New laws to help ease school transitions and improve supports for highly mobile students.

The Governor signed a pair of bills this year that will help ensure students are able to transition between different education placements more efficiently. SB 1017 by Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-San Bernardino), entitles a foster youth student who is 14 years or older to have access to their school records. This access is already provided to homeless students and unaccompanied youth who are 14 years or older. According to the bill’s author, like with these other highly mobile student populations, allowing foster youth access to their school records “helps mitigate disruptions caused by frequent school changes and lack of consistent adult guidance.” Senator Reyes added:

Timely access to records empowers students to make informed decisions during critical transitions and reinforces the state’s commitment to ensuring that foster youth are not disadvantaged by circumstances beyond their control. At the forefront of equity is protecting and advocating for our most vulnerable population, and SB 1017 is a step forward in ensuring foster youth have the resources they need to live a successful life.

AB 1659 by Assembly Member Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton), deals with easing the transition of juvenile court students back to a traditional education setting. Under current law, county offices of education (COEs) and county probation departments are required to have a joint transition planning policy to help with communication with local educational agencies (LEAs) related to juvenile court students. AB 1659 requires, as part of this policy, a school district or charter school in which a juvenile court student will be enrolling to assign a staff member to serve as the point person for transition liaison responsibilities. The district or charter school must then notify the relevant COE and the county probation department of who the assigned staff person is and provide them the staff’s contact information. Once assigned, the staff person will then be required to work in collaboration with the COE transition oversight personnel throughout the year to ensure all of the following occur:

• Timely transfer of complete and accurate education records when a student enters the juvenile court school (JCS).
• Immediate enrollment in an appropriate public school in the school district or charter school when a student is transferred from the JCS.
• Acceptance, upon a student’s enrollment in a public school, of course credit, including partial credits, for coursework completed in the JCS.
• Immediate placement in appropriate courses, based on coursework completed by the student.

Current law also requires a COE, for every student who is detained for 20 consecutive school days or fewer, to provide the student, upon their request, with a copy of their individualized learning plan, if one is in place. AB 1659 now requires the learning plan to also be provided to the student’s assigned school district or charter school point person. The bill also requires a COE, along with the county probation department, to work with any relevant LEAs when establishing procedures for the transfer of education records.

Similar to the intent behind SB 1017, AB 1659 looks to provide justice-impacted students with much needed stability and support. As the bill’s author stated, “A smooth reintegration process will reduce disruptions to these students’ education and help them stay engaged, focused on their future, and moving toward success.”

Bill limits use of youth images, other identifying information in youth program marketing.

In order to give parents more control over how their child’s likeness and information is used, the Governor signed AB 2007 by Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda). The bill prohibits youth programs and activities from making a child’s enrollment or participation contingent on a parent or guardian consenting to the use of the child’s image, video, audio recording, likeness, attributed statement, personal information or other identifying information (i.e. “covered information”) in communications or marketing, or for other public facing purposes.

Covered programs include programs related to expanded learning, visual or performing arts, athletics, recreation, educational enrichment, and day or overnight camps, if the program in question meets both of the following criteria:

• The program or activity requires a parent signature or consent form authorization, or the program or activity is an event in which a parent provides written authorization for an organization to act in loco parentis; and
• The program or activity is offered primarily to youth outside of school hours, including periods when schools is not in session, and is not operated by a public or private elementary or secondary school.

Businesses that host or participate in a covered program for a field trip or other occasional event, like a zoo, aquarium, or amusement park, are explicitly exempt from the bill’s provisions.

Additionally, AB 2007 prohibits a covered program from using a child’s covered information for communication or marketing or for other public facing purposes unless the program has a child’s parent’s or guardian’s express written consent on a notice that complies will all the following:

• It communicates “clearly and meaningfully” the requested uses of the covered information, including a description of the types of materials/media in which the information may be used and a list of the types of websites on which the information may be published.
• It is contained in a single document or separate page within an online form that is separate from enrollment forms, waivers of liability, and any other document.
• It includes, “in clear and understandable language,” that the parent or guardian is providing consent for the use of the child’s covered information for communications, marketing, or other public facing purposes.
• It includes, “in clear and understandable language,” that the parent or guardian may revoke consent at any time and “clearly and conspicuously states” that the child’s enrollment or participation is not contingent on consent.
• It provides an e-mail address at which a parent or guardian can contact the program regarding the scope or revocation of consent or other issues related to a child’s covered information.

The bill allows a parent or guardian to revoke consent through the email address provided in the above notice at any time during their child’s enrollment in a covered program, as well as for up to one year after their child is no longer enrolled in the program. However, this revocation is not retroactive and a program is not required to remove covered information that was published or printed prior to their receiving the revocation of consent. A parent or guardian is also allowed to bring a civil action against a covered program for violation of these new requirements.

