Existing law establishes the California DREAM Loan Program, which authorizes a student attending a participating campus of the University of California or California State University to receive a loan, referred to as a DREAM loan, if the student satisfies certain requirements. Existing law prohibits a student from borrowing more than $4,000 within a single academic year and more than $40,000 in the aggregate under the program. Existing law prohibits a student enrolled in an undergraduate program from borrowing more than $20,000 as an undergraduate student and prohibits a student enrolled in a graduate program from borrowing more than $20,000 as a graduate student. This bill would instead prohibit a student enrolled in an undergraduate program from borrowing more than $4,000 within a single academic year, and a student enrolled in a graduate program from borrowing more than $20,500 within a single academic year. The bill would increase the aggregate limit under the program for a student enrolled in a graduate program to $118,500 as a graduate student, while maintaining the $20,000 aggregate limit under the program for a student enrolled in an undergraduate program, thereby increasing the overall aggregate limit under the program for a student who receives a DREAM loan for both undergraduate and graduate enrollment to $138,500.
(1) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish and implement a system of complaint processing, known as the Uniform Complaint Procedures, for specified educational programs, and requires the State Department of Education to review those regulations pertaining to uniform complaint procedures for specified types of complaints, including those that allege unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying against any protected group, as provided. Existing law requires the department to, on or before March 31, 2019, commence rulemaking proceedings to revise those regulations, as necessary, to conform to specified provisions. Beginning July 1, 2026, this bill would require, upon receipt by the department of a complaint subject to the Uniform Complaint Procedures that alleges unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying, the Superintendent to collect specified information, including, among other things, a description of the complaint received. The bill would require the Superintendent to create and post on the department's internet website a summary report of the data described above. (2) Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, among other things, establishes the Civil Rights Department and authorizes it to receive, investigate, conciliate, mediate, and prosecute complaints alleging various civil rights violations, including violations of provisions regarding individuals with disabilities. Existing law, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Disparities Reduction Act, requires the Civil Rights Department, among other specified state entities, in the course of collecting demographic data directly or by contract as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians, to collect voluntary self-identification information pertaining to sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics/intersex status, as specified. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, generally requires public records to be open for inspection by the public. Existing law provides numerous exceptions to this requirement. This bill would require the Civil Rights Department to collect, for a complaint received, certain demographic information, including the ethnicity, race, and gender of the individual submitting the complaint, and certain information related to the complaint. The bill would require the department, commencing July 1, 2027, to publish a summary report no later than October 1 of each year of the compiled information for the preceding calendar year on its internet website. This bill would require, for any information or data acquired pursuant to the bill's provisions, that information or data to be confidential and protected from public disclosure, including disclosure pursuant to the California Public Records Act, except that the information may be disclosable pursuant to that act to the same extent as the underlying complaint. The bill would also prohibit the above-described summary reports, dashboards, and transmitted data from containing any personally identifying information about any individual. The bill would require information in the summary reports, dashboards, and transmitted data to be sufficiently deidentified to prevent the identification of the individuals involved in a complaint. (3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law establishes the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, administered as a competitive grant program by the State Department of Education, with the purpose of encouraging, maintaining, and strengthening the delivery of high-quality career technical education programs. Existing law requires an applicant to demonstrate that it, or its career technical education program, as applicable, meets certain minimum eligibility standards. This bill, commencing June 1, 2026, would revise and recast those minimum eligibility standards, as specified, including standards related to (A) collaborating with labor and business entities, (B) ensuring career programs and career pathways are aligned with workforce needs and labor market demand, (C) providing opportunities for certain pupil populations, and (D) reporting information for purposes of program evaluation, as provided. The bill, commencing June 1, 2026, would also require successful applicants to demonstrate a holistic approach to providing career technical education and career pathways, as provided. In developing the request for grant applications and considering grant applications under the program, existing law requires the State Department of Education to consult with the executive director of the State Board of Education and entities having career technical education expertise, including the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. This bill, commencing June 1, 2026, would require the department to consult with the California Education Interagency Council instead of the chancellor