SB133 - Education finance: education omnibus trailer bill.

Amended IN Assembly August 28, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 133 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 2582, 8281.5, 8320, 8902, 8903, 11800, 12000, 33110, 33110.5, 38100, 41341, 41490, 41585, 42238.022, 44259.4, 44475, 46146.5, 46160, 49507, 52064.5, 52071, 52071.5, 53008.5, 53008.7, 53009, 53009.1, 53025, 54451, 54680, 54682, 54683, 69617, and 76004 of, and to amend and renumber Section 98 of, the Education Code, to amend Section 531 of the Military and Veterans Code, to amend Section 162 of Chapter 44 of the Statutes of 2021, and to amend Section 149 of Chapter 65 of the Statutes of 2026, relating to education finance, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 133, as amended, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review. Budget Act of 2025. Education finance: education omnibus trailer bill. (1) Existing law, for 2025–26 fiscal year, appropriates $50,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to augment the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership to further support educator training, including mathematics coaches, teachers, and school administrators for implementation of the new mathematics curriculum framework in local educational agencies, and requires the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to submit a revised expenditure plan to the Department of Finance for approval by October 1, 2026. This bill would require those funds to be available for encumbrance through June 30, 2031, and would delay the deadline for the submitting the revised expenditure report to December 1, 2026. By extending the encumbrance period for an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (2) 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 $200,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for the 2026–27 fiscal year for allocation to local educational agencies for the program, as specified. Existing law requires local educational agencies receiving grants pursuant to the program to do various activities, including, among other things, ensuring expenditures are consistent with the local educational agency’s local plan adopted pursuant to specified provisions. This bill would, among other things, require a local educational agency that receives a grant pursuant to the program that has not developed a local plan, as described above, to develop that plan for consideration by the governing board or body at a public meeting, as provided, and to make the plan available for review upon request by the department. Existing law requires the department to award $100,000,000 in competitive grants to local educational agencies to increase the number of highly-qualified teachers available to serve California state preschool programs and transitional kindergarten pupils, and to provide California state preschool program, transitional kindergarten, and kindergarten teachers with training in providing instruction in inclusive classrooms, culturally responsive instruction, supporting dual language learners, enhancing social-emotional learning, implementing trauma-informed practices and restorative practices, and mitigating implicit biases to eliminate exclusionary discipline. This bill would authorize the department to allocate or prorate any returned or collected funds that were appropriated for certain purposes of the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program to be used for the above-described competitive grants, and would extend the encumbrance and expenditure periods for those various appropriations for the program, as specified. By expanding the purposes and the encumbrance and expenditure periods of previously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation. The Early Education Act, among other things, 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. Existing law appropriates $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 educational agency consortia lead agencies, respectively, as specified. This bill, among other things, would require the above-described $50,000,000 appropriation to instead be allocated by the department to one designated lead agency within each county that is a local educational agency and would require the department to instead grant these funds in accordance with specified provisions. By changing the purposes of previously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing law appropriates $2,836,660,000 in the 2021–22 fiscal year from the General Fund to the department 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 authorizes up to $141,833,000 of that amount to be allocated to contract with local educational agencies to create a network of at least 5 regional technical assistance centers to provide support to local educational agencies, as provided, and requires the department to designate one of those regional technical assistance centers to be the state transformational assistance center for purposes of the program. This bill would, among other things, authorize the regional technical assistance center serving as the state transformational assistance center to continue serving in that capacity beginning in the 2026–27 school year through the 2029–30 school year or until the new community schools technical assistance structure is adopted by the State Board of Education, as provided. The Budget Act of 2026 appropriates, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, $1,000,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to administer the California Community Schools Partnership 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. Existing law requires, as a condition of receiving these funds, a local educational agency to, among other things, use funds for planning to support specified activities. This bill would authorize the above-described funds for planning to also be used to convene a schoolsite’s shared decisionmaking team or council to prepare its community school implementation plan, as provided. By expanding the purposes for which previously appropriated moneys may be expended, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires $10,000,000 of the above-described $1,000,000,000 appropriation to be available to the department to select, subject to the approval of the executive director of the state board, at least one local educational agency to implement a specified technical assistance structure and network and to support an ongoing certification process for the allocations to local educational agencies. Existing law requires $2,000,000 of the $10,000,000 to be allocated to the local educational agency serving as the state transformational assistance center for specified activities. This bill would instead (A) require up to $10,000,000 to be available for those purposes, (B) delay, until the 2031–32 fiscal year, the authorization to use those moneys to support costs related to the ongoing certification process, and (C) require at least $2,000,000 of that amount, subject to the