California’s 2026 legislative session brought a number of changes affecting curriculum, instruction, assessments, English learner reclassification, career technical education, special education, reporting requirements, and related programs.

This overview highlights major changes local educational agencies (LEAs) should be aware of as they prepare for implementation. Unless otherwise specified, bills signed by the Governor take effect January 1, 2027.

Less Time on Paperwork, More Time for Students and Families

AB 2008 (Patel, D-San Diego) is the latest effort to cut down on paperwork for local education agencies (LEAs) and make any necessary reporting more efficient by calling for development of a standardized pre-populated template for competitive grant reports and adding a “sunset” to any bill establishing new reporting requirements.

The legislation builds on SB 1315 (Archuleta, Chapter 468, Statutes of 2024) which required the California Department of Education (CDE), by March 1, 2025, to report on how many reports schools must file each year. It also asked for ideas on which reports could be combined, cut, or shortened. Another bill this year, AB 2303 (Muratsuchi), would have called for the Legislative Analyst’s Office to recommend ways to make school reporting more efficient; however, that bill stalled after being held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

When talking about the need for the bill, Assembly Member Patel, said:

School administrators from across the state have been asking for ‘permission to focus.’ They want to spend their time on improving student success, not filling out endless reports. AB 2008 would give them that permission. By standardizing the reporting process and automatically sunsetting outdated requirements, AB 2008 would give much-needed time back to school administrators and allow them to better serve our students.

Reporting Template

AB 2008 requires CDE to create and post to its website a standardized template for use by LEAs when completing programmatic or expenditure reports for competitive state grant programs. However, this template would not apply to grants for technical assistance providers.

In drafting the template, CDE must ensure that the template creates reporting efficiencies for LEAs and schools that receive state grants and must consult relevant interest holders involved in LEA reporting and who represent the demographic and geographic diversity of the state.

The template will include the minimum information necessary to ascertain all of the following:

• Administrative information, including the name of the LEA and their contact information, the grant number, and reporting period.
• Programmatic outcomes, including the initial goals of the program, implementation status, key performance indicators, key successes, key challenges, and how the program funding has served unduplicated pupils, as applicable.
• Expenditure outcomes, including the initial award amount, the amount spent in the reporting period, and itemized expenditures, including their approved budget, actual expenditures, and variance
• The anticipated future of the funded activity, which may include whether the services provided by the grant will be maintained after the funding period ends, including any equipment or assets purchased with the funds.
• Additional information if required by statute.

AB 2008 also requires CDE to identify which information is already reported to CDE by LEAs to avoid reporting duplication and to ensure that grant reporting requirements do not exceed statutory or regulatory requirements.

By October 1, 2027, CDE must submit the template and a report to the Legislature that details the interest holder engagement that occurred when designing the template, provides recommendations for how the template is to be used going forward, and provides any additional information.

Additionally, beginning January 1, 2028, CDE must issue the final programmatic or expenditure report template to LEAs as part of the notice of award information, and again six months before the final report due date. The Department must also repopulate the relevant administrative information for the state grant.

Also beginning January 1, 2028, any bill that requires an LEA to complete a new programmatic or expenditure report for a competitive state grant program must include a provision that requires the final programmatic or expenditure report be submitted using this standardized template.

Reporting Sunset

AB 2008 also requires, beginning January 1, 2027, any bill requiring an LEA to complete a plan or report to include a provision that repeals the planning or reporting requirement, or makes the requirement inoperative, no later than four years following the date upon which the bill becomes operative (for requirement with an undefined end date), or four years after the final due date of any plan or report.

Speaking to these provisions in particular, Assembly Member Patel stated, “This common-sense provision, which already exists for other state government agencies, will allow schools to submit a reasonable amount of data without being bogged down with perpetual requirements.”

A Better Process for Reclassifying English Learners

After decades of California identifying English Learner students (ELs) without an update or modification to the process, Assembly Member Darshana Patel introduced AB 2555 to help reform a “nearly 50-year-old school system” that was “characterized by inconsistency, redundancy, subjectively, and complexity, and is highly influenced by different mindsets about reclassification.”