for those purposes. When determining proposed grant recipients, existing law requires positive consideration to be given to specified characteristics in an applicant, including that the applicant is located in an area with a high unemployment rate. This bill, commencing June 1, 2026, would require positive consideration to also be given to an applicant located in an area with a high poverty rate. The bill would define high unemployment rate and high poverty rate. Existing law establishes the Government Operations Agency, which consists of several state entities, including, but not limited to, the State Personnel Board, the Department of General Services, and the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would require the California Education Interagency Council established in the Government Operations Agency to perform, in an advisory capacity, certain duties, as specified, including, among others, developing recommendations regarding career technical education, college and career pathways, and workforce development recognizing segmental plans and other pertinent plans, and providing advice and recommending tools designed to support students across their educational careers, as specified. The bill would require the Office of the California Education Interagency Council to support the California Education Interagency Council, as specified, including by, among other things, developing and maintaining an internet website that provides access to the California Education Interagency Council's agendas, reports, work products, and resources. Certain sections of this bill would become operative only if AB 1098 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, the California State University, the University of California, independent institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions as the segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires certain postsecondary educational institutions to be accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education to qualify as an independent institution of higher education to be eligible for certain programs and to receive an approval to operate. Existing laws applicable to, among other things, the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by the Department of Consumer Affairs require applicants for licensure or licensees to satisfy educational requirements by completing programs or degrees from institutions or universities accredited by a regional or national accrediting agency or association recognized by the United States Department of Education, or otherwise impose a requirement that a school or program be accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education. This bill would require, for purposes of any code or statute, a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education as of January 1, 2025, to retain that recognition until July 1, 2029, provided that the accrediting agency continues to operate in substantially the same manner as it did on January 1, 2025. The bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2030.
Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, establishes the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California as the public segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of the California State University, and the governing board of every community college district to adopt or provide for the adoption of specific rules and regulations governing student behavior and to adopt procedures by which all students are informed of the rules and regulations, with applicable penalties, as provided. Provisions of the act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make a provision applicable. Existing federal law requires, as a condition of receiving federal funds or other forms of financial assistance, institutions of higher education to annually distribute to each student and employee standards of conduct that clearly prohibit unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs or alcohol, as provided, and a clear statement that the institution will impose sanctions for violations of the standards of conduct. Existing federal law characterizes the completion of an appropriate rehabilitation program as a permissible form of the required sanctions. This bill would require the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the California State University, in adopting the above-described rules and regulations, to place in the highest priority the health, safety, and well-being of the campus community. The bill would also require those entities, on or before July 1, 2026, to adopt, or provide for the adoption of, rules and regulations that (1) prohibit students receiving medical treatment for the personal use of drugs or alcohol in violation of the rules and regulations governing student behavior from being subject to disciplinary action for that use of drugs or alcohol if they complete an appropriate rehabilitation program, as defined, and (2) require students who receive medical treatment for the personal use of drugs or alcohol in a manner that violates the rules or regulations of the university to be offered the chance to complete an appropriate rehabilitation program, as provided. The bill would establish that this prohibition on disciplinary action, and the requirement that the university offer an appropriate rehabilitation program, only apply to a student once in an academic semester, quarter, or term, as provided.
Existing law, the Compulsory Education Law, generally makes persons between the ages of 6 and 18 years of age subject to compulsory full-time education, unless exempted. Existing law makes a parent or guardian of a pupil of 6 years of age or more who is in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, and subject to compulsory full-time or continuing education, whose child is a chronic truant, as defined, who has failed to reasonably supervise and encourage the pupil's school attendance, and who has been offered support services to address the pupil's truancy, guilty of a misdemeanor that is punishable by a fine of up to $2,000, or imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year, or both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would repeal that criminal offense.