Lastly, the bill prohibits a covered program from selling a child’s covered information under any circumstances, even with a parent’s consent.

While the bill does not apply to programs operated by a public or private school, LEAs that work with third-party providers to run their afterschool or other enrichment programs should be sure those providers are in compliance with these new requirements.

Governor signs bill to address impact of social media platforms on children.

As part of a larger package of bills aimed at bolstering safety when children interact with technology, social media platforms, and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, as well as an ongoing effort to address the effects of social media on youth mental health, the Governor signed AB 1709 by Assembly Member Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach). The bill prohibits covered platforms, which are defined as an internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application that offers or provides users with an addictive feature as a significant part of the platform’s service, from providing those addictive features to a user who is under 16 years old. “Addictive feature” is defined to include psychologically exploitative features intended to maximize engagement that foreseeably lead to compulsive use, including an addictive feed or autoplay.

In support of the bill, Assembly Member Lowenthal stated:

This bill is grounded in a substantial and growing body of research showing that early and unrestricted access to social media can harm children’s mental health, cognitive development, and overall well-being…[The bill’s] approach aims to reduce early exposure to addictive platform features during a key developmental window and to encourage safer, age-appropriate digital environments.

While an earlier version of the bill would have completely prohibited a covered platform from allowing a user under 16 to create or maintain an account, the final version of the bill includes language allowing those under 16 to have an account on a covered platform so long as the platform does not provide that user with any addictive feature. The covered platform is also required to implement reasonable measures to ensure that a younger user is not provided any addictive feature.

AB 1709 also establishes the e-Safety Advisory Commission as a purely advisory body within the Department of Justice. The Commission is required to include members with expertise or experience in specific areas, including K-12 education, child and adolescent psychology, and advocacy on behalf of marginalized youth. It will provide advice and recommendations to the state in a variety of areas, including the state of age assurance and age assurance technologies, feedback from social media users, parents of minors, and online safety and children’s safety organizations regarding the implementation of the state’s online safety laws, and harmful design features and their impacts on youth health and well being. On or before January 1 of each year, the Commission must report to the Legislature and Governor, its actions, any proposed actions to be taken and proposed statutory changes, and recommendations for legislative changes to enhance the protection of minors online.

The Governor signed the following student services bills:

Alternative Education

• AB 1659 (Ransom) – Juvenile court school pupils: joint transition planning policy: courses of study.

  This bill requires school districts and charter schools in which a JCS pupil will be enrolling to assign a staff member of the district or charter school to serve as the point person for transition liaison responsibilities.

  Chapter 538, Statutes of 2026

• SB 971 (Choi) – Healthy Aging Community Partnership Program.

  SB 971 authorizes local health departments, area agencies on aging, community colleges, public or private colleges, public or private universities, or other appropriate county departments to establish a Healthy Aging Community Partnership Program for older individuals designed to promote health aging, social engagement, and independent living in collaboration with relevant local entities, including school districts. The program does not duplicate or supplant current adult education courses, classes, and services provided by the California Community Colleges, including through the Adult Education Program.

  Chapter 664, Statutes of 2026

Child Nutrition

• AB 1731 (Wilson) – Office of Farm to Fork: Healthy Food for California Public Institutions Program.

  Existing law creates the Office of Farm to Fork within the Department of Food and Agriculture, and requires the office to work with various entities, including, the agricultural industry and other organizations involved in promoting food access, to increase the amount of agricultural products available to underserved communities and schools in the state. AB 1731 requires the office to establish the Healthy Food for California Public Institutions Program for the purpose of identifying vendors in California that have the capacity to provide healthy foods to California LEAs as well as other California public institutions.

  Chapter 718, Statutes of 2026

• AB 1996 (Bonta) – California Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council.

  This bill would establish, within the State Department of Social Services (CDSS), the California Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council to develop and publish a plan to reduce child poverty by 50% within 10 years and to evaluate the impacts of state budgets, legislation, and policies on children and families.

  Chapter 568, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1058 (McNerney) – School districts: contracting: purchases for child nutrition programs.

  SB 1058 removes price as the primary determining factor for school districts when receiving and awarding procurement bids related to federal nonprofit child nutrition programs, and corrects references to the Code of Federal Regulations so school districts can balance quality, meal diversity, access to fresh and local products, and community specific needs in company with price.

  Chapter 87, Statutes of 2026

Expanded Learning Opportunities Program

• AB 2107 (Pellerin) – Expanded Learning Opportunities Program: offering access: unduplicated pupils.

