Assembly Member Bennett's proposal to modify California's education and welfare codes aims to prevent student board member compensation from affecting eligibility for public assistance programs and college scholarships. The legislation would exempt financial compensation received by student members of county boards of education and school district governing boards from consideration when determining eligibility for means-tested programs like CalWORKs, CalFresh, and Medi-Cal, as well as various higher education financial aid programs including Cal Grants and the Middle Class Scholarship Program.

The bill maintains existing compensation structures for regular and student board members while adding provisions to ensure that student members' service-related earnings do not impact their access to critical support programs. For county boards of education, monthly compensation ranges from $160 to $600 based on county classification, while school district board compensation varies from $60 to $1,500 monthly depending on district size. Both systems allow prorated payments for partial meeting attendance and permit annual increases up to 5% with board approval.

To implement these changes, the legislation adds Section 11157.2 to the Welfare and Institutions Code explicitly exempting student board member compensation from income and resource calculations for public assistance programs. The bill includes provisions for state reimbursement of any costs incurred by local agencies in implementing these modifications to eligibility determinations.