(1) Existing law requires, by no later than September 30, 2026, the State Board of Education to approve, and the State Department of Education to post on its internet website, criteria and guidance for the selection or development of inservice professional development programs for effective means of teaching literacy in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, with a list of inservice professional development programs that have been deemed to meet those criteria. This bill would require the department, before incurring substantial costs for the review of professional development programs, to require that a professional development program provider that intends to submit materials for review to first declare their intent to submit one or more professional development programs for review. After a professional development program provider has declared their intent to submit one or more professional development programs for review, and until September 30, 2026, the bill would authorize the department to assess a fee on the submitting professional development program provider in an amount that shall not exceed the reasonable costs to the department to conduct a review of the submitted materials, as provided. The bill would, among other things, limit the maximum amount of a reasonable fee to no more than $10,000 for each professional development program submitted for review and would require the department to take reasonable steps to limit costs of the review and to keep the fee modest. The bill would require the department to allocate specified funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2025 to the Marin County Office of Education to contract with a research organization or nonprofit organization with expertise in evidenced-based literacy instruction, subject to the approval of the executive director of the state board, to support the implementation of these provisions, as provided. Existing law appropriates $200,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to make available to local educational agencies to expend from the 2026–27 fiscal year to the 2029–30 fiscal year, inclusive, for purposes of training certificated and classified staff who provide literacy instruction, or who support any teacher who provides literacy instruction, to pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, using the professional development programs that meet the above-referenced criteria and guidance. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to apportion those funds to local educational agencies in an equal amount per full-time equivalent certificated staff who teach pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive. This bill would require the Superintendent to make those apportionments using the data submitted through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System as of October 2025. (2) 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 apply for the support of school districts and community college districts based on one of 3 tests in any given fiscal year. If the Director of Finance determines pursuant to the certification process for the state's minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts that the state has applied moneys in an amount that exceeds the minimum funding obligation for the fiscal year being certified, existing law requires the excess moneys to be credited to the fiscal year being certified. Existing law provides that $5,442,143,000 allocated in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments to school districts and charter schools, and $770,786,000 allocated in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments to community college districts, are excess moneys credited to the 2022–23 fiscal year only for the purposes of determining the state's minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the 2022–23 and 2023–24 fiscal years. Existing law requires 10 proportional shares of $544,214,000 and $77,079,000, respectively, of those amounts to be recognized annually, from the 2026–27 fiscal year through the 2035–36 fiscal year, for budgetary and financial reporting purposes as allocations made in the 2022–23 fiscal year, but prohibits those amounts from being credited as allocations made to meet the minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the fiscal year in which the amount is recognized for budgetary and financial reporting purposes. This bill would reduce that allocation to schools districts and charters in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments by $20,000,000 to instead be $5,422,143,000. The bill would instead require 12 proportional shares of $437,769,000 and $62,231,000, respectively, of the revised $5,422,143,000 amount and the $770,786,000 amount, respectively, to be recognized annually from the 2027–28 fiscal year through the 2038–39 fiscal year, and shares of $168,915,000 and $24,014,000, respectively, of those amounts, to be recognized in the 2039–40 fiscal year, for budgetary and financial reporting purposes as allocations made in the 2022–23 fiscal year, and would continue to prohibit those amounts from being credited as allocations made to meet the minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the fiscal year in which the amount is recognized for budgetary and financial reporting purposes. (3) Existing law requires the department, by July 1, 2026, to create a data collection system for salary and benefits data for represented certificated and classified nonmanagement employees and requires the data collected to include salary, benefits, and full-time equivalent employee counts for certificated employees and for specified classified bargaining unit classifications, which are required to be collected in the same manner as for certificated employees, as determined by the department. Existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, and direct-funded charter schools, by August 31, 2026, and by July 1 annually thereafter, to complete the data collection process and to report the data to the department. This bill would require the department to make the data submitted by school districts, county offices of education, and direct-funded charter schools publicly available in a downloadable open file data format, as specified. (4) Existing law establishes the Student Teacher Stipend Program to support prospective educators, as defined, during their completion of 500 or more hours of student teaching, as provided, and appropriates, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission for allocation to