AB 2555 repeals existing reclassification criteria and, instead, makes the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) the sole criterion for reclassification. The bill also replaces the local, manual process of reclassifying students with an automatic process in which CDE records students as reclassified once they have achieved the ELPAC score required for reclassification.

In the words of the author, “…AB 2555 will establish a coherent, consistent, efficient, and transparent reclassification system – one worthy of our students’ potential.”

Reclassifying Students Under the 2025-26 and 2026-27 Assessment Administrations

While the implementation of the majority of the bill’s requirements is delayed until July 1, 2027 or later, AB 2555 was an urgency measure, meaning some of the bill’s provisions took effect when it was signed into law on September 27. This includes the requirement, until July 1, 2027, that EL students who, on the 2025-26 or 2026-27 administration of a summative assessment, meet the SBE established proficiency score on the ELPAC be reclassified as English proficient. Such a student shall be considered reclassified as of the day after the student demonstrated proficiency through one of these assessments.

The bill also requires an LEA to reclassify, by January 31, 2027, a student who, on the 2025-26 administration of a summative assessment, met the applicable proficiency score but did not reclassify in the 2025-26 school year. Additionally, if a student on the 2026-27 administration of a summative assessment met the applicable proficiency score but did not reclassify in the 2026-27 school year, that student must also then be reclassified as English proficient on or before January 31, 2028.

New Requirements Related to Reclassified Students

Beginning July 1, 2027, once a students has been recorded as reclassified by CDE, an LEA must do both of the following:

1. Ensure that the student’s instructional program and placement reflects that the student is a reclassified student; and
2. Communicate to the student’s parent or guardian that their child has been reclassified and provide information about the student’s potential opportunity to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy

Parental notification

Also beginning, July 1, 2027, when a student is initially determined to be an EL, AB 2555 requires an LEA to notify the student’s parent or guardian “in a clear, concise, and comprehensible manner,” and translated into the parent or guardian’s primary language as applicable, all of the following information:

• That their child has been classified as an EL.
• California’s vision of success for English learners is that they attain high levels of English proficiency, mastery of grade level standards, and have opportunities to develop proficiency in multiple languages. California’s schools value the culture and language that their child brings to their education.
• They are encouraged to engage as a partner with the school in supporting their child’s language development and may request meetings with their child’s teachers to discuss their child’s progress.
• Their child is entitled to special support in order to help them learn English and succeed in school.
• Each year, their child will take an assessment to measure their progress toward becoming proficient in English. The results of the assessment will be used to determine if their child is ready to become reclassified as English proficient. After their child is reclassified, their progress will continue to be monitored for four years.
• Their child’s reclassification as English proficient is an important accomplishment and may be seen as a step on the path to becoming literate in two languages, also known as biliteracy. If their child becomes biliterate, they may be eligible to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy, which is a special recognition in the form of a seal affixed to their high school diploma.

Monitoring of Reclassified Students

The current requirements that LEAs monitor ELs for four years after reclassification to determine if their English proficiency remains a barrier to academic progress continue under the bill. However, AB 2555 also requires SBE, on or before January 1, 2028, to identify (1) a means for monitoring reclassified students in order to identify student who are not meeting challenging state academic standards after reclassification and (2) an instrument for purposes of monitoring reclassified student progress that is appropriate for use by teachers at all levels and designed for use with all students. By that same date, CDE must also identify appropriate interventions for reclassified students who are determined to need additional support for their English language in order to progress academically.

Reclassification of ELs with Disabilities

AB 2555 permits, beginning July 1, 2028, an EL with disabilities to be eligible for reclassification if they meet all of the following:

1. The student received English language development instruction that would reasonably be expected to result in English proficiency but has not achieved the proficiency level required or purposes of reclassification on the ELPAC.
2. The student used all designated supports and accommodations and any domain exemption in accordance with the student’s Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).
3. The student scored an overall performance level that is one level below the level established by the SBE for purposes of reclassification on the most recent administration of the ELPAC.

