Education

Strengthens hiring standards for California community college personnel by requiring specific qualifications. Mandates minimum or alternative qualifications for all faculty, administrators, and support staff positions. Applies to roles including instructors, counselors, librarians, and program administrators.

Requires schools to track and report sports-related head injuries and concussions in high school athletics. Mandates a standardized form by January 2025 to document discrimination and injuries at school sporting events. Requires schools to post incident reporting forms on their websites by April 2025. Establishes public hearings every seven years to review athletic safety and discrimination reports.

Establishes a new state agency to accredit and oversee educational programs for veterans. Requires organizations offering veteran education awards to obtain authorization from the new state agency. Authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to create and update regulations for veteran education programs.

Expands the school transportation safety advisory committee from 11 to 13 members to include low-income voices. Requires appointment of two low-income community members, one each from urban and rural areas. Maintains the committee's role in developing school transportation safety regulations with CHP.

Requires California schools to submit annual HVAC system inventories to the State Department of Education. Mandates HVAC systems meet minimum ventilation rates unless existing systems cannot safely comply. Requires installation of MERV-13 or highest feasible air filters in school HVAC systems. Directs state agencies to develop mandatory classroom carbon dioxide monitoring standards.

Expands career technical education and work-based learning programs in California high schools. Authorizes schools to offer apprenticeships and work experience starting in grade 10 instead of grade 11. Requires state agencies to create standardized frameworks for youth apprenticeship programs. Mandates data collection on work-based learning and apprenticeship programs statewide.

Establishes a pilot program providing full college costs to homeless high school students at three CSU campuses. Covers all remaining education costs beyond financial aid for eligible students aged 17-26 starting Fall 2026. Requires participating campuses to designate liaisons to support homeless students with resources and aid. Program expires in July 2031 unless extended by future legislation.

Adds immigration enforcement activities to the list of emergencies that qualify schools for attendance-based funding protection. Requires schools to document decreased attendance from immigration activities through governing board affidavits. Ensures schools receive full funding as if attendance had not been impacted by immigration enforcement.

Authorizes Allan Hancock College to offer bachelor's degrees without approval from state universities. Requires new degree programs to address unmet local workforce needs without duplicating existing programs. Maintains the $84 per unit fee cap for upper-division courses at community college rates. Limits community colleges to offering bachelor's degrees in 25% of their total degree programs.

Renames and updates the state library law to focus on equitable access to digital and in-person services for all Californians. Establishes an 11-member oversight board to ensure libraries provide equal access to resources across diverse communities. Mandates libraries offer core services including broadband access, early learning programs, and education resources. Protects libraries from being forced to include or exclude specific materials or content.

Protects in-state tuition rates for military dependents at California public universities even if their family member retires. Maintains resident status for military dependents who reenroll after their family member transfers out of state. Applies to natural, adopted, and stepchildren or spouses who are dependents of Armed Forces members.

Establishes new criteria for reclassifying English learner students as English proficient starting July 2026. Requires English learners to achieve a score of 3H or higher on the state English proficiency test for reclassification. Maintains requirements for teacher evaluation, parent input, and basic skills assessment in reclassification decisions.

Expands student rights to wear cultural and religious adornments at graduation and related school events. Prohibits schools from requiring pre-approval for wearing cultural or religious adornments. Allows students and families to determine what qualifies as traditional regalia or cultural objects. Exempts students from wearing graduation caps when incompatible with their cultural adornments.

Requires community colleges to provide full-time benefits to part-time faculty teaching full loads across multiple districts. Expands benefit eligibility by combining teaching hours from two or more community college districts. Addresses inequity between part-time and full-time faculty compensation in the community college system.

Requires schools to create individualized rehabilitation plans for expelled students with no cost to families. Prohibits denying student readmission due to financial barriers or lack of access to rehabilitation resources. Mandates schools to track and report detailed expulsion data including extension rates and outcomes. Requires counties to develop comprehensive education plans for expelled students including special education services.

Requires development of online tools to help low-income, foster, and undocumented students access financial aid by 2027. Mandates multilingual resources comparing college costs and financial aid options for different student situations. Establishes training programs for school counselors on using new financial aid guidance tools. Launches multilingual media campaign to promote financial aid resources in underserved communities.

Requires California high schools to adopt new ethnic studies standards and curriculum by January 2028. Mandates that ethnic studies courses be free from bias and appropriate for students of all backgrounds. Establishes an expert advisory committee to guide development of ethnic studies content and materials. Requires schools to submit their ethnic studies curricula for state review by June 2026.

Allows middle and high school students one excused absence per year for career technical education activities. Requires students to notify schools in advance of career technical education absences. Permits school administrators to approve additional career technical education absences beyond the annual limit. Mandates students complete all missed assignments and tests to receive full credit.

Establishes a new Education Equalization Reserve Account to reduce funding gaps between school districts. Requires state funding transfers when education revenue increases year-over-year. Mandates funds be used to increase per-pupil spending in qualifying school districts. Takes effect only if voters approve a related constitutional amendment.

Makes technical changes to community college job market study requirements.

Establishes a new online Youth Employment System (YES) to digitally track student work permits statewide. Requires the State Department of Education to create the YES database by December 31, 2029. Mandates all student work permits be uploaded to YES starting with the 2030-31 school year.

Requires schools to adopt comprehensive safety policies addressing student-staff boundaries and facility supervision by July 2026. Establishes a statewide database to track school employee misconduct and investigation reports by July 2027. Expands mandated child abuse reporting requirements to include all school employees, volunteers, and contractors. Mandates annual training for school staff on preventing abuse and maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.

Makes technical changes to provisions governing the California Community Colleges system.

Requires schools to enhance workplace violence prevention plans with in-person safety training by July 2026. Mandates training on de-escalation techniques and student reintegration strategies for all education staff. Requires new employees to complete violence prevention training before starting work. Establishes annual in-person training with live Q&A sessions for all educational staff.

Establishes a new college financing program allowing CSU and UC students to attend without paying upfront costs. Requires graduates to repay a percentage of their income instead of taking traditional student loans. Creates a dedicated fund to support future students using repayments from program graduates. Mandates at least 10,000 students must participate annually starting in the 2030-31 academic year.