Education finance: education omnibus trailer bill.

The bill went from a single section expressing legislative intent to a full omnibus trailer bill amending over 30 sections of the Education Code plus other codes, covering prekindergarten, community schools, dual enrollment, teacher preparation, school meals, broadband, homeless youth services, and more.

Changes the $50M California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program appropriation so it must be allocated to one designated lead agency within each county that is a local educational agency, rather than being distributed as renewal or new grants.

Changes the Oakland Military Institute cooperative agreement authorization from being with the City of Oakland and a school district to being directly with the Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy, a California charter school.

Extends encumbrance period for $50M Kern County Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership funds through June 30, 2031 (previously required expenditure plan by October 1, 2026; now delayed to December 1, 2026).

Extends encumbrance and expenditure periods for the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program ($200M for 2026-27) through June 30, 2032, with unexpended funds reverting to the General Fund on June 30, 2030.

Authorizes the department to allocate or prorate returned or collected prekindergarten grant funds toward competitive grants for highly-qualified teachers in state preschool, transitional kindergarten, and kindergarten programs.

Authorizes the state transformational assistance center for the California Community Schools Partnership Program to continue in that role from 2026-27 through 2029-30 or until a new technical assistance structure is adopted by the State Board of Education.

Changes the $10M technical assistance structure funding for community schools from a fixed requirement to 'up to $10,000,000,' delays authorization to use those funds for ongoing certification costs until the 2031-32 fiscal year, and requires at least $2M go to the state transformational assistance center.

Extends encumbrance and expenditure period for Golden State Pathways Program technical assistance contracting funds until June 30, 2029 (previously 5 fiscal years from appropriation), extends the program evaluation deadline by 2 years to June 30, 2030, and requires a report to the Legislature by June 30, 2028 on grant award process and recipients.

Removes Riverside County Office of Education from the $30M Supporting Inclusive Practices project appropriation, allocating those funds only to El Dorado County Office of Education or pursuant to other legislation.

Extends both the $46M reappropriation and the $70M new appropriation for homeless youth services through June 30, 2030 (previously June 30, 2029), and delays the final report deadline from December 31, 2029 to December 31, 2030.

Extends expenditure period for Orange County Department of Education Multi-Tiered Systems of Support grant funds encumbered but not yet expended until June 30, 2027 (previously June 30, 2026), and extends encumbrance period for unencumbered fire-related emergency support funds until June 30, 2027.

Requires local educational agencies receiving prekindergarten grants that have not developed a local plan to develop one for consideration by the governing board at a public meeting and make it available for department review upon request.

Requires dual enrollment grant applicants that previously received a grant to also be provided a renewal grant upon completion of requirements for that specific grant type, provided they are not currently in an active grant period for that type.

Delays implementation of the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program until January 1, 2027, makes individual local educational agencies (not just consortia) eligible for grants while maintaining priority for consortia, and changes the requirement for broader consortia to enter hiring agreements with LEAs from mandatory to authorized.

Revises CalNAS program award prioritization factors, provides definitions for 'immigrant families' and 'newcomer pupils,' changes the $10M technical assistance grant to require it be awarded to an LEA or consortium to serve as a statewide technical assistance center, and authorizes that center to subcontract up to 10% of its allocation with qualified nonprofit entities.

Authorizes community schools planning funds (from the $1B 2026-27 appropriation) to also be used to convene a schoolsite's shared decisionmaking team or council to prepare its community school implementation plan.

Requires the K-12 HSN advisory board to submit an annual report with program highlights to the State Department of Education and the Department of Finance on or before March 1 of each year.

Authorizes local educational agencies to use state-funded meal reimbursement for infrastructure upgrades for school meal service operation and improvement, with prior department approval, notwithstanding any other law.

Requires the public hearing on declining enrollment impacts (condition of $4.4B Student Support and Professional Development Discretionary Block Grant) to be held in conjunction with the LCAP public hearing, and expands what plans must address to include attracting and retaining pupils, strengthening course offerings, new program opportunities, class size reduction, facilities management including potential consolidations and closures, and local revenue options.

For the 180-minute day of attendance requirement for dual enrollment in grades 11-12, requires the courses to be offered with a CCAP partnership agreement (previously could be offered with or without one).

Changes the department's determination of LEAs identified for prioritized support through universal assistance to use solely the most recent year of performance data on state indicators and specified performance criteria.

Changes K-12 High-Speed Network requirements from supporting 'videoconferencing and related independent study capabilities' to supporting 'bandwidth-intensive applications, digital learning, and related independent study capabilities.'

For federal law designations of a 'chief state school officer,' requires that designation to refer to the Education Commissioner (rather than the Superintendent) commencing January 1, 2027, and applies the transition provisions to additional statutory sections.

Changes the Golden State Teacher Grant Program requirement for special education credential grants from 'special education credential' to 'preliminary special education credential.'

For 2026-27, requires county superintendents to provide technical assistance to any school district and the Superintendent to provide it to any county office of education for which one or more pupil subgroups meets performance criteria as reported on the 2025 California School Dashboard (a state-mandated local program).