If an EL with disabilities meets all three criteria, an LEA may determine that the student demonstrated proficiency through new or existing alternative pupil work and performance tasks (also known as alternate means). Such a demonstration may apply to one or more of the assessment domains in which the student has not shown proficiency and may be combined with proficient scores in other domains for purposes of meeting the overall threshold for reclassification. If an LEA determines a student with disabilities is reclassified, it must notify CDE and include documentation of the determination in the student’s IEP.

CDE Reporting

Under the bill, CDE must, beginning with the 2027-28 school year, annually post on its website (1) reclassification rates of each LEA and charter school, (2) statewide reclassification rates disaggregated by grade, disability status, and the 10 most commonly spoken home languages for students, and (3) statewide rates of chronic absenteeism, suspension and expulsion, and school stability of reclassified students. CDE is also, subject to a budget appropriation, required to contract for an evaluation of the effects of the changes made to the reclassification process under AB 2555.

New Mandated Math Assessment for the State’s Youngest Learners

SB 1067 (Weber-Pierson, D-San Diego) requires LEAs to conduct math assessments of kindergarten, first, and second grade students beginning in the 2028-29 school year. The goal of the assessments will be to ascertain students’ mathematics knowledge and learning needs and to identify students in need of additional support. For the purposes of this bill, “Kindergarten” does not include transitional kindergarten.

To help LEAs with implementation of this new requirement, the bill requires, on or before July 31, 2027, the SBE to approve, and CDE to post on its website, criteria and guidance for selecting the appropriate assessment. In developing the criteria, the SBE must consider the extent to which an assessment address the following factors:

• Measurement of grade-level foundational math skills.
• Evidence that the tool is normed and has been validated using a contemporary multicultural and multilingual sample of students.
• Integration of relevant student demographic information to more fully understand a student’s performance.
• Guidance and resources for educators on how to administer diagnostic assessments as well as interpret and respond to assessment results.

By January 31, 2028, CDE must then post on its website a list of approved diagnostic assessments that meet the SBE criteria and guidance. By that same date, CDE must also post additional guidance to help LEAs in selecting an assessment off the list. This guidance must address how LEAs may weigh

the time it takes to complete the assessment and whether if can be incorporated into regular classroom instruction time, the time it takes for results to become available to educators, the availability of digital and nondigital assessments, and the ability of the assessment to accommodate pupils with exceptional needs.

SB 1067 requires the SBE and CDE to seek input from education interest holders when developing the criteria, guidance, and list of approved diagnostic assessments.

By June 30, 2028, LEAs serving students in kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade must either adopt, at a public board meting, one or more diagnostic assessments from the CDE list or, alternatively, use an assessment that is not on the list if its governing body self-certifies that the assessment meets all of the SBE criteria. The self-certification must include findings by the governing body that the assessment has been validated to assess students’ math knowledge in the relevant grades in which the assessment will be administered and meets all the SBE criteria. This self-certification must be reported to the CDE by July 15, 2029. Then, beginning the 2028-29 school year, and annually thereafter, LEAs must assess each student in kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade to assess their mathematics knowledge.

LEAs must give parents and guardians information about the assessment and report in a timely manner. An LEA may choose not to screen a student if it receives written consent from the student’s parent or guardian and the student (1) has a current identification or diagnosis of dyscalculia or another disability, (2) is eligible for or currently being assessed for special education and related services, or (3) does not have sufficient proficiency in the language of the assessment to be validly assessed.

Assessment results must be used to assess students’ math knowledge and identify students who need additional support, not as a diagnosis of a disability. Results may not be used for any high-stakes purpose, including teacher or staff evaluation, accountability, student grade promotion or retention, identification for gifted or talented education, or identification as an individual with exceptional needs. Additionally, LEAs must provide supports and services to students whose results show they may benefit from additional instructional support or intervention.

SB 1067 also establishes additional deadlines for the state. By April 30, 2028, the CDE must create and maintain on its website guidance and resources on evidence-based support and intervention and Tier 1 instructional strategies aligned with the 2023 Mathematics Framework and by July 31, 2028, the SBE must determine the information and process LEAs will use to notify the CDE of assessment results, and the information the CDE may make available to the public.

Multiple Bills Set Up Potential Changes to the Health Framework

The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) could be very busy the next time it revises the states Health Framework for California Public Schools (Health Framework), with four bills signed this year calling on the Commission to consider adding new content to the Framework.

