The After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002, an initiative statute approved by the voters as Proposition 49 at the November 5, 2002, statewide general election, establishes the After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program under which participating public schools receive grants to operate before and after school programs serving pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 9, inclusive. The act requires an amount not to exceed $550,000,000 to be continuously appropriated to the State Department of Education from the General Fund in each fiscal year for purposes of the program, and requires the amount to be allocated to public elementary, middle, and junior high schools according to a specified priority scheme, as provided. The act authorizes the Legislature to appropriate funds for the program in excess of this continuous appropriation. The act makes each public elementary, middle, and junior high school in the state eligible to receive a 3-year renewable after school grant for after school programs to be operated during the regular school year, as provided. The act authorizes the Legislature to amend the provisions containing the priority scheme only by a statute, enacted by a 2/3 vote of each house and signed by the Governor, that furthers the purposes of the act. Existing law establishes the 21st Century High School After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (High School ASSETs) program to create incentives for establishing after school enrichment programs to provide academic support and safe, constructive alternatives for high school pupils in the hours after the regular schoolday and to support college and career readiness. Under existing law, a High School ASSETs program is authorized to operate as either (1) an after school only program or (2) a program with both after school elements and any combination of before school, weekend, summer, intersession, or vacation elements. This bill would, notwithstanding the above-described ASES priority scheme and commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, prohibit the department from renewing any ASES grant to a school in which less than 55% of the enrolled pupils are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, as provided. This bill would establish the High School After School Education and Safety Grant Program as a component of the ASES Program. The bill would require program grantees to comply with the rules and requirements governing the High School ASSETs program and provide a daily funding rate of $13.81 per pupil. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, and notwithstanding any other law, including the above-described priority scheme, require ASES Program appropriations in excess of the minimum requirement that have not been otherwise awarded, as provided, to be allocated to the department for expenditure consistent with the High School After School Education and Safety Grant Program. The bill would also require the department to annually allocate funds generated pursuant to the above-described nonrenewal of ASES grants for expenditure consistent with the High School After School Education and Safety Grant Program. By authorizing the expenditure of continuously appropriated funds for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the department to allocate these funds pursuant to a specified hierarchy, with first priority given to existing High School ASSETs grantees to fund an increase in their per pupil daily rate to $13.81 and second priority given to fund new high school programs that comply with the grant requirements, as provided. The bill would include a legislative finding and declaration that the bill furthers the purposes of the After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002. This bill would, for the purposes of attendance tracking for the High School ASSETs program, authorize pupils to be counted as attending twice if they participated in both an after school element and a before school element of a High School ASSETs program. Existing law establishes the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program and requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate funding appropriated in the annual Budget Act to local educational agencies pursuant to specified rules based on those local educational agencies' percentage of unduplicated pupils, as defined, and average daily attendance of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, as provided. Existing law requires local educational agencies to annually declare their operational intent to the department to run an expanded learning opportunity program. This bill would, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, and annually thereafter, require a local educational agency, before opting out of expanded learning opportunity program funding and programming for the year, to share with the department how the local educational agency meaningfully engaged and notified those families and pupils that would have otherwise received expanded learning opportunity program priority. To the extent this requirement imposes new duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year and annually thereafter, require the department to publicly post on its internet website the list of local educational agencies that intend to not offer expanded learning opportunity programs. This bill, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, would require the department or a local educational agency designated by the department to convene a stakeholder workgroup with specified representatives to provide recommendations related to providing quality care to transitional kindergarten and kindergarten pupils, as provided, and submit a report to be posted on the department's internet website on the full cost of providing accessible and quality expanded learning programs. Existing law requires the department to develop and submit a biennial report to the Legislature related to the pupils attending, and the program quality of, expanded learning programs. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by requiring the department to develop and submit an annual report to the Legislature related to the pupils attending expanded learning programs, including High School ASSETs programs, ASES programs, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and expanded learning opportunities programs. The bill would require the report to include, among other things, data derived from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and aggregate reporting on specified pupil information. The bill would require the department to make the data collected in CALPADS available and accessible to the public, at the local educational agency level, and would require the department to develop summaries of the annual report for policymakers and the public. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law establishes childcare resource and referral programs to serve a defined geographic area and provide prescribed services. Among the services provided by these programs is the establishment of a referral process that responds to parental need for information and that makes referrals to licensed child daycare facilities, as specified. Existing law requires, when making referrals, every agency operating both a direct service program and a resource and referral program to provide at least 4 referrals, at least one of which shall be a provider over which the agency has no fiscal or operational control, and information to a family on the family's ability to choose a license exempt provider. This bill would require every resource and referral program to provide information about expanded learning opportunities programs in its region, 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.