  Existing law establishes the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) and requires the Superintendent to allocate $2,750 per unit of average daily attendance to LEAs with a prior fiscal year unduplicated pupil percentage of 55% or more, and requires those LEAs to offer access to expanded learning opportunity programs to all pupils and to provide access to any pupil whose parent or guardian requests their placement in a program. AB 2107 requires LEAs, for purposes of offering access to ELOP programs, to prioritize offering access to unduplicated pupils, including specialized outreach to the parents and guardians of unduplicated pupils and providing assistance with enrollment of unduplicated pupils.

  Chapter 578, Statutes of 2026

Homeless/Foster Youth

• AB 2478 (Schultz) – Kinship family approval.

  This bill requires CDSS, on or before July 1, 2028, to adopt a Kinship Family Approval process to approve a relative, non-relative extended family member (NREFM), or extended family member of an Indian child to be a kinship family, defined as an individual or family who has successfully met the home environment assessment and family engagement standards necessary for providing care for a child placed by a county child welfare department or probation department by court order or voluntarily placed by a parent or legal guardian. The bill also adds kinship families to the list of persons and entities entitled to access pupil records, including records of grades, transcripts, attendance, discipline, online communications on school-established platforms, and individualized education programs, without written parental consent or judicial order.

  Important Dates:

  • July 1, 2028 – CDSS must adopt the Kinship Family Approval process

  Chapter 611, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1017 (Reyes) – Pupils: foster youth: access to pupil records.

  Existing law prohibits a school district from permitting access to pupil records to a person without written parental consent or under judicial order except as authorized by law and limits access to those particular records to, among other individuals, a pupil 14 years of age or older who is both a homeless child or youth and an unaccompanied youth. This bill expands the existing list of individuals to whom a school district, if requested, must provide student record access to include a pupil aged 14 or older who is a foster youth.

  Chapter 998, Statutes of 2026

Mental Health

• AB 1626 (Gabriel) – Interscholastic athletics: youth sports: coaches: behavioral and mental health training.

  Existing law, the 1998 California High School Coaching Education and Training Program, declares the intent of the Legislature to establish a California High School Coaching Education and Training Program, to be administered by school districts with an emphasis on specific components, including, among other components, sports psychology. Existing law also 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. AB 1626 establishes training content areas related to behavioral and mental health challenges specific to pupil athletes, to be used for training for coaches of interscholastic athletic programs, non-interscholastic athletic programs, and youth sports organizations. The bill also requires CDE, by September 1, 2027, to identify an existing training or develop a model youth athletics behavioral and mental health training for coaches in youth sports organizations.

  Important Dates:

  • September 1, 2027 – CDE must either identify an existing training or develop a model youth athletics behavioral and mental health training for youth sports organization coaches

  Chapter 884, Statutes of 2026

• AB 1665 (Pacheco) – School athletics: coaches: youth athletics behavioral and mental health training.

  Commencing with the 2027-28 school year, AB 1665 requires coaches for interscholastic athletic programs at high schools that are members of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to complete an initial training, and subsequent training every two years, on a coaching education and training program on mental health. The bill also requires LEAs to ensure coaches of non-interscholastic athletic programs complete an initial training, and subsequent training every two years, covering sudden cardiac arrest and youth athletics behavioral and mental health, if the LEA chooses to offer a non-interscholastic athletic program. The mental health training must align with the training established under AB 1626 (Gabriel).

  Important Dates:

  • July 1, 2027 – Mental health is added as a component to be emphasized under the High School Coaching Education and Training Program
  • 2027-28 school year – New training requirements for coaches commence

  Chapter 886, Statutes of 2026

• AB 1709 (Lowenthal) – Covered platforms: age restriction: e-Safety Advisory Commission.

  This bill would prohibit a covered platform, defined as as a website, online service, online application, or mobile application, including a social media platform, that offers or providers users an addictive feature as a significant part of the service provided, from providing an addictive feature to a user who is under 16 years of age and would require a covered platform to implement reasonable measures to ensure that users under 16 years of age are not offered or provided any addictive feature on the covered platform. The bill also establishes the e-Safety Advisory Commission to advise the Attorney General on matters related to online safety.

  Chapter 183, Statutes of 2026

• AB 1956 (Valencia) – Suicide prevention.

  Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to establish the Office of Suicide Prevention. The office, if established, is authorized to conduct state-level assessment of regional and statewide suicide prevention policies and practices and reporting on progress to reduce rates of suicide and may focus activities on groups with the highest risk, including youth, Native American youth, older adults, veterans, and LGBTQ people. AB 1956 adds young men and boys to the list of highest risk populations on which the office can focus its activities and requires the office, by July 1, 2028, to report back to the Legislature on strategies to implement those activities.

  Important Dates:

  • July 1, 2028 – if the Office of Suicide Prevention is established, date by which the office must provide a report to the Legislature on strategies to implement activities focused on boys and young men.