With regards to physical health, the IQC is asked to consider including, under AB 1653 (Lackey, R-Palmdale), content on the prevention of heat illness and recognizing and responding to the signs and symptoms of heat illness, as well as, pursuant to SB 1133 (Strickland, R-Huntington Beach), evidence-based preventable health instruction. Topics to be considered under SB 1133 include how nutrition affects metabolism, inflammations and long-term disease risk, the role of exercise and physical activity in physical and mental health, and how stress and sleep influence hormones, weight, immunity, and cognition.

The IQC is also being asked to add topics outside of just physical health issues. AB 1792 (Michelle Rodriguez, D-Pomona) requires the consideration of specific sexual health instruction to educate students about dating abuse and digital violence. This would include content on the knowledge and skills necessary to understand digital and online safety, age-appropriate, inclusive instruction on legal rights, protections, and support resources related to interpersonal violence, and the experience of LGBTQIA+ and gender diverse students who are disproportionately impacted by dating violence and technology-facilitated abuse.

Additionally, AB 1766 (Krell, D-Sacramento) requires the IQC to consider including content related to human trafficking and online safety, including how to prevent human trafficking, how to stay safe from sexually exploitive materials and deepfake online, and skills-based content that builds proactive factors. AB 1766 also requires CDE to curate and maintain resources on its website related to the above topics and to recommend training related to those topics for educators that is evidence-based, survivor-informed, culturally responsive and trauma-informed. The recommended training must be consistent with best practices related to specific issues, including information on identifying students who may be victims of human trafficking or online exploiting, responding using trauma-responsive, survivor-informed protocols, and mandatory reporting responsibilities and referral pathways.

None of these bills mandate the inclusion of these new topics. The IQC only has to consider inclusion the next time the Health Framework is revised. The state’s Health Framework was last updated in 2019 and the IQC does not currently have another revision scheduled.

Curriculum and Instruction Bills Signed Into Law

Accountability

• AB 2008 (Patel) – Local educational agencies: planning and reporting requirements: template: repealer.This bill requires, beginning January 1, 2027, a bill that would require an LEA to complete a plan or report, to include a provision that repeals the planning or reporting requirement, or make the requirement inoperative, no later than four years following the date upon which the bill becomes operative, if the planning or reporting requirement has an undefined end date, or four years after the final due date of any plan or report. AB 2008 also requires CDE, on or before October 1, 2027, to

  release a standardized template for use by LEAs when completing programmatic or expenditure reports for competitive state grant programs.

  Important Dates:

  • January 1, 2027 – Bills that requires an LEA to complete a plan or report must include repealer language
  • October 1, 2027 – CDE must create and post a standardized reporting template on its website
  • January 1, 2028 – CDE must start issuing the final template to LEAs as part of the notice of award information
  • January 1, 2028 – Bills that require an LEA to complete a new programmatic or expenditure report for a competitive state grant program must include requirement that the final programmatic or expenditure report be submitted using the template

  Chapter 283, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2496 (Solache) – Local educational agencies: reports: school accountability report card: California School Dashboard: local control accountability plan: local control funding formula budget overview.AB 2496 requires CDE, 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 (SARC) and other publicly available data sources. The bill also deletes the requirement that each school annually report on the status of its school safety plan, the requirement that the results of physical testing of pupils are included in the SARC, and the requirement that each school district report the aggregate results of its physical performance testing in its annual SARC.

  Important Dates:

  • August 31, 2027 – CDE must submit its report on duplicative SARC data to the Legislature

  Chapter 615, Statutes of 2026

Assessments

• AB 2225 (Patel) – Education governance: Education Commissioner: reporting.Existing law requires the Education Commissioner, on or before October 1, 2027, to develop findings and recommendations for a 2nd phase of education governance consolidation and streamlining. This bill requires the Education Commissioner, utilizing those findings and recommendations, to submit a report, on or before October 1, 2028, to the Governor and the Legislature on, among other things, progress toward implementation of the recommended actions or activities for education governance consolidation and streamlining and recommendations of any additional steps the Governor and Legislature can take to consolidate or eliminate fragmented or duplicative state requirements and activities that require statutory or budgetary authority.