approval of the executive director of the state board, to be allocated to the local educational agency serving as the state transformational assistance center for specified activities. (4) Existing law establishes the K–12 High-Speed Network (K–12 HSN) to, among other things, provide high-speed, high-bandwidth internet connectivity to the public school system, as provided. Existing law requires the K–12 HSN to provide critical services and functions for public primary and secondary local educational agencies, including, but not limited to, reliable and cost-effective internet service that, among other things, is sufficient to support videoconferencing and related independent study capabilities. This bill would instead require K–12 HSN to provide reliable and cost-effective internet service that, among other things, is sufficient to support bandwidth-intensive applications, digital learning, and related independent study capabilities. Existing law requires the establishment of a K–12 HSN advisory board, as provided, and requires the advisory board to, among other things, meet quarterly and recommend policy direction and broad operational guidance to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the lead education agency, as provided. This bill would, among other things, require the advisory board to submit, on or before March 1 of each year, an annual report with program highlights to the State Department of Education and the Department of Finance. (5) Existing law, commencing January 1, 2027, vests all executive and administrative functions of the State Department of Education in an Education Commissioner and transfers various duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction relating to the State Board of Education and the department to the Education Commissioner. If a federal law designates a state educational agency or other agency or officer primarily responsible for state supervision of public schools, existing law requires that designation to be deemed to refer to the state board. If federal law designates a chief state school officer, the bill would require that designation, commencing January 1, 2027, to be deemed to refer to the Education Commissioner. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2027, for numerous specified provisions of existing law, (A) provides that the Education Commissioner or the department, as specified, succeeds to and is vested with all the duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction vested in the Superintendent by those provisions and (B) requires that any actions taken by the Superintendent pursuant to those provisions to instead be deemed to have been taken by the Education Commissioner or the department, as specified. This bill, commencing January 1, 2027, would apply those provisions to additional provisions of law, as specified. (6) Existing law requires the department to provide state meal reimbursement to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that participate in, and comply with the requirements of, the federal School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program, and any applicable state laws and regulations, as provided. Existing law provides that the cost of providing adequate housing for cafeterias, including, but not limited to, permanent kitchen facilities, is a charge against the funds of the school district. This bill, notwithstanding any other law and with the prior approval of the department, would instead authorize local educational agencies to make infrastructure upgrades for the operation and improvement of school meal service with state funded meal reimbursement provided for meals, as specified. (7) Existing law appropriates $50,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent to apportion to the Orange County Department of Education to award no less than $30,000,000 as grants to local educational agencies for the purpose of funding schoolwide and districtwide implementation of services or practices aligned to the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support framework, as specified, and requires the Orange County Department of Education to encumber or expend those funds on or before June 30, 2026. The bill would, upon review and approval by the Orange County Department of Education, authorize funds encumbered by a subgrantee but not yet expended, to be expended until June 30, 2027. By extending the expenditure period of an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on the Orange County Department of Education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires funds described above not awarded on or before December 15, 2022, to be available for the Orange County Department of Education to provide support to local educational agencies impacted by the fire-related state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor in January 2025, as provided. This bill would authorize funds that have not been encumbered to be utilized by the Orange County Department of Education for those purposes until June 30, 2027. By extending the encumbrance period of an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (8) Existing law, upon an appropriation for these purposes, requires the State Department of Education, in consultation with the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to administer a competitive grant program to award grants to local educational agencies, as defined, to establish dual enrollment programs, as specified. Existing law requires approved applicants to be provided one-time grants, as specified, to (A) start up or expand a middle college or early college high school or program or (B) establish a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) dual enrollment partnership, or to be provided both grants. This bill would, among other things, require an applicant that has previously received one of those grants to also be provided a renewal grant upon the completion of the requirements pertaining to that specific grant type, provided they are not currently in an active grant period for that grant type. (9) Existing law establishes the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program and requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to develop and implement a program to award, on a competitive basis, grants of up to $600,000 to consortia of local educational agencies to form broader consortia with 4-year institutions of higher education, or with 4-year institutions of higher education and community colleges, to establish or expand pathways to bilingual teaching to enable bilingual candidates to earn a multiple subject, single subject, PK-3 early childhood education specialist, or education specialist teaching credential, with a bilingual authorization, as provided. Existing law requires broader consortia to enter in an agreement with one or more local educational agencies to hire qualified graduates of the pathway in bilingual teaching positions, as specified. Existing law requires [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]