Trio of bills provides additional support for LGBTQ+ pupils on campuses.
As part of a larger package of bills to provide additional supports to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGTBQ+) Californians, the Governor signed several measures aimed specifically at schools and students. AB 5 by Assembly Member Rick Zbur (D-Los Angeles) will require school districts, county offices of education (COEs) and charter schools to provide training for the support of LGBTQ+ pupils, and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ+ pupils, at least once every two years to teachers and other certificated employees of those schools that serve pupils in middle and high school. Current law encourages schools to provide this training but AB 5 instead requires, commencing with the 2025–26 school year, each local educational agency (LEA) serving pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to use the online training delivery platform and curriculum required to be developed by the California Department of Education (CDE) under the bill, or an in-service alternative, to provide at least one hour of required training annually to teachers and other certificated employees. The bill also requires each LEA to maintain records documenting the training, including the date that each employee satisfied the training requirement and the name of the entity that provided the training. The bill’s provisions are set to expire at the end of the 2029-30 school year.
The Governor also signed SB 857 by Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), which requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI), on or before July 1, 2024, to convene an advisory task force to identify the needs of LGBTQ+ pupils and to make recommendations to assist in implementing supportive policies and initiatives to address LGBTQ+ pupil education and well-being. The SSPI will be required to select
15 members for the task force, including eight high school pupils identifying as LGBTQ+, a school administrator, two certificated teachers, two mental health professionals, a community LGTBQ+ advocate, and a representative from the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity. Under the bill, the task force will be required to report their findings and recommendations to the Legislature, the SSPI, and the Governor on or before January 1, 2026. According to the author, the goal of the task force is to bring “students, teachers, and administrators together to ensure that authentic voices from the community are involved in discussion about how to create a safe and supportive environment for LGTBQ+ students, while providing [CDE] with valuable perspectives to ensure resources are efficiently allocated to implement existing laws and better support LGTBQ+ student needs.”
Also part of the package of signed bills is SB 760 by Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton). This bill requires all school sites with more than one girl’s bathroom and more than one boy’s bathroom, to provide at least one all- gender restroom for pupil use. More information about this bill can be found in our Facilities Changes in Law Section.
Governor signs bill to expand access to free menstrual products in schools.
Under the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021, schools serving any combination of classes from grades 6-12 have been required since the 2022-23 school year to stock an adequate supply of menstrual products free of charge in all women’s and all-gender restrooms and in at least one men’s restroom. AB 230 by Assembly Member Eloise Reyes Gomez (D-Colton) will extend this requirement to public schools serving any combination of classes from grades 3 to 12, commencing with the 2024-25 school year.
A similar effort to increase access to free contraceptives on school campuses was less successful. SB 541 by Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-Burbank) would have required all public high schools to make condoms available to students and provide information to students on the availability of the condoms and other sexual health information. In his veto message for the bill, Governor Newsom seemed supportive of the policy but had concerns about implanting a requirement that was not considered as part of this year’s budget, writing, “While evidence-based strategies, like increasing access to condoms, are important to supporting improved adolescent sexual health, this bill would create an unfunded mandate to public schools that should be considered in the annual budget process.”
New required notice regarding state’s HPV vaccine policy.
AB 659 by Assembly Member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) establishes that it is the state’s policy that students are advised to adhere to current immunization guidelines regarding full human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization before admission or advancement to the 8th grade at any private or public elementary or secondary school and requires that this state policy be included in the annual notifications provided by schools to every student upon their admission or advancement to the 6th grade. Applicable to the governing authority of any private or public elementary or secondary school, the required notice must also do all of the following:
- Advise that the student adhere to current HPV immunization guidelines before admission or advancement to the 8th
- Include a statement, as determined by the California Department of Public Health, summarizing the recommend ages for the HPV vaccine and science rationale for vaccination at those
- Include this statement: “HPV vaccination can prevent over 90 percent of cancers caused by HPV. HPV vaccines are safe, and scientific research shows that the benefits of HPV vaccination far outweigh the potential risks.”
While the introduced version of the bill would have added immunization HPV to the list of vaccinations required for admittance into a public or private school, the final version of the bill only requires the above notice and does not make any changes to the list of required vaccinations. A student may still be admitted to the 8th grade even if they have not been vaccinated against HPV and nothing in SB 659 prohibits a school from including such a statement in the notice.
Legislation addresses missing pieces in Universal Meals Program.
