SB126 - Education finance: education omnibus trailer bill.

Amended IN Assembly June 26, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 126 Introduced by Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review January 23, 2025 An act relating to the Budget Act of 2025. An act to amend Sections 1240, 2575.2, 2575.3, 8281.5, 8320, 8482.3, 8482.4, 8483.3, 8484.8, 8901, 8902, 11300, 11301, 14041.5, 14500, 14501, 14502.1, 14503, 14504, 14504.2, 14505, 14506, 14507, 14508, 14509, 32526, 33050, 41020, 41020.2, 41020.3, 41020.5, 41203.1, 41206.04, 41341, 41344.4, 41404.5, 41585, 42238.022, 42282, 42284, 42287, 44225.6, 44235, 44258.9, 44259, 44395, 44400, 44400.01, 44400.02, 44400.03, 44415, 44415.5, 44415.6, 44418, 45037, 45125.1, 46120, 46141, 46146, 46146.5, 46392, 47604.3, 47604.32, 47605, 47605.6, 47605.9, 47607, 47607.3, 48000, 51221.2, 51745.6, 51747.5, 52064.5, 52066, 52071, 52071.5, 52072, 52072.5, 53008, 53009, 54681, 54682, 54683, 54684, 56836.146, 56836.148, 60900.5, 66032.2, 69617, and 76004 of, to amend, renumber, and add Section 17076.11 of, to amend, repeal, and add Sections 44965, 45193, and 47607.2 of, to add Sections 1632, 2575.35, 2580, 2581, 2582, 2583, 8901.5, 8903, 17376, 41020.6, 44259.4, 44259.8, 44415.71, 44415.9, 44690.1, 46149, 49507, 51225.33, 52071.1, 52071.51, 53008.5, 53008.7, 53009.1, 53009.5, 54451, 54685.1, and 76001.5 to, to add Article 4 (commencing with Section 44475) to Chapter 3 of Part 25 of Division 3 of, and Article 11.5 (commencing with Section 51827) to Chapter 5 of Part 28 of Division 4 of, Title 2 of, to repeal Section 42252.1 of, and to repeal and add Sections 41020.8 and 44281 of, the Education Code, to amend Section 17581.6 of the Government Code, to amend Sections 143 and 162 of Chapter 44 of the Statutes of 2021, to amend Section 117 of Chapter 48 of the Statutes of 2023, to amend Section 81 of Chapter 8 of the Statutes of 2025, to repeal Section 55 of Chapter 13 of the Statutes of 2015, to repeal Section 135 of Chapter 44 of the Statutes of 2021, to repeal Section 137 of Chapter 52 of the Statutes of 2022, and to repeal Section 115 of Chapter 48 of the Statutes of 2023, relating to education finance, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 126, as amended, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review. Budget Act of 2025. Education finance: education omnibus trailer bill. (1) Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to submit 2 reports during the fiscal year to the county board of education and to certify in writing, as part of each report, whether or not the county office of education is able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year and, based on current forecasts, for 2 subsequent fiscal years. Existing law requires the certifications to be classified as positive, qualified, or negative and authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction to reclassify a certification in accordance with specified standards. Existing law authorizes, if a county office of education receives a negative certification, the Superintendent or their designee, to take specified actions that are necessary to ensure that the county office of education meets its financial obligations. This bill would require the Superintendent to provide notice of an action to reclassify a certification to the governing board of the county office of education. If a county office of education receives a negative certification, the bill would require, instead of authorize, the Superintendent, or their designee, to take the above-described actions. (2) Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires the Superintendent to annually calculate a county local control funding formula for each county superintendent of schools that includes, among other things, an alternative education grant, as specified. Existing law includes, among other things, a base grant based upon average daily attendance as a component of that alternative education grant. Existing law requires the Superintendent to add $300,000 and other specified amounts, that are dependent upon the number and size of school districts under its jurisdiction and that are determined to be in need of differentiated assistance, to a county superintendent of school’s local control funding formula allocation, as specified. Existing law also requires the Superintendent to add $100,000 per charter school determined to be in need of differentiated assistance to each county superintendent of school’s local control funding formula allocation, as specified. This bill would, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, replace the above-described additions to a county superintendent of school’s local control funding formula allocation, based on the number of school districts and charter schools determined to be in need of differentiated assistance, with a universal and targeted assistance county office of education funding grant allocated to a county office of education, on an annual basis, to support all local educational agencies within the county’s jurisdiction. The bill would require the grant to be calculated as the sum of (A) $500,000, with annual inflation adjustments, (B) a county office of education’s county average daily attendance grant, based on a specified formula, and (C) a stability grant for each county office of education that would receive a lesser universal and targeted assistance county office of education funding grant amount than in previous years, as provided. For a school district or county office of education that operates within a county in which there is only one school district, the bill would require the average daily attendance grant component and the stability grant component to be allocated to the lead agency of the region, identified pursuant to specified processes, in which the county office of education is located. The bill would require allocated grant funds to be used to provide universal and targeted assistance, free of cost, to support the continuous improvement of local educational agencies located within the county to improve outcomes under specified state priorities, as provided. The bill would, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, require county offices of education to spend their grant funds in a manner that prioritizes the support of school districts identified for technical assistance pursuant to specified provisions. The bill would require county offices of education to ensure local educational agencies identified for technical assistance are informed of the availability of this universal assistance. To the extent this imposes new duties on county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law appropriates $7,000,000 in the 2025–26 fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to the Los Angeles County Office of Education to develop a statewide repository of high-quality curriculum-embedded performance tasks across all grade levels, mapped to the Next Generation Science standards for use by local educational agencies and educators to support inquiry-based instruction and assessment. This bill would appropriate, for the 2026–27 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, $890,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for allocation to the Los Angeles