support the Student Teacher Stipend Program. Existing law requires $5,000,000 of that amount to be made available to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for specified purposes, including conducting a related multimedia campaign and the establishment of a grants management system, as specified. This bill would instead require up to $6,000,000 of that amount to be made available to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for those same specified purposes. By reallocating the amounts of authorized uses of an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (5) Existing law establishes the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program. Existing law authorizes school districts and county offices of education to elect to participate in the program, and authorizes a classified employee of a participating local educational agency who meets specified requirements to withhold an amount from the employee's monthly paycheck during the school year to be paid out during the summer recess period, as provided. The Budget Act of 2023, the Budget Act of 2024, and the Budget Act of 2025 appropriated $90,000,000, $99,000,000, and $90,000,000, respectively, for purposes of the program. Each annual Budget Act requires its appropriations to be available for encumbrance or expenditure for the use for the fiscal year in which the funds are appropriated, unless otherwise provided therein. This bill would, commencing with the 2023–24 fiscal year, require appropriations made in the annual Budget Act for purposes of the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program to instead be available for encumbrance during both the fiscal year in which the funds are appropriated and the immediately following fiscal year. By extending the time for which previously appropriated moneys are available, the bill would make an appropriation. (6) Existing law authorizes a school district, county office of education, or charter school, beginning July 1, 2025, to implement attendance recovery programs for pupils to make up lost instructional time and offset absences, as specified. For the purposes of computing average daily attendance for these attendance recovery programs, existing law prescribes general minimum daily instructional minute requirements on all local educational agencies, as provided, and specific schoolday and instructional minute requirements on county community schools, continuation high schools, juvenile court schools, and community day schools that are applicable to those settings, as provided. This bill would, for the purposes of computing average daily attendance for these attendance recovery programs for opportunity schools, instead apply the instructional minute requirements that are applicable to opportunity schools. (7) Existing law establishes the Golden State Teacher Grant Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law requires the commission, among other grants within the program, for California resident applications received under the program on July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, inclusive, to provide reduced one-time grants of up to $5,000 to each student enrolled in a professional preparation program leading to a preliminary teaching credential or a pupil personnel services credential if the student commits to working at a priority school or a California preschool program for 2 years within 4 years following the date the student completes the professional preparation program, as specified. The bill would extend the availability of those grant program funds to applications received under the program on July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive. By expanding the time in which applications can be received under the program, which is funded by an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (8) Existing law requires the local control funding formula to include, in addition to the base grant, supplemental and concentration grant add-ons that are based on the percentage of pupils who are unduplicated pupils, as defined to include English learners, pupils eligible for free or reduced-price meals, and foster youth, as specified. Notwithstanding any other law, for purposes of the local control funding formula for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 fiscal years only, existing law requires the count of English learner pupils enrolled in transitional kindergarten to be equal to the count of English learner pupils enrolled in kindergarten, as specified. This bill would instead require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to determine a proxy count of English learner pupils enrolled in a transitional kindergarten that is based upon the percentage of English learners enrolled in kindergarten who are either not eligible for free or reduced-price meals or not a foster youth. (9) The Budget Act of 2020, among other things, allocates $350,000 of specified appropriated funds to a county office of education selected by the executive director of the State Board of Education for the purpose of convening a workgroup that will design a state standardized individualized education program (IEP) template. The Budget Act of 2022, among other things, allocates $200,000 of specified appropriated funds to be available on a one-time basis for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence to convene a panel to continue refining the IEP template for usability, as provided. Existing law, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, appropriates $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent to allocate to the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence for the digitization of the IEP template. Existing law requires the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, in consultation with the executive director of the state board, to enter into a contract with a California special education student information system vendor to convert the IEP template into a user-dynamic software platform, develop an interactive digital version of the IEP template that is accessible to the public at no cost, and make those digitized templates available to local educational agencies and to the public, respectively, on or before June 30, 2026. Existing law requires the department, by January 1, 2027, or no later than 18 months after the IEP template is converted to a digital platform, whichever date comes first, to translate the IEP template into the top 10 most commonly spoken languages used across the state other than English and, among