Now that Universal Meals are largely in place, the focus has moved to finetuning the program to ensure it meets the needs of students and works within the parameters of the school schedule and programs. This year two bills contributed tothis goal. SB 348 by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), looking to address how schools can provide two meals on half-days, modifies the requirement under Universal Meals to require schools “make available,” rather than “provide,” two nutritionally adequate school meals every school day. Federal law prohibits schools from serving meals in a noncongregate manner and schools had raised questions about what this meant for days where a student is no longer on campus come lunchtime. By changing the requirement, schools will be able to meet the two-meal requirement on half-days if they establish a time that the second meal will be provided, therefore providing students that would like a second meal the opportunity to receive one. SB 348 also adds the requirement that both meals must be served with “adequate time to eat” and directs CDE, in collaboration with school food service authorities, school food service workers and others, to make a recommendation for the amount of time that is adequate for a student to eat their meal. These recommendations must be posted on CDE’s website on or before June 30, 2025, though the requirement that meals be provided with adequate time to eat kicks in January 1, 2024.
The second bill, AB 95 by Assembly Member Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) came after legislative staff visited school meal programs where they heard several complain about “still starving” after eating their school meals. AB 95 clarifies that schools are allowed to sell a second entrée to students at breakfast or lunch, after the student receives their reimbursable meal, provided the entrée is from a nutritiously adequate meal that qualifies for federal reimbursement. Under federal law, schools are unable to receive federal reimbursement for standalone entrees because they do not fulfill the prescribed nutritional requirements on their own.
Bill establishes statewide standards for recess in TK-12 schools.
Looking to ensure that students that have access to recess have equal access across the state, SB 291 by Senator Newman requires schools that offer recess, beginning the 2024-25 school year, to provide at least 30- minutes of recess on regular instructional days and on at least 15 minutes on early release days. The bill states that recess may be provided in one or more periods but must be separate and distinct from physical education courses and mealtimes. It will be important to keep this upcoming requirement in mind as schools build out their school schedules for the 2024-25 school year, especially if their current schedule combines lunch and recess time. For example, a schedule that allots 45 minutes for lunch and recess, with 20 minutes for lunch and 25 minutes for recess, would no longer be compliant under SB 291. Further complicating this calculation will be the new requirement under SB 348 (see above) that students be provided adequate time to eat. According to CDE’s website, the federal Center Disease Control recommends ensuring students have at least 20 minutes for lunch once they are seated.
The bill also deletes the authority for a school board to adopt reasonable rules and regulations to authorize a teacher to restrict the time a student is allowed for recess for disciplinary purposes. Instead, SB 291 now provides that a student cannot be denied recess unless the student’s participation poses an immediate threat to the physical safety of the student or one or more of the student’s peers and requires school staff to make all reasonable efforts to resolve the threats and minimize exclusion from recess to the greatest extent possible.
More (federal) money, more (needed) money, more (reimbursed) money!
The Local Education Agency Medi-Cal Billing Option Program (LEA BOP) is a program that allows schools to claim reimbursement for a portion of the cost of delivering health services to Medi-Cal eligible students and provides federal Medicaid matching funds to LEAs for health-related services provided by specified health practitioners to students enrolled in Medi-Cal. AB 483 by Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) updates the requirements related to LEA BOP to make them more suitable and more reflective of an understanding of how LEAs operate with the goal of increasing funding available to support student health services. These modifications include requiring the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) complete an audit and notify an LEA of the audit findings within 18 months of the date the services were claimed and requiring DHCS to provide technical assistance to LEAs that experience a 25% or greater difference between their submitted cost report and the final audited settlement. Reforming the DHCS audit claims process for schools participating in LEA BOP will hopefully increase access to funding which will then also expand access to services for students. DHCS will also be required to consult with the LEA Ad Hoc workgroup, which consists of CDE and LEAs, as it works to amend the state plan to implement the requirements of AB 483.
The Governor signed the following student services bills:
Alternative Education
- AB 1643 (Bauer-Kahan) – Juveniles: informal supervision.
Current law authorizes a probation officer, in certain circumstances, to delineate a specific program of supervision for a minor who is alleged to have committed a crime but makes a minor ineligible for that program of supervision for specified reasons, including if the minor is alleged to have committed an offense in which the restitution owed to the victim exceeds $1,000. AB 1643 makes changes to this prohibition and instead prohibits a minor from participating in a program of supervision if the minor has committed an offense in which the restitution owed exceeds $5,000.
Chapter 850, Statutes of 2023 - SB 578 (Ashby) – Juvenile court: dependents: removal.