  Important Dates:

  • October 1, 2028 – Education Commissioner must submit report to Governor and Legislature on state’s progress toward implementing recommended consolidating and streamlining actions

  Chapter 293, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1048 (Becker) – State Seal of Climate Literacy.SB 1048 establishes the State Seal of Climate Literacy and requires the Education Commissioner, on or before December 31, 2027, to recommend to the SBE criteria for awarding the Seal to pupils who have demonstrated mastery in climate literacy disciplines, green skills or technical green skills, and other best practices for climate literacy. The SBE is required to adopt criteria for the Seal on or before January 31, 2029, after which, LEAs that choose to participate would be required to (1) maintain appropriate records to identify students who have earned the Seal, (2) affix the seal to the diploma and transcript of each student who earns the seal, (3) provide students with information about how to meet the criteria to earn the Seal, and (4) establish a process for determining if a student has met the criteria necessary to earn the Seal.

  Important Dates:

  • December 31, 2027 – Date by which the Education Commissioner must recommend criteria for the State Seal of Climate Literacy to the SBE
  • January 31, 2029 – Date by which the SBE must adopt criteria for the State Seal of Climate Literacy

  Chapter 819, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1067 (Weber Pierson) – Pupil instruction: math assessments.This bill, on or before July 31, 2027, requires the SBE to approve, and CDE to post on its 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. CDE must also post on its website, on or before January 31, 2028, a list of approved diagnostic assessments that meet the SBE-established criteria as well as additional guidance to help LEAs in selecting diagnostic assessments from the approved list. LEAs serving K-2 students are then required, on or before June 30, 2028, to adopt at a public board meeting, one or more diagnostic assessments from the published listed or, alternately, a diagnostic assessment not on the list but which the LEA has self-certified as having met the SBE criteria. Beginning with the 2028-29 school year, an annually thereafter, an LEA serving K-2 students is required to assess each student in K-2 for mathematics knowledge using the adopted diagnostic assessment.

  Important Dates:

  • July 31, 2027 – SBE must approve and CDE must post on its website, criteria and guidance for selecting mathematics diagnostic assessments
  • January 31, 2028 – CDE must post on its website a list of approved diagnostic assessments and guidance on how to select assessments from the list
  • June 30, 2028 – LEAs serving grades K-2 must adopt at least one diagnostic assessment
  • 2028-29 School Year – LEAs serving grades K-2 must start annually assessing all K-2 students for mathematics knowledge using their adopted assessment(s)

  Chapter 674, Statutes of 2026

Attendance Accounting

• AB 1763 (Lee) – Pupil attendance: excused absences: religious observance.AB 1763 requires a student to be excused from school when the absence is for the observance of a holiday or ceremony of a student’s religion, rather than require the student absence to be requested in writing by the student’s parent/guardian and approved by the principal.

  Chapter 893, Statutes of 2026

Career Technical Education

• AB 1590 (Ransom) – California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program: revised allocation formula.Existing law establishes the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, administered by CDE, with the purpose of encouraging, maintaining, and strengthening the delivery of high-quality career technical education programs. This bill, for purposes of CTEIG allocations commencing no later than the 2027-28 fiscal year, require CDE to determine a revised allocation formula that ensures that all funds appropriated for the program in any given fiscal year are fully allocated to program applicants in that fiscal year.

  Chapter 527, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2324 (Gonzalez, Jeff) – Vocational education: youth caregivers.AB 2324, at the next revision of the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards, requires CDE to consider adding content on the role of youth caregivers within the Personal Care and Services career pathway. “youth caregiver” is defined as “a child or youth of an age typical of a pupil in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, who provides help or care to any person who has an ongoing health problem or chronic illness, or who is elderly, frail, disabled, or mentally ill.” The bill also requires CDE, by July 1, 2028, to provide guidance for the implementation of the Personal Care and Services career pathway.