other things, to make those templates available on its internet website, as provided. This bill would require the contracted vendor to be a vendor that currently transmits federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act-compliant data to the department through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System and would require the vendor, upon the availability of the translated IEP template, as specified, to integrate those translations into the digitized IEP template in order to ensure that users can access the IEP template in the top 10 most commonly spoke languages used in California other than English. (10) Existing law appropriates, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, $160,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to establish the Universal School Meals Support Grant, as provided. Of that amount, existing law requires (A) $145,000,000 to be made available to award to local educational agencies to expend for specified purposes for the continued implementation of universal school meals, (B) $10,000,000 to be provided to local educational agencies to support the retention and recruitment of food service workers, as specified, and (C) $5,000,000 to be made available to the department to contract with the Marin County Office of Education for a study of particularly harmful ultraprocessed foods being offered in school meals in California, as provided. Existing law requires the Marin County Office of Education to contract with the University of California for purposes of the study and requires the department to provide a report to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2027, again on or before January 1, 2030, and finally on or before January 1, 2032, with the findings of the study. This bill would revise and recast those provisions by, among other things, (A) requiring the above-described $5,000,000 to instead be made available to the department for allocation to the Marin County Office of Education for a study of ultraprocessed foods of concern and restricted school foods instead of particularly harmful ultraprocessed foods, (B) specifying that the Marin County Office of Education is required to contract with the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources' Nutritional Policy Institute for those purposes, (C) requiring the department, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, to approve the scope of work, timelines, and study elements, (D) changing all references for these purposes from particularly harmful ultraprocessed foods to ultraprocessed foods of concern, as defined, and restricted school foods, as defined, and (E) extending the reporting deadlines, as provided. By revising the purposes of an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (11) The bill would update cross references and make nonsubstantive changes. (12) Certain 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. (13) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 45500 of the Education Code proposed by AB 378 to be operative only if this bill and AB 378 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (14) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
(1) Existing law, the Child Care and Developmental 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 authorizes, upon departmental approval, the use of appropriated funds for alternative payment programs to allow for maximum parental choice. Existing law authorizes those programs to include, among other things, a subsidy that follows the family from one provider to another, or choices among hours of service. Under existing law, effective July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, reimbursement of state-subsidized childcare and development providers and license-exempt providers is to be based on the maximum authorized hours of care, as specified. Existing law, the Early Education Act, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide an inclusive and cost-effective preschool program. Under existing law, commencing January 1, 2023, through June 30, 2026, reimbursement of California state preschool family childcare home education network providers is to be based on the maximum certified hours of care, as specified. This bill would extend the period in which reimbursement of state-subsidized childcare and development providers, license-exempt providers, and California state preschool family childcare home education network providers is based on the maximum authorized or certified, as applicable, hours of care to July 1, 2028. (2) Existing law allocates certain appropriated funds to the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education to provide specified family childcare providers and childcare centers with a monthly cost of care plus rate commencing January 1, 2024, and through June 30, 2026. The monthly cost of care plus rate is a supplemental monthly payment to those providers and centers. Existing law establishes the base amount of the monthly cost of care plus rate and, for the period from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, provides for an increase to that base amount. This bill would extend the payment of the monthly cost of care plus rate, including the increase, indefinitely, for those family childcare providers and childcare centers. The bill would additionally establish a one-time payment to family daycare providers for the total amount of the increase for each month or partial month occurring between July 1, 2025, and December 30, 2025. The bill would require the payment to be paid to providers by January 1, 2026, contingent on full ratification by September 30, 2025, of the tentative agreement received between the State of California and the Child Care Providers United - California (CCPU) on August 7, 2025. The bill would specify that, if full ratification of the tentative agreement is not achieved by September 30, 2025, the January 1, 2026, deadline for the payment would not be applicable; however, the bill would require, if the payment is not made by January 1, 2026, that providers receive an increase to the one-time payment, as specified. The bill would also require those family daycare providers and childcare centers to receive a one-time, per-child stabilization payment. That payment would be $431 for licensed family childcare providers and childcare centers and $300 for license-exempt family childcare providers. The bill would require, if the tentative agreement described above is ratified by September 30, 2025, this one-time payment to be made to family