Current law requires a social worker to report to the court on the reasons why a child has been removed from the parent’s, guardian’s, or Indian custodian’s physical custody, the need, if any, for continued detention, and the available services and the referral methods to those services that could facilitate the return of the child to the custody of the child’s parents, among other things. SB 578 requires the social worker’s report to also include information regarding the short-term and long-term harms to the child that may result from their removal, including the child’s perspective on removal, the existing relationship between the child and members of the household, and the disruption to the child’s schooling, social relationships, and physical or emotional health that may result from placement out of the home, and in the case of an Indian child, the child’s connection to their tribe, extended family members, and tribal community.
Chapter 618, Statutes of 2023
Child Nutrition
- AB 95 (Hoover) – Pupil nutrition: pupil meals.
This bill provides that nothing in current law prohibits a school from selling to a student, after that student has been provided a federally reimbursable school meal, an additional entree from an additional nutritiously adequate meal that qualifies for federal reimbursement during the same meal service.
Chapter 318, Statutes of 2023 - AB 502 (Lee) – Food delivery platforms: disclosure.
AB 502 prohibits a website or application that lists, or produces through search results, telephone numbers associated with food facilities, including public and private school cafeterias, from associating a telephone number or other method of direct communication with a food facility on their internet website or application that the listing website knows would result in a call from a customer to the food facility that has been routed by a food delivery platform.
Chapter 164, Statutes of 2023 - SB 348 (Skinner) – Pupil meals.
SB 348 clarifies that under California’s Universal Meals Program, local educational agencies (LEAs) must make available a nutritionally adequate breakfast and a nutritionally adequate lunch, free of charge, to any pupil who requests it. The bill requires LEAs to provide students with adequate time to eat and requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to review available evidence-based research, studies, and survey findings with school food authorities and school food workers, to make a recommendation for the amount of that time is adequate for a pupil to eat a school meal. For charter schools, the bill requires a chartering authority to, upon a request by a charter school and to the extend feasible with existing resources, provide technical assistance to the charter school in implementing universal meals. For LEAs that offer independent study, the bill also requires them to meet the requirements of universal meals for any pupil on any schooldays that the pupil is scheduled for educational activities lasting two or more hours, at a school site or other satellite facility. Additionally, the bill requires CDE to develop guidelines and recommendations related to allowable levels of added sugars in school meals.
Chapter 600, Statutes of 2023 - SB 628 (Hurtado) – State Healthy Food Access Policy.
This bill declares that it is the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to access sufficient affordable and healthy food and requires all relevant state agencies, including CDE, to consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies, regulations, and grant criteria are pertinent to the distribution of sufficient affordable food.
Chapter 879, Statutes of 2023
Homeless/Foster Youth
- AB 373 (Gipson) – Intersession programs: foster children and homeless youth: priority access.
AB 373 requires a school district, county office of education (COE), or charter school, if the LEA operates an intersession program, to grant priority access to foster children and homeless youth. The bill also provides that if a foster child or homeless youth will be moving during an intersession period, the pupil’s parent, guardian, educational rights holder, or Indian custodian, or, if there is no parent, guardian, educational rights holder, or Indian custodian, the unaccompanied homeless youth, shall determine which school the pupil attends for the intersession period, if applicable. The bill defines an “intersession program” to mean “an expanded learning program offered by a [LEA] on nonschooldays, including, but not limited to, summer school.
Chapter 327, Statutes of 2023 - SB 407 (Wiener) – Foster care: resource families.
This bill requires resource families to demonstrate an ability and willingness to meet the needs of a child, regardless of the child’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Additionally, SB 407 requires counties to ensure that caregiver training supports children of all races, ethnic group identifications, ancestries, national origins, colors, religions, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, mental or physical disabilities, or HIV statuses in foster care.
Chapter 226, Statutes of 2023
Mental Health
- AB 289 (Holden) – Mental health services: representation.
Current law establishes the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission and requires counties to prepare and submit a 3-year program and expenditure plan, and annual updates to the commission and the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill requires the stakeholders that a county must work with to develop the plan to include youths or youth mental health organizations as well as sufficient participation of individuals representing diverse viewpoints, including representatives from youth from historically marginalized communities, representatives from organizations specializing in working with underserved racially and ethnically diverse communities, and representatives from LGBTQ+ communities.
Chapter 518, Statutes of 2023 - AB 665 (Carrillo, Wendy) – Minors: consent to mental health services.
