Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to establish a security department under the supervision of a chief of security as designated by, and under the direction of, the superintendent of the school district. Existing law also authorizes the governing board of a school district to establish a school police department under the supervision of a school chief of police and to employ peace officers. This bill would require, commencing with the 2028–29 school year, and each school year thereafter, a rural school district or charter school, as defined, to determine the appropriate number of armed school resource officers, as defined, authorized to carry a loaded firearm for each school of the rural school district or charter school. The bill would require the governing board of the school district or the governing body of the charter school to ensure that at least one armed school resource officer is present during regular school hours at each school of the rural school district or charter school that meets specified criteria, as provided. By imposing an additional requirement on school districts and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the governing board or body, if it is unable to comply with these requirements due to the unavailability of funding or personnel who qualify to serve as an armed school resource officer, to claim a good cause exception to these requirements by adopting a resolution, 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in general conformity with federal tax law, allows various deductions from gross income in calculating adjusted gross income. The Personal Income Tax Law generally applies the federal definition of adjusted gross income, but excepts the deduction allowed for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers. This bill would conform with federal law for purposes of the deduction allowed for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure, as defined, to include tax credits, deductions, exclusions, or exemptions, to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include findings and collection requirements in compliance with this requirement. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
This measure proclaims April 10, 2025, as Dolores Huerta Day in California and encourages all public schools and educational institutions to conduct exercises remembering her, recognizing her accomplishments, and familiarizing pupils with her contributions to California.
Existing law grants the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation authority to operate the state prison system and gives the department jurisdiction over various state prisons and other institutions. Existing law requires the department to make college programs available at every state prison and requires that these programs be provided by the California Community Colleges, the California State University, or the University of California, or other accredited, nonprofit colleges or universities. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, to report to the Legislature information related to the amount of space available for academic and vocational education, including the amount of the deficit or surplus of space at each prison.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, independent institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions as the segments of postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes the Student Aid Commission as the primary state agency for the administration of state-authorized student financial aid programs available to students attending all segments of postsecondary education. 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 commission. Existing law establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the Cal Grant Program for participating students attending qualifying postsecondary educational institutions, and prescribes requirements that postsecondary educational institutions must comply with in order to be a qualifying postsecondary educational institution for purposes of the Cal Grant Program, including, among others, certain disclosure requirements. This bill would require, on or before April 1, 2026, the commission to convene a workgroup. The bill would require the workgroup to include, but not be limited to, the commission, all segments of postsecondary education, student organizations, and experts. The bill would require the workgroup to identify the common terms, definitions, and structure of financial aid offer letters sent by postsecondary educational institutions, and would require, on or before July 1, 2027, the workgroup to create a financial aid offer letter template. The bill would also require, on or before July 1, 2027, the workgroup to submit a report to the Legislature that includes the financial aid offer letter template. The bill would require, as part of the criteria to be a qualifying institution under the Cal Grant Program, an institution, by the start of the 2028–29 academic year, to use the financial aid offer letter template for all conditional offers of attendance, as specified.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as 2 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to assist all school districts to ensure that all public high school pupils have access to a core curriculum that meets the admission requirements of the University of California and the California State University. Existing law requests the University of California to assist school districts in developing, submitting, and maintaining courses certified by the University of California as meeting admission requirement criteria, as provided. This bill would request the University of California to align the admission requirement criteria used in the review and certification of high school courses with the content standards, frameworks, and model curriculum adopted by the State Board of Education for the applicable subject area, as provided. Existing law states legislative intent for the University of California and California State University governing boards, in determining the standards and criteria for undergraduate and graduate admissions, to develop processes that strive to be fair and easily understandable, consider using criteria allowing eligible students with uncontrollable course deficiencies to enroll, and consult broadly with California's diverse communities, as provided. This bill would state legislative intent for those governing boards, in determining the standards and criteria for undergraduate admissions, to develop the standards and criteria based on the content standards, frameworks, and model curriculum adopted by the state board for the applicable subject area and to consult with the state board before adopting or changing the standards and criteria for undergraduate admission. Existing law requires the California State University, and requests the University of California, to establish a model uniform set of academic standards for high school courses for admission recognition and to develop and implement, by January 1, 2006, a process for high schools to obtain approval of courses meeting California State University and University of California admissions requirements, as provided. Existing law authorizes the faculty of the postsecondary segments to consult with elementary and secondary administrators and faculty when developing the model academic standards. This bill instead would encourage faculty of the postsecondary segments to (1) consult with the state board in developing the model academic standards, and (2) strive to align the standards with the content standards, frameworks, and model curriculum adopted by the state board for the applicable subject area, as specified. The bill would require the California State University, and request the University of California, to develop and implement, on or before January 1, 2028, a revised process for local educational agencies to annually submit courses for review and certification as a course that satisfies the model academic standards, as specified.