childcare providers by January 1, 2026. This bill would appropriate $157,852,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Social Services for the purpose of making those one-time stabilization payments to family childcare providers and childcare centers, as specified. The bill would also approve the agreement dated August 7, 2025, entered into by the Governor and Child Care Providers United - California, in its sole capacity as the certified provider organization representing family childcare providers, as specified. (3) Existing law establishes, and appropriates funds to, the Joint Child Care Providers United - State of California Training Partnership Fund and the Child Care Providers United - California (CCPU) Workers Health Care Fund. Existing law also appropriates funds to the State Department of Social Services for a one-time contribution payable to Child Care Providers United - California (CCPU) , or its designee, for the establishment of the CCPU Retirement Trust. This bill would, for each year of the tentative agreement described above, from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2028, inclusive, require funds to be allocated in the annual Budget Act, upon approval of the Department of Finance, to those funds and trust. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
(1) Existing law requires each campus of the California Community Colleges to establish the position of Basic Needs Coordinator to assist students with on- and off-campus housing, food, mental health, and other basic needs services and resources, among other responsibilities, and to establish a Basic Needs Center where basic needs services and resources, including food services and resources, and staff are made available to students, as specified. Existing law requires each community college campus to report specified information related to basic needs services and resources to the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, and requires the chancellor's office to develop and submit to the Governor and the Legislature an annual report based on, among other things, the data and information reported by campuses. This bill would require, for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years, each community college campus to provide classified employees with access to food pantry services offered by the Basic Needs Centers and report data and information related to that access to the chancellor's office, as specified, and would require the annual reports submitted by the chancellor's office to include that data and information. By expanding the services provided by Basic Needs Centers, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCSP) under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law, subject to an available and sufficient appropriation, makes an undergraduate student eligible for a scholarship award under the MCSP if the student is enrolled at the University of California or the California State University, or enrolled in upper division coursework in a community college baccalaureate program, and meets certain eligibility requirements. Existing law generally sets the MCSP award at an amount that equals the difference between the student's cost of attendance and the sum of other scholarships, grants, or fee waivers, including those administered by federal, state, and institutions, awarded to the student in excess of $7,898 in expected student contribution, and, for dependent students with a household income exceeding $100,000, a percentage of the parents' contribution, as specified. If a federal, state, or institutionally administered student need-based scholarship, grant, or fee waiver of less than $300 is identified following determination of a student's MCSP award, this bill, for purposes of determining the student's MCSP award amount, would not require the student's MCSP award to be recalculated. The bill would require each institution participating in the MCSP to sign an institutional participation agreement with the commission acknowledging the institution's willingness to administer the MCSP program, as specified. (3) Existing law establishes the Zero-Textbook-Cost Degree Grant Program to reduce the overall cost of education for students and to decrease the time it takes students to complete degree programs offered by community colleges. Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to distribute grants to community college districts that meet specified criteria to develop and implement associate degrees or career technical education certificate programs earned entirely by completing courses that eliminate conventional textbook costs by using alternative instructional materials and methodologies, including open educational resources. Existing law authorizes grant recipients to use the funds for developing and implementing degrees to obtain professional development and technical assistance to assist in the development of degrees. This bill would authorize grant recipients to also use the funds for developing and implementing degrees to obtain professional development and technical assistance to assist in the development of open educational resource materials. The bill would authorize the chancellor's office to allocate any unallocated resources appropriated for purposes of the program, on or after June 30, 2025, to a community college district to contract for the establishment of statewide open educational resources infrastructure, as provided. (4) Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to adopt regulations providing for the payment of apportionments to community college districts on a specified schedule. Existing law, notwithstanding that provision referenced above, adjusts the payment of apportionments to community college districts for the 2024–25 fiscal year to defer $243,693,000 of those payments to the 2025–26 fiscal year in accordance with a designated schedule. This bill would specifically reference two items of appropriation made in the Budget Act of 2025 as the funding source of the deferral payment described above. (5) The California Constitution establishes the Public School System Stabilization Account in the General Fund to provide a reserve for public school funding. The California Constitution requires, pursuant to specified calculations, the Controller to transfer certain moneys from the General Fund into the Public School System Stabilization Account for subsequent allocation to school districts and community college districts in fiscal years when the minimum state funding obligation for the