  Important Dates:

  • July 1, 2028 – CDE must provide guidance for implementation of the Personal Care and Services career pathway

  Chapter 95, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2332 (González, Mark) – Dual language immersion: Dual Language Immersion Coordinator.This bill requires, upon an appropriation, CDE, on or before July 1, 2027, to establish a Dual Language Immersion Coordinator to provide coordination between LEAs to share resources and knowledge on dual language immersion programs. The bill requires the Dual Language Immersion Coordinator to (1) act as the point of contact within CDE for LEAs seeking to establish new or expand existing dual language immersion programs, (2) facilitate ongoing communication and collaboration between LEAs to share resources and best practices on dual language immersion programs, and (3) establish, publish, and maintain on CDE’s website, on or before January 1, 2028, a directory of operative dual language immersion programs.

  Important Dates:

  • July 1, 2027 – CDE must establish a Dual Language Immersion Coordinator
  • January 1, 2028 – Dual Language Immersion Coordinator must post a directory of operative dual language immersion programs to CDE’s website

  Chapter 598, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2466 (Fong) – Strong Workforce Program: work-based learning opportunities: regional consortia.This bill extends the date by which the chancellor’s office must revise policies, regulations, and guidance necessary to provide students, employers, or both, with paid work-based learning opportunities by an additional year, to, June 30, 2027. This bill additionally authorizes Strong Workforce Program funds apportioned directly to regional consortia to be used to provide direct support to students, employers, or both.

  Chapter 402, Statutes of 2026

• SB 845 (Pérez) – Pupil instruction: career technical education, career education, work-based learning, work experience education, and apprenticeships.SB 845 makes various changes to the state’s CTE framework, work-based learning, and youth apprenticeships. These changes include establishing definitions and common requirements for work-based learning activities, expanding the authority of LEAs and state special schools to offer work-based learning through work experience education, CTE, early college credit, and other existing programs, allowing students beginning in grade 10 to receive credit for work experience education, and establishing requirements for school-base youth apprenticeship programs registered with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards.

  Chapter 653, Statutes of 2026

Curriculum and Instruction

• AB 2071 (Hoover) – Pupil instruction: digital wellness.CDE must, on or before January 1, 2028, to develop a plan to expand digital wellness instruction in public schools. The plan must include (1) recommendations for age-appropriate instructional resources for elementary schools, middle schools, and highs schools, (2) strategies for keeping curriculum current with rapidly evolving digital and artificial intelligence technology, (3) guidance for schools with

  limited technology resources, (4) family engagement and education components, (5) assessment methods for evaluating instruction effectiveness, and (6) strategies for ensuring adequate support and professional development opportunities for educators regarding digital wellness.

  Important Dates:

  • January 1, 2028 – CDE must develop a plan to expand digital wellness instruction

  Chapter 186, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1188 (Archuleta) – Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps: establishment and eligibility.Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district maintaining a secondary school to establish in the school courses in military science and tactics that comply with provisions of federal law regarding Reserve Officers Training Corps units in educational institutions. SB 1188 expands this authorization to also include COEs and charter schools and further requires an LEA offering a JROTC program within any of its schools to permit membership in the JROTC program for a homeschooled student who resides within the attendance area of the LEA and meets all applicable eligibility requirements for participation other than enrollment in the school offering the program. The bill also requires CDE to make information about existing JROTC programs available on its website and distribute implementation guidance to LEAs on an annual basis.

  Chapter 154, Statutes of 2026

Data

• AB 1581 (Ramos) – Pupils: data reporting: American Indian and Alaska Native pupils.This bill requires CDE, on or before July 1, 2028, and each July 1 thereafter, to post on its website, statewide aggregate educational outcome data for the prior school year for students who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native.

  Chapter 881, Statutes of 2026

Dual Enrollment

• AB 1871 (Fong) – Pupil instruction: dual enrollment: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships.AB 1871 revises the College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership provisions to (1) eliminate the requirement that participating student obtain a principal recommendation, (2) require CCAP agreements to permit students to complete a single community college application for the duration of their participation, (3) eliminate the existing limit of four college course per term while retaining the 15-unit cap, and (4) revise state reporting requirements to require reporting on the total number of high school students who successfully completed 12 or more units of college coursework by graduation, completed a certificate, or completed the courses required for an associate degree or an associate degree for transfer, instead of the total number of community college course enrolled in by CCAP partnership participants.