Current law, for some purposes, authorizes a minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, if the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or residential shelter services, as specified, and either the minor would present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to themselves or to others or if the minor is the alleged victim of incest or child abuse. For other purposes, current law authorizes a minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to mental health treatment or counseling services if the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or counseling services. AB 665 aligns these laws by removing the additional requirement that, in order to consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, the minor must present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to themselves or to others, or be the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.
Chapter 338, Statutes of 2023 - SB 326 (Eggman) – The Behavioral Health Services Act.
This bill revises and recasts the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) as the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) if voters approve amendments to the MHSA at the March 5, 2024 statewide primary election. This bill clarifies that county behavioral health programs are permitted to use BHSA funds to treat primary substance use disorder conditions and makes conforming changes throughout the BHSA. This bill also restructures current MHSA funding buckets, including distributing 35% of funds to community behavioral health programs for behavioral health services and supports (BHSS) to children and youth and adults/other adults, early intervention, outreach and engagement, workforce education and training, capital facilities and technological needs, and innovative behavioral health pilots and projects. The bill requires that 51% of BHSS funding be used for early intervention, and 51% of those funds for programs to serve individuals who are 25 years old and younger.
Chapter 790, Statutes of 2023
Pupil Health
- AB 223 (Ward) – Change of gender and sex identifier.
Existing law authorizes a person to file a petition with the superior court seeking a judgment recognizing their change of gender to female, male, or nonbinary, including a person who is under 18 years of age and authorizes a person to file a single petition to simultaneously change the petitioner’s name and recognize the change to the petitioner’s gender and sex identifier. This bill requires any petition for a change of gender and sex identifier or a petition for change of gender, sex identifier, and name filed by a person under 18 years of age, and any papers associated with the proceeding, to be kept confidential by the court.
Chapter 221, Statutes of 2023 - AB 230 (Reyes) – Menstrual products: Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021.
The Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021 requires a public school, maintaining any combination of classes from grades 6 to 12, inclusive, to stock the school’s restrooms with an adequate supply of free menstrual products available and accessible, free of cost, in all women’s restrooms and all-gender restrooms, and in at least one men’s restroom, at all times, and to post a certain notice, on or before the start of the 2022–23 school year. AB 230 extends these requirements, commencing on or before the start of the 2024–25 school year, to apply to public schools maintaining any combination of classes from grades 3 to 12, inclusive.
Chapter 421, Statutes of 2023 - AB 245 (McKinnor) – High school athletics: California High School Coaching Education and Training Program: emergency action plan.
Current law requires every high school sports coach to complete, at their own expense, a coaching education program that meets the guidelines established by the California High School Coaching Education and Training Program. This bill revises and recasts the program’s requirements for training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid by, among other things, requiring training in recognizing and responding to the signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest by July 1, 2024 and adding certification in use of an automated enteral defibrillator (AED).
Chapter 422, Statutes of 2023 - AB 483 (Muratsuchi) – Local educational agency: Medi-Cal billing option.
AB 483 modifies and imposes new requirements related to timelines, reporting, technical assistance, stakeholder engagement, and guidance for the Local Education Agency Medi-Cal Billing Option Program (LEA BOP), a program that allows schools to claim reimbursement for a portion of the cost of delivering health services to Medi-Cal eligible students. Among other things, the bill requires the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to distribute an updated program guide to all participating LEAs by July 1, 2024, change the time within which DHCS must complete and audit and notify an ELA of audit findings from 12 months to 18 months., and require DHCS to provide semi-annual LEA BOP billing forums to provide guidance on appropriate billing practices.
Chapter 527, Statutes of 2023 - AB 659 (Aguiar-Curry) – Cancer Prevention Act.
This bill, the Cancer Prevention Act, states that it is state public policy that pupils are advised to adhere to current immunization guideline regarding full human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization before admission or advancement to the 8th grade of any private or public elementary or secondary school. The bill then requires, upon a pupil’s admission or advancement to the 6th grade level, the governing authority of any private or public elementary or secondary school to send to the pupil and their parent/guardian a notification containing a statement about the state’s public policy on HPV and advising that the pupil adhere to current HPV guidelines.
Chapter 809, Statutes of 2023 - AB 816 (Haney) – Minors: consent to medical care.
AB 816 authorizes a minor who is 16 years of age or older to consent to replacement narcotic abuse treatment that uses buprenorphine at a physician’s office, clinic, or health facility, by a licensed physician and surgeon or other health care provider, whether the minor also has the consent of their parent or guardian. The bill also authorizes a minor 16 years of age or older to consent to any other medications for opioid use disorder from a licensed narcotic treatment program as replacement narcotic therapy without the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian only if, and to the extent, expressly permitted by federal law.