support of school districts and community college districts falls below specified levels. The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature, upon the Governor's proclamation declaring a budget emergency, as described, to enact a statute that, among other things, appropriates funds in the Public School System Stabilization Account for the support of school districts and community college districts. This bill would appropriate $49,734,000 from the Public School System Stabilization Account to be transferred by the Controller to Section B of the State School Fund for the support of community college districts, as provided. (6) Existing law encourages community colleges to develop and implement Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA) programs directed at identifying students affected by social, economic, and educational disadvantages, increasing the number of eligible students served under MESA programs, and increasing student success in transferring and completing baccalaureate degree programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors at 4-year higher education institutions, as specified. Existing law requires the board of governors to adopt regulations for purposes of MESA programs and requires those regulations to be consistent with specified requirements and accomplish certain goals. This bill, beginning in the 2026–27 fiscal year, would prohibit the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges from reserving more than 3.5% of funds appropriated for MESA programs on administrative and discretionary costs of supporting MESA programs, and would authorize the chancellor, in consultation with the California Community College Association of MESA Directors, to allocate the reserved funds solely for statewide coordination and enhancement of MESA programs. (7) Existing law appropriates $20,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support emergency financial assistance grants to students attending a community college. Existing law requires the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to allocate these funds to community college district's based on each district's share of total California Dream Act application (CADAA) filers that also received a Cal Grant systemwide. This bill would authorize the chancellor's office to reallocate those funds to community college districts to ensure all eligible CADAA filers receive a grant. The bill would require the chancellor's office to report to the appropriate policy committees and budget subcommittees of the Legislature on the progress of community college districts in awarding the emergency financial assistance grants to students, as specified. (8) This bill, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, would make funding appropriated in the Budget Act of 2025 in certain items of appropriation for community colleges available for transfer by the Controller to Section B of the State School Fund for purposes of distributing those funds to community college districts. (9) (A) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 66023.5 of the Education Code proposed by SB 271 to be operative only if this bill and SB 271 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (B) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 70022 of the Education Code proposed by AB 88 and SB 67 to be operative only if this bill and either, or both, of those bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (10) 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. (11) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
(1) 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. Under the act, families that meet specified requirements are eligible for federal and state subsidized childcare and development services, and a family that establishes initial eligibility or ongoing eligibility for these services is considered to meet all eligibility and need requirements for those services for not less than 24 months, except as specified. Existing federal regulations require a minimum of 12 months of eligibility for these services before a redetermination of eligibility is made. This bill would, if a family already receiving childcare services adds an additional child and requests services for that child during the current eligibility period, extend the family's eligibility period, as necessary, to ensure that the additional child receives at least 12 months of eligibility for services before a redetermination of eligibility, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to annually report to the Department of Finance and the Legislature a statewide summary identifying the estimated funding used in general childcare and development programs for infants and toddlers, and the number of preschool age children receiving part-day preschool and wraparound childcare services. This bill would delete the requirement for that report to identify the number of preschool age children receiving part-day preschool and wraparound childcare services. (3) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires an alternative payment program to reimburse a licensed childcare provider in accordance with a biennial market rate survey, as specified, at a rate not to exceed the regional market rate ceiling, as prescribed. Under existing law, reimbursements to childcare providers based upon a daily rate may only be allowed under certain circumstances, including that a family has an unscheduled but documented need of 6 hours or more per occurrence that exceeds the certified need for childcare or a family has a documented need of 6 hours or more per day that exceeds no more than 14 days per month. This bill would reduce the documented need for reimbursements to childcare providers based upon a daily rate from 6 hours or more to 5 hours or more, as described. (4) Existing law allocates certain appropriated funds to the State Department of Social Services and State Department of Education to provide specified family childcare providers and childcare centers with a monthly cost of care plus rate commencing January 1, 2024, and through June 30, 2026. The monthly cost of care plus rate is a supplemental monthly payment to those providers and centers. This bill would extend the payment of the monthly cost of care plus rate to June 30, 2026, and would allocate additional funds to the State Department of Social Services and State Department of Education from the Budget Act of 2025 to provide a once-per-month cost of care plus rate for each child served who is enrolled in subsidized childcare, therefore