and schools that receive state grants and to consult relevant stakeholders involved in local educational agency reporting, as specified. The bill would require the department, on or before October 1, 2027, to submit the template to the Legislature, as provided, and, commencing January 1, 2028, to issue the template to local educational agencies as part of the notice of award information and again 6 months before the final report due date, and to prepopulate certain local educational agency administrative information. Existing law requires a bill that requires a state agency to submit a report on any subject to either house of the Legislature, a committee or office of either house of the Legislature, or the Legislative Counsel Bureau, to include a provision that repeals the reporting requirement, or makes the requirement inoperative, no later than a date 4 years following the operative date of the bill or 4 years after the due date of any report required every 4 or more years. Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel, in drafting a bill or amendment that includes a reporting requirement as described above, to include a provision repealing the reporting requirement or making the requirement inoperative, as specified, unless directed to do otherwise. This bill, beginning January 1, 2027, would (1) require a bill that would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school to complete a plan or report to include a provision that repeals the planning or reporting requirement, or makes the requirement inoperative, no later than 4 years following the bill's operative date if the planning or reporting requirement has an undefined end date or 4 years after the final due date of any plan or report, and (2) require the Legislative Counsel to include a provision in that bill repealing the planning or reporting requirement or making the requirement inoperative, as specified, unless directed to do otherwise. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2028, the Legislative Counsel, in drafting a bill or amendment that imposes a new programmatic or expenditure reporting requirement for competitive state grant programs on a local educational agency, except as provided, to include a provision that requires the final programmatic or expenditure report be submitted using the template created by the department, as described above, unless directed to do otherwise.
Existing law requires the California Community Colleges, on or before July 1, 2027, to adopt a common course numbering system for all general education requirement courses and transfer pathway courses, and requires each community college campus, on or before July 1, 2027, to incorporate common course numbers from the adopted system into its course catalog. This bill would require, on or before December 31, 2027, the California Community Colleges to develop and submit to the Legislature an implementation and funding plan to establish a common course numbering and alignment system for career technical education public safety courses that is focused on regional, agency-compliant, and professional standards, as provided. The bill would require the system to include a phased implementation for firefighting courses, law enforcement education courses, and courses related to a modern policing degree program, as specified. The bill would make implementation of the system contingent upon the availability of funding.
Existing law provides for various programs and services for students with disabilities in public postsecondary education. Existing law requires the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and authorizes the University of California, with respect to services provided for disabled students, to, at a minimum, conform to the level and quality of services provided by the Department of Rehabilitation to its clients, as provided. If a campus of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, or the University of California requires verification of a student's disability before providing academic accommodations requested by the student, this bill, commencing September 1, 2027, would require that campus to accept, as verification of the student's disability, an individualized education program and a specified plan issued by a school district, county office of education, or charter school, and an individual program plan issued by a regional center that contracts with the State Department of Developmental Services that documents the student's disability. If a student requests academic accommodations due to a disability, the bill, commencing September 1, 2027, would prohibit a campus of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, or the University of California from requiring the student to obtain new or additional diagnostic evaluations, as provided, and would authorize the campus to require supplemental information to evaluate the student's request for academic accommodations and to determine the type of reasonable accommodations that are appropriate and best suited for the student's educational needs, as provided.
This measure would recognize the month of October each year as Student Financial Aid Awareness Month, and that it is important to increase student participation in financial aid programs to ensure that students receive clear, timely, and accessible information about application requirements, deadlines, and available resources.
Existing law, the World Language Teacher Exchange and Recruitment Law of 1963, requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules and regulations under which teachers employed by California school districts may exchange positions with teachers in schools in other countries for a period of one year or less. Existing law requires the arrangements for the exchanges to be made through the State Department of Education and in cooperation with the teacher exchange programs administered by agencies of the federal government. This bill would revise and recast those provisions by, among other things, (1) no longer requiring the state board to adopt regulations, (2) no longer requiring the department to administer the program or take actions necessary to carry out the program, (3) expressly providing for exchanges with Mexico and Spain, (4) expanding the authorized exchanges to include county offices of education and charter schools, (5) eliminating the one-year time limit on the exchanges, and (6) , if regulations are adopted, requiring those regulations to authorize specified visa sponsors designated by the United States Department of State to sponsor teachers from other countries, including Mexico and Spain, for placement in California school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to promote cultural exchange for specified purposes.
