Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to amend and pass a bill that appropriates funding for the state Omnibus Education budget in California.

Highlights:

• Appropriates funding for the state Omnibus Education budget in California (Sec. 1-98).

• Requires the Superintendent to, in addition to examining the budget of a county office education, review and consider studies, reports, evaluations, or audits of the county office of education that were commissioned by specified entities that contain evidence that the county office of education is showing fiscal distress according to specified standards and criteria or that contain a finding by an external reviewer that the county office of education is at moderate or high risk of intervention, as provided (Sec. 1-98).

• Authorizes the Superintendent to conditionally approve or disapprove a budget that does not provide adequate assurance that the county office of education will meet its current and future obligations and resolve any problems identified in the studies, reports, evaluations, or audits, as specified (Sec. 1-98).

• Authorizes funds initially made available for implementation grants that are returned to the State Department of Education to be available for extending implementation grants (Sec. 1-98).

• Requires the amount of the warrants scheduled to be drawn in June of the 2024–25 fiscal year to instead be $245,604,000, or the total June principal apportionment payment, whichever is less (Sec. 1-98).

• Requires, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, warrants for the principal apportionments for June of $1,874,781,000, or the total June principal apportionment payment, whichever is less, to instead be drawn in July of the same calendar year, except as provided (Sec. 1-98).

• 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 (Sec. 1-98).

• Requires, no later than September 30, 2026, the state board to approve and the department to post on its internet website criteria and guidance for the selection or development of inservice professional development programs for effective means of teaching literacy in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, with a list of inservice professional development programs that have been deemed to meet those criteria (Sec. 1-98).

• Appropriates $200,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to make available to local educational agencies to expend from the 2026–27 fiscal year to the 2029–30 fiscal year,  inclusive, for purposes of training certificated and classified staff who provide literacy instruction, or who support any teacher who provides literacy instruction, using the professional development programs that meet the criteria and guidance, as provided (Sec. 1-98).

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall take effect immediately upon passage and approval by the Governor (Sec. 99).

Full Bill Text