Existing law, notwithstanding the requirement that each person between 6 and 18 years of age who is not otherwise exempted is subject to compulsory full-time education, requires a pupil to be excused from school for specified types of absences, including, among others, for justifiable personal reasons when the pupil's absence is requested in writing by the parent or guardian and approved by the principal or a designated representative, as provided. Existing law specifies that a justifiable personal reason includes observance of a holiday or ceremony of the pupil's religion. This bill would include observance of a holiday or ceremony of the pupil's religion as a type of required excused absence without the requirement that the absence be requested in writing by the parent or guardian and approved by the principal or a designated representative. To the extent that this bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, 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 establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate. Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers' Retirement Board. Existing law also creates the Cash Balance Benefit Program, which is administered by the board, to provide a retirement plan for the benefit of participating employees who provide creditable service for less than 50% of full time. Existing federal law requires public employers, which includes community college employers, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. Existing law requires employers subject to STRS, including community college employers, to make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to persons employed to provide creditable service subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program and to inform part-time and substitute employees that they may elect membership in the Defined Benefit Program at any time while employed, as specified. This bill would require STRS, in consultation with the Public Employees' Retirement System, on or before July 1, 2027, to provide on its internet website links to specified information regarding the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security. The bill would require that information to include, among other things, the differences between membership and contributions made to the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program and covered by social security. The bill would require a community college district, commencing July 1, 2027, to provide the information to a newly hired person who is classified as a temporary employee, as provided. The bill would require a person classified as a temporary employee, as specified, who is employed by a community college district to perform credible service to be provided with the option of membership in the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on a community college district, 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 authorizes the legislative body of any county or city to adopt ordinances that, among other things, regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land as between industry, business, residences, open space, and other purposes. This bill would require the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, in consultation with specified state entities, to develop and publish one or more model ordinances regarding micro-education entities and microschools. The bill would define various terms for these purposes.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education, on or before January 31, 2024, to appoint an independent panel of experts for the purpose of creating an approved list of evidence-based, culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate screening instruments for pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 to assess pupils for risk of reading difficulties, including possible neurological disorders such as dyslexia, as specified. Existing law requires the governing board or body of a school district, county office of education, or charter school serving pupils in kindergarten or grades 1 or 2 to adopt, on or before June 30, 2025, one or more screening instruments from the approved list to assess pupils for risk of reading difficulties, as specified, and commencing no later than the 2025–26 school year, requires those local educational agencies to assess each pupil in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 for risk of reading difficulties using the screening instrument or instruments adopted by the governing board or body of the local educational agency, as specified. This bill would, on or before July 31, 2027, require the state board to approve and the State Department of Education to post on its internet website criteria and guidance for selecting evidence-based, culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate mathematics diagnostic assessments for pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 to assess pupils' mathematics knowledge and learning needs and identify pupils in need of additional support. The bill would require the department, on or before January 31, 2028, to (1) publish on its internet website a list of approved diagnostic assessments that meet the criteria, and (2) post on its internet website additional guidance to assist local educational agencies in selecting diagnostic assessments from the approved list, as provided. The bill would require the list to include diagnostic assessments that are developed for both English learners and non-English learners, as provided. The bill would require the state board and the department to solicit stakeholder input when developing the criteria, guidance, and list of diagnostic assessments pursuant to these provisions and to allow for public comment. The bill would authorize the department to periodically update the list of approved assessments. The bill would require the governing board or body of a school district, county office of education, or charter school serving pupils in kindergarten or grades 1 or 2 to adopt, on or before June 30, 2028, one or more diagnostic assessments from the published list of approved diagnostic assessments to assess pupils' mathematics knowledge and learning needs. The bill would authorize a local educational agency to satisfy this requirement by using a diagnostic assessment that is not on the published list if the governing board or body self-certifies that the assessment tool meets the above-described criteria. The bill, commencing no later than the 2028–29 school year, would require those local educational agencies to assess each pupil in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 for mathematics knowledge using the diagnostic assessment or assessments adopted by the governing board or body of the local educational agency. The bill would require a local educational agency to provide parents or guardians of pupils eligible for assessment with information about the assessment and to make pupil results available to parents or guardians, as required by the state board, as provided. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department, by April 30, 2028, to curate and maintain on its internet website guidance and resources on evidence-based support, intervention, and instructional strategies aligned with the Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve. 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 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.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to identify an evidence-based online training program that a county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, can use to train school staff and pupils as part of their policy on pupil suicide prevention. Existing law requires the department, subject to an appropriation for these purposes, to provide a grant to a county office of education to acquire a training program identified by the department and disseminate that training program at no cost to specified educational entities, as specified. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by (1) deleting the requirement to provide the above-described grant, (2) deleting the requirement of the department to identify the above-described evidence-based online training program, (3) instead requiring the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to develop an online training program to train school staff, pupils who are 13 years of age or older, and parents, guardians, or caregivers of pupils as part of the policy on pupil suicide prevention adopted by county offices of education, school districts, state special schools, and charter schools that serve pupils in kindergarten or in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as specified. The bill would require those educational entities that elect to conduct suicide risk screenings to report, on or before June 30, 2027, and June 30 annually thereafter, the number of pupils screened, and which screening instruments were used, for the reporting year, to the department, as provided, and would require the department to compile and post statewide aggregate data on these screenings on its internet website, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, develop, and the State Board of Education to adopt, modify, or revise, model curriculum frameworks, as specified. Existing law requires the commission, when the health curriculum framework is next revised on or after January 1, 2025, to consider providing for inclusion, in that curriculum framework, content on sextortion, as defined. Existing law, 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 from instructors trained in the appropriate courses, at least once in junior high or middle school and at least once in high school. Under the act, this instruction includes, among other things, information about human trafficking. Existing law requires school districts, as part of the requirement of the California Healthy Youth Act that pupils receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education from instructors trained in the appropriate courses, to ensure the periodic conduction of continuation training to enable school district personnel to learn about new developments in the understanding of, among other things, human trafficking, and to receive instruction on current prevention resources, as provided. This bill would require the commission, when the health curriculum framework is next revised on or after January 1, 2027, to consider providing for inclusion in that framework content related to human trafficking and online safety, including how to prevent human trafficking, how to prevent exploitation for labor and services, how to stay safe from sexually exploitative materials and deepfakes online, foundational digital citizenship skills, and skills-based content that builds protective factors, as provided. The bill would require the topics considered to follow a cumulative, age-appropriate progression from kindergarten to grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided. The bill would require the State Department of Education to curate and maintain information on its internet website related to the above-described topics, and related recommended training for educators, as provided.
