Education governance: State Board of Education: Superintendent of Public Instruction: Education Commissioner: State Department of Education: transfer of duties.

This bill, commencing January 15, 2027, would expand the composition of the state board to instead be 13 members by replacing one of the nonstudent positions that expires on January 15, 2027, with the Superintendent, adding one member to be appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and adding one member to be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.

(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 the Governor, with confirmation by the Senate, and to serve at the pleasure of the Governor, (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 make numerous conforming changes by, among other things, (A) providing, for numerous specified provisions of existing law, 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, (B) requiring 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, (C) replacing the Superintendent with the Education Commissioner on specified bodies, including the California School Finance Authority, the Healthy Start Support Services for Children Program Council, the K–12 High-Speed Network advisory board, the School/Law Enforcement Partnership, the California Broadband Council, the State Allocation Board, the Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, (D) adding the Education Commissioner to the California Academic Partnership Program, the California Education Interagency Council, and the governing board of the California Cradle-to-Career Data System, and (E) requiring that certain reporting requirements also be submitted to the Education Commissioner while still also being required to be submitted to the Superintendent.

The bill would require the Education Commissioner to develop findings and recommendations for a 2nd phase of education governance consolidation and streamlining, as specified, and to submit an interim report by June 30, 2027, with a detailed description of the process used to gather required input for the development of those findings and recommendations, and then, by October 1, 2027, a final report containing its findings and recommendations, to the Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature.

(3) Existing provisions of the California Constitution require the quarterly allocation by the Superintendent of certain moneys in the Education Protection Account to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools in proportion to certain calculations to provide general purpose funding to those local educational agencies, as specified.

This bill would require those quarterly allocations to instead be made by the department.

(4) Existing provisions of the California Constitution limit the authority of the state or an entity of local government to expend the proceeds of taxes, as defined. If the state incurs excess revenues above its appropriations limit for 2 consecutive fiscal years, the constitution requires 50% of the excess revenues to be transferred and allocated to the State School Fund for elementary, high school, and community college purposes. With respect to funds allocated to that portion of the State School Fund restricted for elementary and high school purposes, the California Constitution provides that no transfer or allocation of funds is required at any time that the Director of Finance and the Superintendent mutually determine that current annual expenditures per student equal or exceed the average annual expenditure per student of the 10 states with the highest annual expenditures per student for elementary and high schools, and that average class size equals or is less than the average class size of the 10 states with the lowest class size for elementary and high schools.

This bill would require that mutual determination to instead be made by the Director of Finance and the Education Commissioner.

(5) Existing law requires the state board, at the request of the Superintendent, to take certain actions aimed at discouraging the development of discriminatory attitudes in schools and at preventing and responding to hate violence, as defined, as long as the actions do not result in a state mandate or an increase in costs to a state or local program.

This bill would revise those provisions by authorizing the state board to take those actions at the request of the Education Commissioner instead of requiring the state board to take those actions at the request of the Superintendent.

(6) Existing law establishes the Office of Civil Rights, under the administration of the Government Operations Agency, with the purpose of working directly with local educational agencies to prevent and address discrimination and bias, as specified. Existing law requires the Office of Civil Rights, in consultation with the department and under the supervision of the Government Operations Agency, to, among other things, (A) subject to an appropriation, develop a training module, in consultation with the department, the executive director of the state board, and the office of the Attorney General, regarding the appropriate manner to process and resolve discrimination complaints, as specified, and (B) employ an Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator to, among other things, (i) make recommendations, in coordination with the executive director of the state board, on legislation necessary for the prevention of antisemitism in educational settings and (ii) beginning September 1, 2027, track and report to the Legislature, the executive director of the state board, and the Superintendent complaints and resolutions or lack of resolutions of complaints relating to antisemitism in all local educational agencies serving pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

This bill would revise those provisions by, among other things, transferring the duties of the executive director of the state board to the Education Commissioner.

(7) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district that determines during a fiscal year that its revenues are less than the amount necessary to meet its current year expenditure obligations to request an emergency apportionment through the Superintendent, subject to specified requirements, including, among others, that the county superintendent of schools, the Superintendent, and the president of the state board or their designee, by majority vote, appoint a trustee, as specified. Existing law prescribes the financing conditions and other requirements on these emergency apportionments, as specified. If a school district accepts an emergency apportionment that exceeds an amount equal to 200% of the amount of the school district's recommended reserve, as specified, existing law provides that the school district's acceptance of the emergency apportionment constitutes an agreement by the school district to additional conditions, including, among others, that the county superintendent of schools assumes all the legal rights, duties, and powers of the governing board of the school district, and requires the county superintendent of schools, with concurrence from both the Superintendent and the president of the state board or their designee, to appoint an administrator with specified powers.

This bill would revise and recast those provisions by among other things, transferring the duties of the Superintendent to the Education Commissioner and deleting the role of the president of the state board. If, within 20 business days of receipt of the pool of candidates identified and vetted by the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), the county superintendent of schools and the Education Commissioner do not inform FCMAT in writing of their joint appointment of a trustee, the bill would require FCMAT to appoint the trustee within 10 business days.

(8) Existing law requires the Superintendent, the state board, and any other entity or individual designated by the Governor to participate in the Common Core State Standards Initiative consortium sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers or any associated or related interstate collaboration to jointly develop common high-quality standards or assessments aligned with the common set of standards.

Existing law authorizes the Superintendent to recommend, and requires the state board to adopt, the college and career readiness anchor standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative consortium.

Existing law establishes the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), for the assessment of certain elementary and secondary pupils. Existing law requires the Superintendent to recommend, and the state board to adopt, performance standards on the CAASPP summative tests.

This bill would remove the Superintendent's authorizations and requirements pursuant to those provisions.

(9) 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 would add the Superintendent to the board of governors as a 19th voting member.

(10) This bill would declare that its provisions are severable.