  Chapter 555, Statutes of 2026

English Learners

• AB 2555 (Patel) – English learners: reclassification.This bill makes numerous changes to the system for reclassifying English learners (ELs), including (1) beginning July 1, 2027, replacing existing reclassification criteria and making the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC) the sole criterion for reclassification, (2) replacing the local, manual process of reclassifying students with an automatic process in which CDE records students as reclassified once they have achieved the ELPAC score required for reclassification, (3) beginning July 1, 2027, requiring an LEA, when a student is initially determined to be an EL, to communicate to the student’s parents/guardian specific information, including that their child is an EL and that their child is entitled to special support to help them learn English and succeed in school, (4) beginning with the 2027-28 school year, requiring CDE to annually post on its website the reclassification rate of each LEA and charter school, and (5) on or before January 1, 2028, requiring the SBE to identify a means of monitoring reclassified pupils for four years after reclassification for to identify pupils who are not meeting state academic standards and requiring CDE to identify appropriate interventions for pupils determined to need additional support for their English language in order to process academically.

  Important Dates:

  • January 31, 2027 – Date by which a student who, on the 2025-26 administration of a summative assessment, met the applicable proficiency score but did not reclassify in the 2025-26 school year, must be reclassified.
  • July 1, 2027 – ELPAC becomes sole criterion for EL reclassification and additional parental notification requirements after a student is reclassified, go into effect.
  • January 31, 2028 – Date by which a student who, on the 2026-27 administration of a summative assessment, met the applicable proficiency score but did not reclassify in the 2026-27 school year, must be reclassified.

  Chapter 619, Statutes of 2026

Instructional Materials

• AB 1653 (Lackey) – Pupil instruction: health framework: heat illness.This bill requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC), during the next revision of the Health Framework for California Public Schools, to consider including, and recommending for adoption by the SBE, specific content related to the prevention of, and recognizing and responding to the signs and symptoms of, heat illness. As part of this consideration, the IQC shall consider relevant heat illness prevention measures, heat illness signs and symptoms, and heat illness responses, as addressed by guidance eased by the California Department of Public Health and policies adopted by the California Interscholastic Federation.

  Chapter 70, Statutes of 2026

• AB 1766 (Krell) – Health curriculum framework: human trafficking and online safety.AB 1766 requires the IQC, when the Health Framework for California Public Schools is next revised on or after January 1, 2027, to consider adding to the framework content related to human trafficking and online safety, including how to prevent human trafficking, how to stay safe from sexually exploitative materials and deepfakes online, and skills-based content that builds protective factors, like help-seeking strategies, healthy boundaries, and digital citizenship. The bill also requires CDE to curate and maintain resources on its website related to human trafficking and online safety and recommended training on those topics for educators.

  Chapter 894, Statutes of 2026

• AB 1792 (Rodriguez, Michelle) – Pupil instruction: health framework: sexual health.AB 1792 requires the IQC, during the next revision of the Health Framework for California Public Schools, to consider including, and recommending for adoption by the SBE, specific content related to sexual health instruction to educate students about dating abuse and digital violence.

  Chapter 273, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2298 (Irwin) – Pupil instruction: computer science: content standards.This bill requires the IQC, when the computer science content standards are next revised after January 1, 2027, to consider incorporating cybersecurity skills into the standards.

  Chapter 188, Statutes of 2026

• SB 945 (Weber Pierson) – School curriculum: physical education framework: cardiopulmonary resuscitation: automated external defibrillators.This bill requires the IQC, when the physical education framework is next revised after January 1, 2027, to consider including content on the importance, performance, and use of compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in that framework.

  Chapter 992, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1133 (Strickland) – Pupil instruction: preventative health instruction.SB 1133, entitled the Ready to Learn, Ready for Health Act, requires, when the Health Education Framework for California Public Schools is next revised on or after January 1, 2027, the IQC to consider including information on evidence-based preventative health instruction, including information on nutrition, food literacy, sleep, movement, stress management, and digital balance in an integrated manner that discusses these key health factors and the interrelationship and balance between them.

