This measure would encourage the President of the University of California, the Chancellor of the California State University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to create a workgroup of faculty, staff, and administrators to (1) review the use of artificial intelligence in higher education, (2) create a public report on the strategies and best practices for artificial intelligence usage agreed upon by the workgroup within one year following formation of the workgroup, and (3) submit the report to the Legislature and the relevant policy committees of the Legislature with jurisdiction over higher education and privacy and consumer protection.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes them to provide instruction to students at community college campuses. One of these districts is the Los Angeles Community College District. Existing law appropriates $5,000,000 to the Los Angeles Community College District for the development and initial operations of the California Center for Climate Change Education at the West Los Angeles College with the mission to promote climate change education at the California Community Colleges and establish opportunities for students to engage in hands-on internships and other learning opportunities. This bill would codify the establishment of the center. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Los Angeles Community College District.
(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.
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 appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts in any given fiscal year. The California Constitution creates the Public School System Stabilization Account in the General Fund and requires the Controller to transfer, pursuant to a schedule provided by the Director of Finance, a specified amount from the General Fund to the account in each fiscal year, except as provided. The California Constitution generally prohibits the total annual appropriations subject to limitation of the state and each local government from exceeding the appropriations limit of the entity of government for the prior fiscal year, adjusted for the change in the cost of living and the change in population. The California Constitution defines "appropriations subject to limitation" for these purposes. 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 (LCFF) , as specified. Under existing law, school districts that do not receive an apportionment of state funds under the LCFF because their local revenues exceed the amount calculated pursuant to the LCFF are considered "basic aid school districts" or "excess tax entities." This measure would establish the Equalization Reserve Account in the General Fund. The measure would require the Controller, in any fiscal year in which there is an increase over the preceding fiscal year in the minimum amount of revenues the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts, to transfer from the General Fund to the Equalization Reserve Account an amount equal to the total amount transferred from the General Fund to the Public School System Stabilization Account in that fiscal year, as provided. The measure would require interest earned on funds in the Equalization Reserve Account to be deposited in the account and would require the Legislature, in each fiscal year, to allocate at least 80% of that interest to increase per-pupil funding in non-basic aid school districts. The measure would define non-basic aid school districts as school districts that received an apportionment of state funds under the LCFF in any of the preceding 3 fiscal years. The measure would authorize the Legislature to suspend the required transfers from the General Fund in any fiscal year in which average per-pupil funding in non-basic aid school districts equals or exceeds the average per-pupil funding in basic aid school districts. The measure would prohibit the allocation of funds transferred to the account from the General Fund. The measure would exclude funds transferred to or allocated from the account from computations of the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts, from the moneys allocated for purposes of meeting that minimum funding obligation, and from the total annual state appropriations subject to the limitation described above.
This measure would affirm the Legislature's commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and encourage local, state, and federal policymakers, among other organizations, to adopt and uphold DEI principles.
Existing law authorizes school districts that maintain high schools to establish work experience programs for the purpose of providing pupils with instruction in skills, attitudes, and understandings necessary for success in employment. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to coordinate the development, on a cyclical basis, of model curriculum standards for required courses of study, including a career technical education course of study for pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as specified. This bill would, at the next revision of the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards, require the State Department of Education to consider adding content on the role of youth caregivers within the Personal Care and Services career pathway, as provided. The bill would require, by July 1, 2028, the department to provide guidance for the implementation of the Personal Care and Services career pathway, and would explicitly authorize certain types of guidance, including (1) a focus on skills specific to Personal Care and Services occupations, including, but not limited to, in-home caregiving for youth caregivers supporting household family members, and (2) eligibility for youth caregivers caring for a family member in the family member's home for credits through work experience education programs, 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 prescribes various requirements regarding the formation, content, and enforcement of state and local public contracts. Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2027, for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2017, a claim resolution process applicable to any claim by a contractor in connection with a public works project against a public entity, as specified. For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines "public entity" to include, among others, a city, including a charter city, and county, including a charter county. Existing law imposes various requirements on a public entity in relating to the claim resolution process, including, among other things, conducting a reasonable review of the claim and, within 45 days, providing the claimant a written statement identifying the disputed and undisputed portions of the claim. This bill would repeal the above-described January 1, 2027, repeal date, thereby extending the operation of these provisions indefinitely. By indefinitely extending the duties of local agencies in relation to the above-specified claim resolution process, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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 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.