County Office of Education to maintain that repository, as provided. (4) Existing law appropriates $3,100,000 from the General Fund to the department for the 2021–22 fiscal year for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Kern County Office of Education and the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team for the Standardized Account Code Structure system replacement project. Existing law, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, continuously appropriates $3,920,000 each fiscal year from the General Fund to the department for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Kern County Office of Education and the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team for maintenance and operation support for the Standardized Account Code Structure system. This bill would codify those provisions and, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, continuously appropriate an additional $220,000 each fiscal year from the General Fund to the department for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Kern County Office of Education and the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team for maintenance and operation support for the Standardized Account Code Structure system. (5) Existing law appropriates $30,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership to support educator training, including mathematics coaches, teachers, and school administrators for implementation of the new mathematics curriculum framework in local educational agencies, as provided. This bill would appropriate $50,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to augment the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership, as provided. The bill would require the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership to, among other things, continue to support the California Mathematics Project along with its other existing partners, as specified. The bill would require the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to submit a revised expenditure plan on behalf of the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership to the Department of Finance for approval by October 1, 2026. By imposing additional duties on the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to add $3,000,000 to the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s local control funding formula allocation for the purpose of supporting statewide professional development and leadership training for education professionals related to antibias education and the creation of inclusive and equitable schools. This bill would codify those provisions and, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, would increase that add-on for the Los Angeles County Office of Education by an additional $1,000,000 to instead be $4,000,000, for allocation to the Museum of Tolerance for the above-described purpose. (7) The Early Education Act, among other things, establishes the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program as a state early learning initiative with the goal of expanding access to classroom-based prekindergarten programs. Existing law appropriates $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education in both the 2021–22 fiscal year and the 2022–23 fiscal year for allocation to local educational agencies as base grants, enrollment grants, and supplemental grants, as specified. Existing law assigns the Superintendent various duties relating to the program. This bill would, among other things, appropriate $200,0000,000 from the General Fund to the department for the 2026–27 fiscal year for allocation to local educational agencies for the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program, as specified. The bill would transfer the Superintendent’s duties under the program to the department, as provided. The Early Education Act also establishes the California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program with the goal of expanding access universally to preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-old children, as provided. The act requires the Superintendent to develop and administer a grant process and award grant funds to each county that applies for funding, as provided. This bill would extend the expenditure and reversion periods for those grant funds, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would also appropriate $50,000,000 for the 2026–27 fiscal year to the department for renewal grants for existing local educational agency grantees or new grants for new local education agency consortia lead agencies, respectively, as specified. (8) Existing law creates the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of receiving appropriations for school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and community college districts related to the state of emergency declared by the Governor on March 4, 2020, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing law appropriates $6,345,405,000 from the General Fund to the department for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. Existing law requires the Superintendent to allocate these appropriated funds to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as provided. Existing law appropriates an additional $378,650,000 from the General Fund to the department for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund, to be allocated by the Superintendent to those local educational agencies operating in the 2025–26 fiscal year, as provided. This bill would appropriate $757,300,000 from the General Fund to the department for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund, to be allocated by the Superintendent to local educational agencies operating in the 2026–27 fiscal year, as provided. (9) Existing law appropriates $2,836,660,000 in the 2021–22 fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent to administer the California Community Schools Partnership Program and requires those funds to be available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2032. Existing law requires at least $2,694,827,000 of that amount to be allocated to establish new, and expand existing, community schools with up to 72% of those funds to be available for implementation grants and at least 18% to be available for extending implementation grants, as provided. This bill would require the department, instead of the Superintendent, to administer the program. The bill would eliminate the above-described 18% allocation and, instead, would make at least $84,000,000 available for reappropriation in the 2026–27 fiscal year for various activities to support the long-term planning and implementation of the program, as provided. The bill would require the Legislature to initially appropriate $1,000,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to administer the program to distribute funding to local educational agencies, as defined, in accordance with a specified formula, to support a network of their eligible schoolsites to implement new, and provide ongoing support for existing, community schools, as provided. The bill would require, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, the appropriation to be adjusted by a specific [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]