Chapter 456, Statutes of 2023 - AB 1283 (Chen) – Pupil health: emergency stock albuterol inhalers.
AB 1283 authorizes a school district, COE, or charter school to provide emergency stock albuterol inhalers, including, if necessary, single-use disposable holding chambers, to school nurses or trained personnel who have volunteered, and authorizes school nurses or trained personnel to use an emergency stock albuterol inhaler to provide emergency medical aid to persons suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from respiratory distress. Additionally, the bill prohibits an LEA that elects to utilize stock albuterol inhalers for emergency aid from being liable for civil damages for this administration and requires those LEAs to provide defense and indemnity to an employee who volunteers under these provisions for any and all civil liability. The bill also requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish, and post on CDE’s website, minimum standards of training for the administration of stock albuterol inhalers and, every 5 years or sooner, review those standards.
Chapter 574, Statutes of 2023 - AB 1651 (Sanchez) – Pupil health: emergency medical care: epinephrine auto-injectors.
Current law requires school districts, COEs, and charter schools to provide emergency epinephrine auto- injectors to school nurses or trained volunteer personnel and authorizes school nurses and trained personnel to use epinephrine auto-injectors to provide emergency medical aid to persons suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from an anaphylactic reaction. AB 1651 requires school districts, COEs, and charter schools to, among other things, store those emergency epinephrine auto-injectors in an accessible location upon need for emergency use and include that location in specified annual notices. This bill also extends the definition of “volunteer” and “trained personnel” to include the holder of an Activity Supervisor Clearance Certificate, who has volunteered to administer epinephrine auto-injectors.
Chapter 588, Statutes of 2023 - AB 1653 (Sanchez) – Interscholastic athletic programs: emergency action plans: heat illness: guidelines.
If a school district or charter school elects to offer any interscholastic athletic program, current law requires the governing entity of the school district or charter school to ensure that there is a written emergency action plan in place that describes the location and procedures to be followed in the event of sudden cardiac arrest or other medical emergencies related to the athletic program’s activities or events. This bill requires the written emergency action plan to also include the location and procedures to be followed in the event of heat illness related to the athletic program’s activities or events. The bill also requires the California Interscholastic Federation, in consultation with CDE, to develop guidelines, procedures, and safety standards for the prevention and management of exertional heat illness, no later than July 1, 2024.
Chapter 589, Statutes of 2023 - AB 1722 (Dahle, Megan) – Pupil health: credentialed school nurses, registered nurses, and licensed vocational nurses.
AB 1722 authorizes, until January 1, 2029, a LEA to employ a licensed vocational nurse (LVN) who is supervised by a credentialed school nurse (CSN) employed by the same LEA or a different LEA. The bill prohibits interpreting this provision to allow a LVN to go beyond the approved scope of practice pursuant to the Vocational Nursing Practice Act. The bill requires an LEA to only hire a LVN if a diligent search has been conducted for a suitable credentialed school nurse each school year and requires a LEA to seek approval from its governing board or body before hiring an LVN.
Chapter 853, Statutes of 2023
Student Services
- AB 5 (Zbur) – The Safe and Supportive Schools Act.
The bill requires, commencing with the 2025–26 school year and ending with the completion of the 2029–30 school year, each LEA serving pupils in grades 7 to 12 to use the online training delivery platform and curriculum required to be developed by CDE under this bill, or an in-service alternative, to provide at least one hour of required training annually to teachers and other certificated employees at those schools. The bill also requires each LEA to maintain records documenting the training, including the date that each employee satisfied the training requirement and the name of the entity that provided the training.
Chapter 220, Statutes of 2023 - AB 368 (Holden) – College and Career Access Pathways partnerships.
Current law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to enter into a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership with the governing board of an LEA for the purpose of offering or expanding dual enrollment opportunities for pupils who may not already be college bound or who are underrepresented in higher education. AB 368 adds a definition of “underrepresented in higher education” for these purposes and includes first-time college students, low-income students, students who are current or former foster youth, homeless students, students with disabilities and students with dependent children. The bill also now requires, rather than authorizes, the governing board of a community college district participating in a CCAP partnership to enroll high school pupils in any course that is part of a CCAP partnership offered at a community college campus, and expressly authorizes courses to be offered at the community college campus or the participating high school campus.
