Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) must report cybersecurity attacks. Incidents of cyber attacks on LEAs had already been increasing in recent years, but the COVID-19 Pandemic (and, more specifically, the rapid deployment of remote/online learning) only served to make schools more vulnerable to cyber events. Even as children have returned to in-classroom learning, news of increasingly […]

Over the last few years, student services issues have been addressed largely through the state budget rather than legislation. Through the past two state budgets, universal school meals have been established and implemented, and the “California’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health, which includes the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative and the expansion of […]

Pair of bills aims to keep kids safe from gun violence while at school. The Governor signed two bills that raise awareness of gun safety protocols and compel reporting of certain threats. AB 452 by Assembly Member Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) requires districts, county offices of education (COEs), and charter schools to provide to the parents […]

Unprecedented revenue growth drives historic Proposition 98 funding. California tax revenue continued to grow at an extraordinary rate after the initial shock of the COVID-19 shutdowns. The “big three” taxes (personal income, corporations and sales) grew about 30% in 2020-21 and an additional 20% in 2021-22. General Fund revenues that count toward the calculation of […]

Historic State Investment in School Facilities Focused on State Budget While Statewide Bonds Stalled. We began the second year of the 2021-22 Legislative Session with two almost identical bills that would have placed a statewide school facilities bond on the November 2022 ballot. With rising inflation and other changes in the economy, it became increasingly […]

In what seems to have become the norm over the past few years, some of the biggest bills for schools this year came in the human resources space. This includes efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on staffing, from expanding the availability of supplemental sick leave for employees impacted by COVID to removing credentialing […]

Temporary Changes to Brown Act teleconference requirements signed into law. During the pandemic, it became impossible for legislative bodies governed by the Brown Act to adhere to the so- called “traditional rules” of teleconferencing, which require that each teleconferenced meeting location be publicly posted, agendas be posted at each location, and the public be granted […]

2022 was a relatively quiet year in terms of the Legislature making significant changes to curriculum & instruction in California’s schools. This was largely driven by the focus on COVID-19 impact mitigation and the continued implementation of new programs in the early learning and expanded learning spaces contained in the State Budget (see previously released […]

State invests $6 billion in broadband infrastructure over 3 years. A problem that has been persistent in California for years, the digital divide was highlighted in a major way when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Perhaps more than any other sector, schools felt the impact of a sudden and almost total reliance on access to high-speed internet. In an effort to help remedy the issue, bills were quickly introduced in both houses of the state Legislature in 2020 and 2021. However, one of the most significant proposals this year came via enactment of the state budget.