making an appropriation. From July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, the bill would require that monthly rate to be equal to the existing rate increased by a percentage calculated by the Department of Finance based on a specified formula. (5) Existing law provides for a specified annual funding increase for special education and childcare and development programs if an inflation or cost-of-living adjustment is not otherwise provided for those programs. Existing law suspends the annual cost-of-living adjustment for childcare and development programs for the 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, and 2020–21 fiscal years. This bill would additionally suspend the annual cost-of-living adjustment for childcare and development programs for the 2025–26 fiscal year. (6) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates for state-subsidized childcare and development services. Existing law also requires the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to develop and conduct an alternative methodology, as specified, to set reimbursement rates for state-subsidized childcare and development services. Existing law requires the department, from October 1, 2024, to January 1, 2026, inclusive, to provide the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, and the Legislative Analyst's Office with quarterly updates on the implementation of the new reimbursement rates set under the alternative methodology. If a market rate survey is used to set reimbursement rates, existing law requires the department to contract to conduct a regional market rate survey no more than once every 2 years, as specified. This bill would extend the timeframe during which the above-described quarterly update is required to July 1, 2027, and require the department to include additional specified information commencing with the quarterly update due October 1, 2025. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2026, increase rates for specified programs by the cost-of-living adjustment granted by the Legislature annually, as specified. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to cease using a regional market rate survey and to instead use an alternative methodology to inform the setting of future childcare rates, and to set reimbursement rates that are informed by the alternative methodology by statute. The bill would further express the intent of the Legislature that specified programs be reimbursed under a unified structure that takes into account a common set of rate elements, that base rates be administered as a per-child amount, and that rate levels be informed by, and rates vary based on, specified criteria. (7) Existing law also requires, for California state preschool programs and childcare and development programs, the State Department of Education and the State Department of Social Services to collaborate to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates. Existing law requires the reimbursement rate to be increased by the above-described cost-of-living adjustment, except for specified fiscal years, including the 2024–25 fiscal year. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2026, require the cost-of-living adjustment for state preschool programs to be consistent with the adjustment granted by the Legislature annually, as specified. The bill would additionally suspend the annual cost-of-living adjustment for the 2025–26 fiscal year. (8) Existing law requires, commencing January 1, 2022, those California state preschool program contractors and childcare and development program contractors who, as of December 31, 2021, received the established standard reimbursement rate to be reimbursed at the greater of the 75th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey or the contract per-child reimbursement amount as of December 31, 2021, as increased by a specified cost-of-living adjustment. This bill would instead require, commencing July 1, 2025, and through June 30, 2026, if the program is open and operating in accordance with its approved program calendar and remains open and providing services to certified children throughout the program year, the contract reimbursement to be based on the lesser of the maximum reimbursable amount stated in the contract and the net reimbursable program costs. The bill would also require, commencing July 1, 2026, the contract reimbursement to be based on the lesser of the maximum reimbursable amount stated in the contract, the net reimbursable program costs, or the product of the adjusted child days of enrollment for certified children times the contract rate set forth in the above-described provisions. (9) Existing law also requires the State Department of Social Services, in the administration of childcare and development programs, to contract with local contracting agencies for a variety of alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires alternative payment programs to reimburse childcare providers based upon actual days and hours of attendance. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2025, and through June 30, 2026, instead require those programs to reimburse childcare providers based on families' certified need, as specified, and would appropriate $88,550,000 from the General Fund for this purpose. (10) Existing law authorizes family childcare providers to form, join, and participate in the activities of provider organizations and to seek the certification of a provider organization to act as the representative for family childcare providers on matters related to childcare subsidy programs pursuant to a petition and election process overseen by the Public Employment Relations Board or a neutral third party designated by the board. Existing law requires the Governor and a certified provider organization to jointly prepare a memorandum of understanding if an agreement is reached, which is required to be presented to the Legislature for determination, and which would be binding on all state departments and agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, and any political subdivision of the state, that are involved in the administration of state-funded early care and education programs. If the above-described reimbursement rate provisions are in conflict with a memorandum of understanding between the Governor and a certified provider organization, the bill would require the memorandum of understanding to be controlling without further legislative action, except as specified. (11) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