Chapter 521, Statutes of 2023 - AB 800 (Ortega) – Workplace Readiness Week: work permits.
This bill requires the week of each year that includes April 28 to be known as “Workplace Readiness Week” and requires all public high schools, including charter schools, to annually observe the week by providing information to pupils on their rights as workers, and would specify the topics to be covered. AB 800 requires the observances to be integrated into the regular school program in grades 11 and 12, consistent with the history-social science framework. The bill also requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to annually send a written notice to every public high school detailing the requirements of Workplace Readiness Week and how teachers may access related instructional materials and other resources.
Chapter 271, Statutes of 2023 - AB 1173 (Ta) – College and career fairs.
This bill requires a LEA serving pupils in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, that chooses to hold a college or career fair to notify each community college district that has overlapping jurisdiction with the LEA of a college or career fair and provide an opportunity for the community college district to participate in the fair.
Chapter 23, Statutes of 2023 - AB 1327 (Weber) – Interscholastic athletics: California Interscholastic Federation: racial discrimination, harassment, or hazing.
This bill, among other things, requires CDE, on or before January 1, 2025, to develop a standardized incident form to track racial discrimination, harassment, or hazing that occurs at high school sporting games or sporting events, and annually report the information from completed incident forms on the department’s website. Then, on or before April 1, 2025, the bill requires LEAs that participate in the CIF to post the form on their websites and include information on how to submit a completed incident form to the LEA. LEAs will also be required to submit information related to any completed incident form received by the LEA, upon request by CDE.
Chapter 366, Statutes of 2023 - AB 1605 (Gallagher) – High schools: military services: United States Space Force.
Current law prohibits each school district offering instruction in grades 9 to 12, that provides on-campus access to employers, from prohibiting access to the military services. AB 1605 extends this prohibition to also include each county office of education and charter school offering instruction in grades 9 to 12 that provides on- campus access to employers. The bill also adds the United States Space Force to the definition of “military services” for this purpose.
Chapter 142, Statutes of 2023 - SB 228 (Roth) – Civilian youth opportunities program.
Current law authorizes the Adjutant General to conduct a civilian youth opportunities program, known as the “National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program,” consisting of a residential program and post-residential mentoring to serve at-risk teens in areas of the state, including, but not limited to, the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California. This bill requires the Adjutant General to additionally conduct that program in western Riverside County.
Chapter 703, Statutes of 2023 - SB 291 (Newman) – Pupil rights: recess.
SB 291 requires, commencing with the 2024–25 school year, recess that is provided by a public school operated by a school district, COE, or charter school, to be at least 30 minutes on regular instructional days and at least 15 minutes on early release days. This bill also deletes the current law authorizing the governing board of a school district to adopt reasonable rules and regulations to authorize a teacher to restrict, for disciplinary purposes, the time a pupil is allowed for recess and instead prohibits school staff members from restricting a pupil’s recess unless there is an immediate threat to the physical safety of the pupil or the physical safety of one or more of the pupil’s peers.
Chapter 863, Statutes of 2023 - SB 321 (Ashby) – Literacy: libraries: Local Public Library Partnership Program.
SB 321 establishes the Local Public Library Partnership Program, under the administration of the State Librarian, for purposes of ensuring that all pupils have access to a local public library by 3rd grade. Pursuant to the program, the State Librarian must coordinate with each local public library to determine the most effective means to ensure each pupil in each LEA is issued a student success card by the 3rd grade, including, but not limited to, by working with a school administrator or school librarian. The bill requires the State Librarian, on or before January 1, 2026, to ensure that partnerships between local public libraries and LEAs have been established.
Chapter 598, Statutes of 2023 - SB 857 (Laird) – Advisory task force: LGBTQ+ pupil needs.
SB 857 requires the SSPI, on or before July 1, 2024, to convene an advisory task force to identify the needs of LGBTQ+ pupils and to make recommendations to assist in implementing supportive policies and initiatives to address LGBTQ+ pupil education and well-being. The bill then requires the advisory task force to, on or before January 1, 2026, report their findings and recommendations to the Legislature, the Superintendent, and the Governor.
Chapter 228, Statutes of 2023
Capitol Advisors Group has produced a set of comprehensive client briefs detailing new education laws that were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Newsom in 2023. Each brief is organized by subject area and includes an executive summary highlighting major changes we think you should know about. Bills signed by the Governor take effect on January 1, 2024, unless the bill specifically states otherwise.