AB2117 - State Board of Education: Superintendent of Public Instruction: Education Commissioner.

Amended IN Assembly April 28, 2026 Amended IN Assembly March 18, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2117 Introduced by Assembly Member Members Alvarez and Patel February 18, 2026 An act to amend Sections 33000, 33000.5, 33001, 33043, 33102, 33111, 33112, 33113, 33114, 33115, 33116, 33117, 33117.5, 33117.7, 33118, 33119, 33120, 33121, 33122, 33125, 33126.1, 33126.2, 33126.5, 33127, 33133, 33133.5, 33190, 33191, 33195, 33195.1, 33195.4, 33195.5, 33301, 33302, 33305, 33308.5, and 71000 of, to amend the heading of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 33100) of Part 20 of Division 2 of Title 2 of, to amend and repeal Sections 33004, 33005, and 33110 of, to amend, repeal, and add Section 33303 of, to add Section 33101 Sections 33101, 33103, 33112.1, 33112.2, 33144, 33319.7, 33319.8, 33319.9, and 33319.95 to, to add the headings of Article 1 (commencing with Section 33111), Article 2 (commencing with Section 33190), and Article 3 (commencing with Section 33195) to Chapter 2.5 of Part 20 of Division 2 of Title 2 of, to add the heading of Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 33111) to Part 20 of Division 2 of Title 2 of, to add Article 2 (commencing with Section 33105) to Chapter 2 of Part 20 of Division 2 of Title 2 of, to repeal Sections 33004, 33005, and 33110 of, to repeal the headings of Article 2 (commencing with Section 33110), Article 5 (commencing with Section 33190), and Article 6 (commencing with Section 33195) of Chapter 2 of Part 20 of Division 2 of Title 2 of, and to repeal Article 3 (commencing with Section 33140) of Chapter 2 of Part 20 of Division 2 of Title 2 of, and to repeal and add Section 33303 of, the Education Code, relating to education governance. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2117, as amended, Alvarez. State Board of Education: Superintendent of Public Instruction: Education Commissioner. (1) Existing law establishes the State Board of Education to adopt policies, and to establish rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the state, to govern the public elementary and secondary schools of the state. Existing law provides that the state board consists of 11 members, including 10 members who are appointed by the Governor to 4-year terms with the advice and consent of 2 / 3 of the Senate and a student member appointed by the Governor to a one-year term with the advice and consent of 2 / 3 of the Senate. This bill, commencing January 15, 2027, would add the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the state board by replacing one of the nonstudent positions that expires on January 15, 2027, with the Superintendent, thereby maintaining the state board’s 11-member composition. The bill also would, commencing January 15, 2027, replace 4 of the existing positions that are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of 2 / 3 of the Senate with 2 members who are appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate and 2 members who are appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Education to be administered through the state board, which is the governing and policy determining body of the department, and the Director of Education, in whom all executive and administrative functions of the department are vested and who is the executive officer of the state board and the department. Existing law provides that the Superintendent is the ex officio Director of Education, and requires the department to be conducted under the control of the Director of Education. Existing law assigns to the Superintendent numerous duties related to the state board and the department. This bill would revise and recast those provisions by, among other things, (A) deleting the provision in existing law that establishes the Superintendent as the ex officio Director of Education, (B) vesting all executive and administrative functions of the department in an Education Commissioner to be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Governor, Governor and confirmed by the Senate after January 1, 2027, (C) transferring various duties of the Superintendent and the Director of Education relating to, among other things, the state board and the department, to the Education Commissioner, and (D) providing for the transfer, as specified, of certain employees (i) of the state board to the department, (ii) of the Superintendent to the department, and (iii) of the department to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which the bill would establish, as specified. The bill would delay to July 1, 2027, the operative date of some of these provisions. This bill would require the Education Commissioner to create a plan no later than June 30, 2027, to transition the functions and operations of the department and other related activities from the Superintendent to the Education Commissioner, as provided. The bill would require the Superintendent to serve as an independent evaluator and cross-sector coordinator for public education, covering preschool through higher education, with specified duties. The bill would require the Superintendent to conduct independent evaluations of specified education initiatives and authorize the Superintendent to conduct independent evaluations of other education initiatives. This bill would prohibit the Superintendent and the Education Commissioner from holding positions of outside employment and would require all philanthropic foundations of the department to be dissolved no later than June 30, 2028. (3) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The board of governors consists of 18 voting members, as provided. This bill bill, commencing July 1, 2027, would add the Superintendent to the board of governors as a 19th voting member. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. For purposes of this act: (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) Each child is a unique person, with unique needs, and the purpose of the educational system of this state is to enable each child to develop all of their own potential, as set forth in Section 33080 of the Education Code. (2) In order to support schools, administrators, teachers, and school staff in pursuing this goal, California’s state education agencies need to provide clear, coherent direction and assistance. (3) Studies, research reports, legislative recommendations, and court rulings going back over a century have lamented California’s irrational governance structure that lacks coherence. (4) In 1919, the State Department of Education’s “Blue Bulletin” publication predicted conflict between the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education that would be disastrous to educational leadership in the state. A year later, the Legislature issued a responsive report identifying the double-headed governance system as a primary problem of the education system. (5) Further, in 1963, the California Attorney General opined: “This analysis of the respective powers and duties of the State Board of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction once again underscores the long-recognized problem existing in this area. It would be fruitless here to discourse upon the difficulty of requiring a policy-making board appointed by the Governor to have its policies carried out by and through an individual who is elected by the