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. Existing law requires funding pursuant to the LCFF to include, among other things, the sum of a base grant, supplemental grant, and concentration grant, if applicable, multiplied by average daily attendance, as provided. Existing law authorizes a school district or charter school to maintain a transitional kindergarten program. Existing law requires a school district or a charter school, as a condition of receipt of apportionment for pupils in a transitional kindergarten program, to ensure that, beginning with the 2025–26 school year, a child who will have their 4th birthday by September 1 of a school year be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained by the school district or charter school. Under existing law, pursuant to the LCFF, school districts and charter schools receive, as funding for transitional kindergarten, the sum of a base grant, a supplemental grant, a concentration grant, if applicable, and a transitional kindergarten add-on, multiplied by transitional kindergarten average daily attendance, as provided. Under existing law, school districts that receive local revenues that exceed the LCFF amount do not receive a specified apportionment of LCFF funds, as provided, and are known as "basic aid school districts" or "excess tax entities." Existing law, notwithstanding those provisions, requires charter schools and school districts, including basic aid districts, to receive a minimum level of state-aid funding, as provided. This bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, require the minimum level of state funding for basic aid districts to include both the above-described sum of the LCFF base, supplemental, and concentration grants for transitional kindergarten, and an unspecified add-on amount for transitional kindergarten, multiplied by transitional kindergarten average daily attendance, as provided. Existing law provides for the funding of necessary small schools and high schools, as specified. Existing law requires that funding to be based on, among other things, the necessary small school's average daily attendance and the number of full-time teachers, as specified. Existing law requires these necessary small school amounts to be added to the LCFF calculations for school districts with necessary small schools, as provided. This bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate funding for pupils attending transitional kindergarten in certain necessary small schools, as provided. The bill would require this allocation to include, for any average daily attendance generated by pupils attending a transitional kindergarten program in the necessary small school, the sum of the above-described LCFF base grant, supplemental grant, and concentration grant, if applicable, and transitional kindergarten add-on amounts, as provided. The bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, appropriate the amount of funding necessary to implement the required allocations for the applicable fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to necessary small schools under these provisions. Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
Existing law establishes the Instructional School Gardens Program for the promotion, creation, and support of instructional school gardens through the allocation of grants, and through technical assistance provided, to school districts, charter schools, or county offices of education. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to administer the program, as provided. This bill would revise and recast the Instructional School Gardens Program by, among other things, reestablishing the program under the administration of the Department of Food and Agriculture for the promotion, creation, and support of instructional school gardens through the allocation of grants and the provision of technical assistance to support instructional school garden programming in school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. The bill would require the department to convene a working group consisting of the department, the State Department of Education, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and instructional school garden community-based organizations. The bill would require the working group to advise and assist the Department of Food and Agriculture in carrying out the program, as provided. The bill would establish the Instructional School Gardens and Maintenance Fund in the State Treasury and would require moneys in the fund to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for purposes of the program, as specified. This bill, contingent upon an appropriation or receipt of sufficient private funds, as specified, for its purposes, would require the department, on or before July 1, 2026, and in consultation with the working group, to develop a competitive grant process, including selection criteria, goals, prioritizations, and guidelines, for purposes of the program, as provided. The bill would require eligible applicants to be local educational agencies or other entities that have an established track record of operating outdoor, experiential learning programs in schools and that are in partnership, as defined, with at least one local educational agency, and would require applicants to designate one of 2 grant categories for each proposed schoolsite, as provided, and to submit a plan and measurable outcomes for a program of experiential, outdoor instruction that meet specified requirements. Before developing the competitive grant process, the bill would require the department to hold at least 2 public meetings to gather public input on the development of the competitive grant process.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, excludes from the gross income distributions to a beneficiary of, and earnings by a contributor to, a qualified tuition program, which includes a Golden State Scholarshare College Savings Trust, if specified conditions are met. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would allow under that law a deduction against gross income in the amount equal to the monetary contribution made by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, to the California qualified tuition program established pursuant to the Golden State Scholarshare Trust Act not to exceed either $5,000 or $10,000, as provided. The bill would require, with exceptions, in the case of any distribution in excess of qualified higher education expenses, as defined, that the aggregate amount of the deduction allowed that reduced the qualified taxpayer's gross income in any taxable year be added to the gross income of the qualified taxpayer in the taxable year of the distribution, as provided. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax deduction to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax deduction will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill would make specified findings detailing the goals, purposes, and objectives of the above-described tax deduction, performance indicators for determining whether the deduction meets those goals, purposes, and objectives, and data collection requirements. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Healthy Youth Act requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. The act authorizes a school district to provide that education earlier than grade 7 with age-appropriate and medically accurate information. The act authorizes a school district to provide sexual health education and HIV prevention to be taught by an outside consultant, and to hold an assembly to deliver that education by guest speakers. Under the act, if a school district exercises that authorization, the school district is required to provide notice of the date of instruction, name of the organization or affiliation of each guest speaker, and information stating the right of the parent or guardian to request a copy of various laws, as specified. This bill would require a school district, if it elects to provide sexual health education or HIV prevention education to be taught by outside consultants, to also provide notice of the name of the organization or affiliation of the outside consultants.
