This bill designates the week of May 11 to May 15, 2026, as Student Mental Health Awareness Week throughout California. The measure requires state agencies and institutions to acknowledge this specific timeframe to highlight the importance of student mental well-being. By officially recognizing these dates, the legislation aims to encourage public focus on mental health resources for students during that period. It does not allocate funding or mandate specific programs, but rather serves to raise awareness through formal designation.
This bill designates the week of May 1 through May 7, 2026, as California Physical Education Week. It serves as a commemorative resolution intended to highlight the importance of physical education in schools. The measure does not alter existing laws or funding but simply establishes an official timeframe for recognition and awareness.
This bill designates May 13, 2026, as the official California Day of the Teacher to honor educators in the state. It establishes this specific date as a commemorative observance without creating new laws, funding, or penalties. The measure serves as a symbolic recognition of the teaching profession rather than a change in policy or procedure.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Controller, and the Director of Finance to develop and update as necessary, standards and criteria to be reviewed and adopted by the State Board of Education and to be used by local educational agencies in the development of annual budgets and the management of subsequent expenditures from that budget, as specified. Existing law requires these standards and criteria to include, among other things, multiyear commitments, including cost-of-living adjustments. This bill would specify that the multiyear commitments are for only the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would require the state board, on or before March 1, 2027, to amend specified related regulations, as provided, and would require the State Department of Education to modify the Standardized Account Code Structure reporting software infrastructure to eliminate reporting fields for a 2nd subsequent fiscal year and, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, ensure that the system reflects a 2-year operational and forecasting structure. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district and each county board of education, on or before July 1 of each year, to adopt a budget, as specified, and requires that budget to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, as applicable, to, among other things, examine the adopted budget to determine whether it complies with the standards and criteria adopted by the state board for local educational agency budgets and determine whether the adopted budget (1) will allow the school district or county office of education to meet its financial obligations during the fiscal year and (2) is consistent with a financial plan that will enable the school district or county office of education to satisfy its multiyear financial commitments. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools to certify whether the school district or county office of education is able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year and for the subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires (1) a negative certification to be assigned to any school district or county office of education that will be unable to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year or the subsequent fiscal year, (2) a qualified certification to be assigned to the school district or county office of education that may not meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year or 2 subsequent fiscal years, and (3) a positive certification to be assigned to a school district or county office of education that will meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires a copy of the school district's or county superintendent's certification to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. The bill would instead only require certification for the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year, and would require determinations for qualified and positive certifications to instead be assigned based only on the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions.
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.
The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes, including, among others, as may be necessary to ensure the security of its funds. Existing law prohibits officers or employees of the University of California from engaging in any employment, activity, or enterprise from which the officer or employee receives compensation or has a financial interest if that employment, activity, or enterprise is sponsored or funded by a university department or contract, except as provided. This bill would require a University of California executive, within 60 days of accepting a board of director position with a business entity, to post on a University of California internet website a written recusal from involvement with any future university contract decisions where the business entity is a party, as provided. The bill would prohibit a University of California executive from making, participating in making, or in any way attempting to influence a contractual decision where the executive is on the board of directors of a business entity that is a party to the contract or receives compensation for consulting or advisory services from a business entity that is a party to the contract. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions and to recover attorney's fees if the civil action prevails. If a court finds in such a civil action that an executive has violated these provisions, the bill would require the court to void the affected contract. The bill would define "business entity," "contract," and "University of California executive" for its purposes.
Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education and consider including, when revising the history-social science curriculum framework, age-appropriate information on specified financial literacy topics for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided. Existing law requires a pupil to complete designated coursework while in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in order to receive a diploma of graduation from high school. These graduation requirements include, among others, the completion of 3 courses in social studies, including a one-semester course in economics. Commencing with pupils graduating in the 2030–31 school year, existing law requires the completion of a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance that is prohibited from being combined with any other course. Existing law requires this personal finance course to include information on all of, and only, the above-described financial literacy topics recommended for inclusion in the revised history-social science curriculum framework. Commencing with the 2027–28 school year, existing law requires a local educational agency with pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to offer a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance, and also authorizes a local educational agency to exempt a pupil who completes such a course from the graduation requirement to complete a one-semester course in economics. If a local educational agency elects to offer a personal finance course offered as part of an integrated, year-long course that is equivalent in quality and rigor to the stand-alone personal finance course and that has a course scope that includes, at a minimum, the above-described financial literacy topics recommended for inclusion in the revised history-social science curriculum framework, this bill would (1) deem that course to satisfy the above-described graduation requirement to complete a stand-alone personal finance course, (2) additionally authorize the local educational agency to exempt a pupil who completes such a course from the graduation requirement to complete a one-semester course in economics, and (3) deem that course to satisfy the above-described requirement on local educational agencies with pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to offer a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate and maintain. This bill would prohibit, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, a community college district's annual unrestricted general fund balance, as specified, for a fiscal year from exceeding 50% of its unrestricted general fund expenditures for that year, unless the community college district meets specified conditions. The bill would prohibit a community college district from transferring unrestricted general funds to another fund if the receiving fund has an existing balance of 33% or more of the community college district's unrestricted general fund expenditures for that fiscal year or if the transfer would cause the receiving fund to have a balance of 33% or more of the community college district's unrestricted general fund expenditures for that fiscal year. For a community college district that violates the above-described prohibitions, the bill would require the community college district to distribute the amount of the annual unrestricted general fund balance that exceeds 50% to nonsupervisory and nonmanagement employees of the community college district, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, 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 provides funding for career technical education (CTE) programs, including through, among others, the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, the Strong Workforce Program, and a K–12 component of the Strong Workforce Program, with the purpose of creating, maintaining, supporting, encouraging, strengthening, and expanding the delivery of CTE programs in the state, as provided. This bill would establish the Career Technical Education Technical Assistance and Equity Pilot Program, a 3-year pilot program related to technical assistance in CTE, with a focus on equity and inclusion. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to designate, based on specified criteria, a county office of education to serve as the lead agency for administering the program. The bill would also require the Superintendent to designate 2 pilot regions to receive intensive technical assistance services, as provided. The bill would appropriate $4,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to the lead agency for purposes of implementing the pilot program for the 2026–27 fiscal year. The bill would require the lead agency to, among other things, (1) further develop and disseminate exemplary models for inclusive CTE pathways that effectively serve pupils with disabilities, English learners, and other historically underserved populations, (2) create scalable frameworks and toolkits for industry-education partnerships, (3) provide technical assistance, capacity building, and coordination support to participating county offices of education within the designated pilot regions, (4) develop and maintain a public-facing internet website, and (5) submit annual reports to the Superintendent, the Governor, and the Legislature, as provided. The bill would encourage county offices of education within designated pilot regions to participate in the technical assistance services provided by the lead agency, and would require participating county offices of education to, among other things, designate staff to coordinate CTE technical assistance within their jurisdiction. The bill would require the lead agency to prioritize support to county offices of education serving high proportions of historically underserved populations or demonstrating significant equity gaps in CTE access and outcomes. The bill would require school districts and charter schools that choose to receive direct technical assistance from their county office of education to participate in specified data collection and reporting processes, share promising practices and lessons learned, and commit to implementing recommendations and improvement strategies developed through the technical assistance process. The bill would require the pilot program to be funded through an annual appropriation in the Budget Act for the duration of the 3-year pilot program, require the appropriated funds to be allocated to the lead agency, authorize the lead agency to expend the allocated funds for specified purposes, and establish that the lead agency is subject to audit by the California State Auditor. The bill would require the Superintendent to designate the lead agency and pilot regions no later than 6 months following the effective date of the bill and the lead agency to commence providing services no later than the beginning of the fiscal year following designation. The bill would require the lead agency, no later than 6 months before the conclusion of the 3-year pilot period, to submit a comprehensive evaluation report to the Superintendent, the Governor, and the Legislature, as provided, and to post the report on the lead agency's public-facing internet website. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032. This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
Existing federal law provides for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Under existing state law, households are eligible to receive CalFresh benefits to the extent permitted by federal law. Existing federal law provides that students who are enrolled in college or other institutions of higher education at least half-time are not eligible for SNAP benefits unless they meet one of several specified exemptions, including participating in an employment and training program for low-income households that is operated by a state or local government, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, on or before May 31, 2022, to issue a guidance letter to counties, the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the office of the Chancellor of the California State University, and the office of the President of the University of California that clarifies the state and federal eligibility requirements for a campus-based program to be a state-approved local educational program that increases employability that qualifies for the CalFresh student eligibility exemption and that clarifies the application and approval process for a campus-based program to be approved by the department as a state-approved local educational program that increases employability. Existing law requires the department to maintain, regularly update, and post on its internet website a list of the state-approved local educational programs, and requires the department to include in the list, to the extent permitted by federal law, adult education and career technical education programs. This bill would repeal the existing approval process for a campus-based program to be approved by the department as a state-approved local educational program that increases employability, and would instead require the department to issue a similar guidance letter, on or before May 31, 2027, to the same entities that makes a determination, to the extent permitted by federal law, that all adult education, career technical education, certificate, and associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs at a public institution of higher education and specified state-funded programs, including, among others, Educational Opportunity Program and Guardian Scholars Program, are required to be considered as a state-approved local educational program that increases employability, as specified. The bill would authorize a campus-based program at a campus of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, or the University of California that is not one of the previously described programs to submit a certification application to the department, and would require the department to determine whether the certification applications for campus-based programs meet the requirements to be considered as a state-approved local educational program that increases employability. The bill would require the department to implement these provisions through all-county letters or similar instruction, as specified. Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law requires the commission to prescribe the use of standardized student financial aid applications to be used for the Cal Grant Program, among other financial aid programs. The Cal Grant Reform Act revises and recasts the provisions establishing and governing the existing Cal Grant Program into a new Cal Grant Program. Existing law specifies that the act becomes operative 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 act. The act requires the commission to determine the timelines and procedures for the application process for awards, as provided. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the commission to develop a data-sharing agreement under which the commission is required to share student contact information with the department for the sole purpose of identifying, supporting, and linking students to on- and off-campus basic needs services and resources, including CalFresh direct outreach. The bill would require the commission, upon entering into the data-sharing agreement, to amend the commission's Grant Delivery System to ensure (1) students that might be eligible for the CalFresh program are identified, (2) identified students are able to provide their separate and distinct consent for their contact information to be shared, as specified, for the previously described purpose, and (3) identified students are linked to on- and off-campus basic needs services and resources. The bill would authorize the department to share student information with the appropriate county human services agency and the appropriate public postsecondary education systemwide office of the campus in which the student is enrolled, and would require each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and would request each campus of the University of California, commencing with the 2028–29 academic year, to contact those students who opted in to have their information shared with the department. To the extent the bill would increase the duties of counties, 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.