  Chapter 163, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2460 (Rodriguez, Celeste) – Pupil health: mental health: model referral protocols.

  AB 2460 requires CDE, by July 1, 2027, in consultation with appropriate interest holders, to review and update the model behavioral health referral protocols to ensure they include guidance on providing supports in case of a local emergency related to immigration enforcement activities, and requires the governing body of an LEA serving students in grades 7 to 12 to review and, as necessary, adopt an updated policy on referral protocols to ensure it includes guidance on immigration enforcement by July 1, 2028. This bill requires LEAs to update, if necessary, their policies on referral protocols for addressing pupil behavioral health concerns in grades 7-12.

  Important Dates:

  • July 1, 2027 – Date by which CDE must review and, as necessary, update the model referral protocols
  • July 1, 2028 – Date by which LEAs must review and, as necessary, update their policies on referral protocols for addressing pupil behavioral health concerns in grades 7 to 12

  Chapter 301, Statutes of 2026

Pupil Health

• AB 387 (Alanis) – Nevaeh Youth Sports Safety Act.

  Current law requires a youth sports organization that elects to offer an athletic program to ensure that its athletes have access to an automated external defibrillator (AED) during any official practice or match. AB 387 authorizes any public or private local facility with a permanent sports infrastructure to procure and maintain an AED and, if the facility does so, requires a youth sports organization to have access to the AED during any official practice or match permitted by the facility. The bill also provides that an LEA is not deemed to have “procured or maintained an AED” pursuant to the above authorization unless either of the following has been met: the AED is in the same common area of the building where the official practice or match is taking place or the AED is in the same outdoor field where the official practice or match is taking place, or attached externally to a building and is reasonably accessible from where the official practice or match is taking place.

  Important Dates:

  • January 1, 2028 – Bill’s provisions go into effect

  Chapter 502, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2503 (Wallis) – California Interscholastic Federation: pupil health: heat illness: guidelines.

  Existing law requires the CIF, in consultation with CDE, to develop guidelines, procedures, and safety standards for the prevention and management of exertional heat illness. This bill requires, on or before July 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the CIF to review and update as necessary the guidelines, procedures, and safety standards, with special consideration for regions of the state with higher average temperatures.

  Important Dates:

  • July 1, 2027 – Date by which, and annually thereafter, the CIF must review and update as necessary the guidelines, procedures, and safety standards for the prevention and management of exertional heat illness

  Chapter 172, Statutes of 2026

• SB 1347 (Niello) – Pupil health: emergency stock albuterol inhalers.

  This bill extends the authorization for LEAs to provide and administer emergency stock albuterol inhalers, to apply to childcare programs operated by or under contract with an LEA as well as their trained employees. This bill also authorizes pharmacies to furnish albuterol inhalers to an LEA.

  Chapter 703, Statutes of 2026

Student Services

• AB 1969 (Bonta) – California Community Schools Partnership Program: Promise Neighborhoods.

  This bill authorizes up to 10% of the funds provided to LEAs to implement new and provide ongoing support for existing community schools to be used, among other purposes, to serve as a network lead for multiple eligible community schoolsites located in a Promise Neighborhood in support of the California Community Schools Partnership Program. Promise Neighborhoods are a holistic, place-based approach to reducing poverty and improving economic, social, and academic outcomes in disadvantaged communities by developing cradle to career solutions that support children and families.

  Chapter 911, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2007 (Bauer-Kahan) – Youth programs: identifying information of youth.

  This bill requires youth-focused programs, such as extracurricular and after-school programs, to obtain parental consent before using images of a child or other protected information in their communications, marketing, educational, or training materials. The bill also prohibits a program from making a child’s enrollment or participation contingent on an parent’s consent to use their child’s protected information.

  Chapter 914, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2248 (Hoover) – Pupil services: educational counseling: California College Guidance Initiative.

  This bill requires an LEA to notify parents or guardians of a pupil entering grades seven through 12 of, in addition to dual enrollment and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses offered, the benefits of the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) and encourage them to create parent accounts.

  Chapter 296, Statutes of 2026

• AB 2524 (Gipson) – Pupils: work permits: issuance.

  Existing law authorizes the superintendent of a school district in which a minor resides, the chief executive officer of a charter school, the county superintendent of schools, the principal of a public or private school, or specified school employees authorized by the superintendent of a school district, chief executive officer, or county superintendent of schools in writing, to issue a work permit to a pupil upon receipt of a written request from a parent, guardian, foster parent, or other specified person. This bill would authorize a work permit to also be issued by a county probation department or county child welfare agency to certain minors who are under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court.

  Chapter 948, Statutes of 2026

Source: Adapted from the October Student Services: Changes in Law brief by Capitol Advisors Group.