people.” (6) In 2002, the Legislature’s Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education produced a California Master Plan for Education that again recognized that “California’s K–12 education system is governed by a fragmented set of entities with overlapping roles that sometimes operate in conflict with one another, to the detriment of educational services offered to students” and recommended assigning management of the State Department of Education to a cabinet-level appointee of the Governor. (7) In 2007, the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence Technical Report found that “State-level educational roles currently are divided among many different entities without any underlying rationale, often with extensive overlap and conflicts of interest. Not surprisingly, such a system precludes meaningful accountability. Not only are local educators not effectively supported by the state, these state-level conflicts—or even the semblance thereof—impede local effectiveness when the direction given by the state is seen as unclear.” (8) Most recently, the coauthor of TK–12 Education Governance in California: Past, Present, and Future, a report released in December 2025 by Policy Analysis for California Education, concluded “California can no longer postpone reforms that have been overdue for a century. We must take on the challenge of modernizing our governance system now.” (9) Accordingly, aligning the administrative and management functions of the State Department of Education under the State Board of Education that serves as the “governing and policy determining body of the department” pursuant to Section 33301 of the Education Code would enable greater coherence and accountability for pursuing the purpose of the state’s educational system to support all pupils in reaching their full potential. (b) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to streamline and strengthen state governance of California’s transitional kindergarten through grade 12 education system under the State Board of Education to improve the delivery of education to California’s public education pupils, and to empower the Superintendent of Public Instruction to foster needed alignment and coordination of education policies from early childhood through postsecondary education with new governing board roles and responsibilities. (2) It is further the intent of the Legislature to continue to review codes and statutes to ensure that necessary statutory references are updated as part of the May Revision, subsequent legislation, or both, to align with the changes in roles, responsibilities, and reporting structures pursuant to this act. SEC. 2. Section 33000 of the Education Code is amended to read: 33000. There is in the state government a State Board of Education, consisting of 11 members, as follows: (a) (1) Until January 15, 2027, 10 members who are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. (2) Commencing January 15, 2027, nine members who are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. members, appointed in the following manner: (A) Five members who are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. (B) Two members who are appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate. (C) Two members who are appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. (b) A student member pursuant to Section 33000.5. (c) Commencing January 15, 2027, the Superintendent. SEC. 3. Section 33000.5 of the Education Code is amended to read: 33000.5. (a) The Governor shall appoint a student member to the state board with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. (b) The term of office of the student member is one year, year and shall begin on August 1. An individual may serve only one term as a student member. (c) Notwithstanding Section 1020 of the Government Code, the student member shall be, at the time the student member’s one-year term commences, a student enrolled in good standing in grade 12 in a public high school. The student member shall be selected from three students recommended by the state board pursuant to subdivision (d). The student member shall be a voting member with the full rights and duties of the other 10 members of the state board. (d) The process for selecting the student member shall be as follows: (1) Each year, the state board shall notify every school district that applications are being accepted for the student member’s position. (2) A screening committee of the state board shall select 12 semifinalists for the student member’s position. Those semifinalists shall be presented to the California Association of Student Councils, which shall select a maximum of six final candidates for presentation to the state board. (3) Each year, the state board shall select three finalists for the Governor’s consideration and may rank the finalists according to its preference. SEC. 4. Section 33001 of the Education Code is amended to read: 33001. (a) The term of office of the members of the board, except for the Superintendent and the student member, is four years, and they shall hold office until the appointment and qualification of their successors. The terms of the members of the board in office when this section takes effect shall expire as follows: Three members January 15, 1960. Two members January 15, 1961. Three members January 15, 1962. Two members January 15, 1963. (b) The terms shall expire in the same relative order as to each member as the term for which the member holds office before this section takes effect. (c) One of the members whose term expires January 15, 2027, as determined by the Governor, shall convert to the Superintendent. (d) (1) (A) Commencing January 15, 2027, the next two expiring member terms shall be replaced by one appointment of the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and one appointment by the Speaker of the Assembly. (B) Commencing January 15, 2028, the next three expiring member terms shall be replaced by three appointments of the Governor. (C) Commencing January 15, 2029, the next two expiring member terms shall be replaced by one appointment of the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and one appointment by the Speaker of the Assembly. (D) Commencing January 15, 2030, the next two expiring member terms shall be replaced by two appointments of the Governor. (2) After the appointments are made as described in subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1), subsequent appointments shall follow the same annual sequence appointment authority described in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1). SEC. 5. Section 33004 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 6. Section 33005 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 5. Section 33004 of the Education Code is amended to read: 33004. (a) The Superintendent shall be secretary and shall act as executive officer of the state board. The Superintendent shall have charge of all its correspondence and shall keep a record of its proceedings. (b) This section shall become inoperative on January 15, 2027, and, as of January 1, 2028, is repealed. SEC. 6. Section 33005 of the Education Code is amended to read: 33005. (a) The board shall appoint an acting secretary, who shall also act as executive officer of the board in the absence of the Superintendent of Pub [Text truncated for display. 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