  Chapter 120, Statutes of 2026

Special Education

• AB 2241 (Boerner) – School facilities: inclusive school playgrounds.This bill requires CDE to curate and maintain an internet resource that demonstrates best practices for inclusive school playgrounds. The best practices must reflect universal design principles and address equipment selection, surfacing, sensory features, safety, and maintenance.

  Chapter 295, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2468 (Patel) – School accountability: pupils with disabilities: inclusion.AB 2468 requires CDE and the CCEE to administer the Supporting Inclusive Practices (SIP) project. The purpose of SIP is to improve student outcomes by increasing opportunities for students with disabilities to access education in general education settings, align and integrate with differentiated assistance, direct technical assistance, and other initiatives within the statewide system of support, and support the educator workforce to serve students with disabilities. The bill requires the CCEE to administer the universal support components of the project to provide support and resources to LEAs and charter schools and CDE to administer the direct support components by deploying targeted technical assistance to support LEAs and charter schools.

  Chapter 609, Statutes of 2026

• SB 685 (Cortese) – Special education: nonpublic schools and agencies.SB 685 eliminates the requirement that nonpublic schools or agencies (NPS/A) that enter into contracts for the provision of special education services be nonsectarian but also prohibits a NPS/A from providing religious instruction to students placed by an LEA. The bill also expands criminal background check requirements for NPS by, among other things, requiring NPS employees who interact with a California student to undergo fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background checks through CDE and requiring contractors at NPS to successfully complete criminal background checks. Additionally, the bill also revises credentialing and clearance requirements for NPS staff, including, among other things, beginning January 1, 2028, requiring certificated NPS instructional staff serving California students to meet certain credentialing requirements and, beginning July 1, 2027, requiring certain noncredentialed NPS employees to hold a CTC certificate of clearance.

  Important Dates:

  • January 1, 2027 – Waivers related to the placement of a student other than at an LEA submitted after this date cannot approved until it includes specific information
  • July 1, 2027 – For NPS/A certification, the NPS/A must provide (1) for NPS staff interacting with California students who have an assignment in which a credential is not required and who do not have a valid credential from the CTC, documentation that these staff have obtained fingerprint clearance with the CTC and (2) if the administrator of the NPS does not hold a valid credential from the CTC, documentation that the administrator has obtained fingerprint clearance with the CTC
  • January 1, 2028 – For NPS seeking certification, the NPS must provide CDE with a list of staff providing instruction and services to students in California, along with a copy of their credentials, or, where a credential for those services does not exist, licenses or certifications of registration with the appropriate state or national organization that has established standards for the service rendered

  Chapter 975, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1381 (Cervantes) – State special schools: information.Existing law requires the governing board of a school district, at the beginning of the first semester or quarter of each school year, to notify parents or guardians of minor students of specified rights and responsibilities of the parent or guardian and of specified school district policies and procedures. This

  bill requires the notification to a parent or guardian of a student who is deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind to additionally include information regarding the option for the student to attend a state special school. Commencing with the 2027–28 school year, if an LEA develops, reviews, or revises an IEP for a pupil who is deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind, the bill also requires the LEA’s IEP team to provide the student’s parent, guardian, or educational rights holder with information about the state special schools and the option for the pupil to attend one of those schools. CDE is required, on or before July 1, 2027, to provide LEAs with information about the state special schools for sharing with a student’s parent, guardian, or educational rights holder.

  Chapter 706, Statutes of 2026

Workforce Development

• AB 2634 (Zbur) – Workforce development: High road training partnerships: scoring preference.Existing law requires the California Workforce Development Board to administer, promote, expand, and provide field assistance for high road training partnerships, defined as an initiative or project that models strategies for developing industry-based, worker-focused training partnerships, including labor-management partnerships. This bill requires the Board, when awarding grants for a high road training partnership program or any successor program, to provide a scoring preference to an applicant that is either a bona fide labor-management cooperation committee or is an entity applying on behalf of, or in cooperation with, a bona fide labor-management cooperation committee.

  Chapter 632, Statutes of 2026

Source: Capitol Advisors Group, Curriculum and Instruction: Changes in Law 2026, October 2026.