Existing law describes the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) as a voluntary organization that consists of school and school-related personnel with responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools, and sets forth the Legislature's intent regarding the CIF's implementation of certain policies. Existing law requires the CIF, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to develop guidelines, procedures, and safety standards for the prevention and management of exertional heat illness. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the CIF to review and update as necessary the guidelines, procedures, and safety standards, with special consideration for regions of the state with higher average temperatures.
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district or the governing body of a charter school that requires a course in health education for graduation from high school to include instruction in performing compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) , as provided. Existing law also encourages those entities to provide to pupils general information on the use and importance of an automated external defibrillators (AED) . Existing law further requires the State Department of Education to provide guidance on how to implement these provisions, including, but not limited to, who may provide instruction. 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, when the physical education framework is next revised after January 1, 2027, to consider including content on the importance, performance, and use of CPR and AEDs in that framework.
Existing law requires the adopted courses of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer instruction and courses in certain areas of study, including, among others, physical education, with emphasis on activities that may be conducive to health and vigor of body and mind. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, develop, and the State Board of Education to adopt, modify, or revise, model curriculum frameworks, as specified. Existing law requires, when the Health Education Framework for California Public Schools is next revised on or after January 1, 2025, the commission to consider including information on evidence-based schoolwide programs to support pupils in developing skills in mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation. This bill, the Ready to Learn, Ready for Health Act, would require, when the Health Education Framework for California Public Schools is next revised on or after January 1, 2027, the commission to consider including information on evidence-based preventative health instruction, including information on nutrition, food literacy, sleep, movement, stress management, and digital balance in an integrated manner that discusses these key health factors and the interrelationship and balance between them, as provided.
Existing law establishes the California School for the Deaf, Northern California, the California School for the Deaf, Southern California, known collectively as the California School for the Deaf, and the California School for the Blind as the state special schools, under the administration of the State Department of Education. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district, at the beginning of the first semester or quarter of each school year, to notify parents or guardians of minor pupils of specified rights and responsibilities of the parent or guardian and of specified school district policies and procedures. This bill would require the notification to a parent or guardian of a pupil who is deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind to additionally include information regarding the option for the pupil to attend a state special school, as provided. Commencing with the 2027–28 school year, if a local educational agency develops, reviews, or revises an individualized education program for a pupil who is deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind, the bill would require the individualized education program team of the local educational agency to provide the pupil's parent, guardian, or educational rights holder with information about the state special schools and the option for the pupil to attend one of those schools, as specified. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2027, to provide that information to local educational agencies. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies or local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated 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 authorizes the governing boards of 2 or more school districts to enter into an agreement, for a term not to exceed 5 school years, for the interdistrict attendance of pupils who are residents of the school districts. If a school district enters into an agreement, existing law requires, among other things, (1) that the agreement stipulate the terms and conditions under which interdistrict attendance will be permitted or denied, (2) that the school district post on its internet website the procedures and timelines regarding a request for an interdistrict transfer permit, as provided, (3) the notification of a parent submitting a current year request of its final decision within 30 calendar days from the date the request was received, and (4) if the school district denies a request for an interdistrict transfer, that the school district advise the parent, in writing, of the right to appeal to the county board of education within 30 calendar days from the date of the final denial. This bill would require the governing board of a school that has entered into an agreement, on or after January 1, 2027, for the interdistrict attendance of pupils to adopt, and post on its internet website, a policy that includes specified provisions, including that if the school district determines that a request received from a parent is incomplete, the school district is required to notify the parent, within 30 calendar days of receipt of the request, identifying any missing information or documentation, as provided. The bill would allow for certain extensions of the above-described 30-day requirement to notify a parent of its final decision when an application is determined to be incomplete or if an individualized education program meeting has been scheduled or is pending, as provided. The bill would require all interdistrict agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2027, to also contain those specified provisions, as provided. The bill would authorize the parent or guardian of a pupil to submit an interdistrict transfer request concurrently to the school district of residence and the school district of proposed agreement if there is an interdistrict agreement between the 2 school districts, and would require the school district of proposed enrollment to begin reviewing the request upon receipt, as provided.