This bill designates February 26, 2026, as "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" to highlight the importance of encouraging young women to pursue careers in engineering. The measure serves as a commemorative resolution rather than creating new laws or funding requirements. It does not alter existing policies or directly affect government operations, but instead establishes a specific date for awareness and celebration.
Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law authorizes the commission to approve a regionally accredited institution of higher education, as defined, to recommend to the commission the issuance of credentials to persons who have successfully completed a teacher education program of the institution if the program meets the standards approved by the commission. Existing law requires, as a minimum requirement for a preliminary multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential, the satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation, as provided. Existing law requires professional preparation, including student teaching, to be made available in the upper division course offerings at all California public institutions of higher learning, except as provided. This bill would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Chancellor of the California State University to develop, on or before July 1, 2027, a plan to increase professional teacher preparation partnerships between California State University campuses and community college districts that addresses (1) the expansion of online programs of professional preparation offered by the California State University in partnership with community college districts to increase access and opportunities for students pursuing teaching careers in rural communities, and (2) the expansion of educator preparation pathways between community college districts and the California State University to include opportunities for concurrent enrollment at the California State University in teacher preparation coursework for community college students pursuing a teaching credential. The bill would make implementation of the plan contingent upon an appropriation for its purposes. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2033.
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, require school districts maintaining an elementary or secondary school to adopt a school accountability report card for each school. The act also requires, by statute, the governing boards of school districts maintaining an elementary or secondary school to annually issue a school accountability report card that includes certain information for each school in the school district, publicize those reports, and notify parents and guardians of pupils that a hard copy of those reports is available upon request, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with, and subject to the approval of, the executive director of the State Board of Education, to develop and maintain the California School Dashboard, a web-based system for publicly reporting performance data on the state and local indicators included in evaluation rubrics. This bill would require the department, on or before August 31, 2027, to provide a report to the Legislature that identifies duplication between the data contained in the school accountability report card and other publicly available data sources, as provided. Existing law requires a local educational agency to develop annually a summary document known as the local control funding formula budget overview for parents. Existing law requires, before the governing board or body of a local educational agency considers the adoption of a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) or an annual update to the LCAP, certain things to occur, including that the superintendent of the school district, the county superintendent of schools, or the charter school present a report on the annual update to the LCAP and the local control funding formula budget overview for parents on or before February 28 of each year at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board or body of the local educational agency, as specified. This bill would eliminate the February 28 deadline for the presentation of the above-described report on the annual update to the LCAP and the local control funding formula budget overview. Under existing law, each school district and county office of education is responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in consultation with certain local entities. Existing law requires each school to annually review and update its comprehensive school safety plan, and to report each July on the status of its school safety plan, including a description of its key elements in the annual school accountability report card, as provided. This bill would repeal the requirement that each school annually report on the status of its school safety plan. Existing law requires the department to exercise general supervision over the courses of physical education in the elementary and secondary schools of the state, advise officials, school boards, and teachers in the development and improvement of their physical education and activity programs, and investigate the work in physical education in the public schools. Existing law requires the department to ensure that the data collected through the categorical program monitoring indicates the extent to which each school within the jurisdiction of a school district or county office of education provides, among other things, for inclusion of the results of physical testing of pupils in the school accountability report card, as provided. This bill would repeal the above-described requirement that the results of physical testing of pupils be included in the school accountability report card. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district maintaining any of grades 5, 7, or 9, during the month of February, March, April, or May, to administer to each pupil in those grades the physical performance test designated by the state board and report the aggregate results of this physical performance testing in its annual school accountability report card. This bill would repeal this reporting requirement.