(1) Existing law prohibits a permanent school employee from being dismissed, except for one or more of certain enumerated causes, including egregious misconduct, and prescribes specific procedures for dismissals and suspensions based solely on acts of egregious misconduct. Existing law authorizes a first- or 2nd-year probationary employee of a school district to be dismissed during the school year for unsatisfactory performance or for cause, pursuant to specified procedures. Existing law specifies that those provisions do not apply to a probationary employee in a school district having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils and instead authorizes their suspension or dismissal for cause, including for egregious misconduct, pursuant to separate procedures that are applicable to permanent employees of a school district. Existing law also prescribes various reporting requirements relating to egregious misconduct for both certificated and noncertificated employees. Existing law, for these purposes, defines "egregious misconduct" as specified sex offenses, controlled substance offenses, and acts subject to the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. This bill would expand the definition of egregious misconduct for those purposes to include additional offenses, including, among other offenses, those relating to human trafficking, child abandonment and neglect, and impermissible contact or communication with a minor, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, on or before July 1, 2027, and contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute, to develop a statewide data system that includes information relating to investigations of allegations of egregious misconduct of individuals serving in a noncertificated position for a local educational agency, as defined, or in any position for a private school. Existing law requires local educational agency employers and private school employers, following both the start of, and completion of, an investigation of egregious misconduct, to submit notice to the statewide data system, as provided. This bill would require the commission to include a section in the above-described statewide data system that identifies whether the commission received any reports of a certificated employee's possible misconduct submitted to the commission by a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school. The bill would require the section of the data system to include the full name, date of birth, and last four digits of the social security number of the credentialholder or applicant, and the name of each school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school that has submitted a complaint, information, or indictment against the credentialholder or applicant, including specified reports. The bill would require the commission, within 5 business days of receiving a request for access to the statewide data system from a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school, to provide the requesting entity access to the data system for the purposes of these provisions. (3) Existing law requires a person applying for a certificated position at a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the State Department of Education, or private school to provide that prospective employer with a complete list of every school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, and private school that previously employed the applicant. Existing law requires those entities, when considering an applicant for a certificated position, to inquire with each disclosed entity as to whether the applicant, while previously employed by the disclosed entity, was the subject of any credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct. Existing law requires the responding entities that have made a report of an employee's egregious misconduct to the commission to disclose this fact to the inquiring entity, and to provide the inquiring entity with a copy of all relevant information within its possession that was reported to the commission. This bill, commencing July 1, 2027, would require a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school considering an applicant for a certificated position to instead (A) check the section of the statewide data system maintained by the commission as to whether the commission received a copy of a complaint, information, or indictment, or specified report, relating to the applicant being the subject of a credible complaint of, substantiated investigation into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, (B) identify any reporting entities, and (C) request from each reporting entity a copy of all relevant information within its possession that was reported to the commission. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school identified in the data system as having submitted a report for a certificated employee to provide a copy of all relevant information within its possession to the inquiring entity. The bill would authorize, instead of require, a school district, county office of education, charter school, state special school or diagnostic center operated by the department, or private school that is considering an applicant for a certificated position to directly inquire with a disclosed entity, as described above. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local agencies or officials, 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 requires school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools to adopt and update a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) using a template adopted by the State Board of Education that requires an LCAP to include certain information, including, among other information, (1) a description of the annual goals to be achieved for specified state priorities, including, among others, pupil achievement and pupil outcomes, (2) a description of the specific actions that the local educational agency will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve these goals, and (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided. This bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the state board and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, to (1) on or before December 31, 2027, prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that receive specified federal funding, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into their LCAPs, (2) conduct at least 3 informational webinars in 2028 for those local educational agencies to understand how to incorporate the best practices and model policy into their LCAPs, and (3) on or before December 31, 2028, identify ways to (A) encourage local educational agencies to incorporate the compilation of best practices and the model policy into their LCAPs, and (B) showcase local educational agencies that have demonstrated success integrating technology in a manner than has positively impacted pupil achievement.
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, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. For purposes of the local control funding formula, existing law requires a school district's fiscal year average daily attendance to be computed using the 2nd principal apportionment regular average daily attendance for the greater of the current fiscal year, the prior fiscal year, or the average of the 3 most recent prior fiscal years, as specified. This bill, for purposes of the local control funding formula, would require a school district's fiscal year average daily attendance to be computed using the average of the 5 most recent prior fiscal years, if that average is greater than the 3 averages described above.
This bill designates April 14 of every year as Sylvia Mendez Day to honor the civil rights activist who challenged school segregation in California. The measure is a commemorative resolution that does not change laws, allocate funding, or alter government operations. By establishing this annual observance, the state recognizes Mendez's historical contributions to education and civil rights.
This House Resolution encourages California high schools to participate in High School Voter Education Weeks, a designated period from September 14 to 25, 2026. The measure asks school administrators to promote voter preregistration and registration for eligible students, designate coordinators to lead civic engagement activities, and participate in the statewide Student Mock Election. It also reminds schools that students in grades 6 through 12 may take an excused absence to attend civic events with prior notice. The resolution does not change existing laws but serves as a formal recommendation to boost youth participation in the upcoming 2026 general election.
This measure would proclaim March 2026 as Arts Education Month and urge all residents to become interested in and give full support to quality arts education programs for children and youth.
This bill designates the week of March 2 through March 6, 2026, as "School Breakfast Week." It serves as a ceremonial proclamation to raise awareness about school breakfast programs without changing any laws or funding. The measure directly affects schools and communities by encouraging focus on nutrition initiatives during that specific time period. As a commemorative resolution, it does not alter policy or require new actions from government officials.
This bill designates March 22, 2026, as California STEAM Robotics Day to recognize the importance of robotics within science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics education. The measure directly affects schools and educational organizations across the state by providing a specific date for them to host events or activities focused on robotics. It does not create new funding, change laws, or mandate specific actions, but rather serves as a formal proclamation to raise awareness about the field. The legislation was passed by the state legislature and signed into law as part of the 2026 statutes.
This bill urges state and local education leaders to formally evaluate new reporting requirements by asking six specific questions about their purpose, audience, value, feasibility, duplication, and duration. It aims to reduce administrative burdens on school districts by ensuring that any new data collection efforts directly support student learning rather than diverting resources. The resolution calls on the Legislature, Governor, and various state agencies to adopt this structured analysis process before implementing additional planning or accountability mandates. By promoting a more coherent system, the bill seeks to help schools use public funds more effectively for classrooms and pupil well-being.
