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2026 Advocacy

State Legislative Advocacy 2026

ACOE engages in state-level legislative advocacy for education policies that support its students and stakeholders.

ACOE has also taken advocacy positions on other bills introduced this legislative session consistent with the Policy Platform developed by ACOE's Policy Committee.

Enhance Learning Supports

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require CDE to create a registry where LEAs would be authorized, but not required, to list CTE equipment they are selling for purchase by other LEAs.
     
    Link to Bill  

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and Director of State Board of Education to devise a new funding formula to ensure all funds appropriated to the California Career Technical Education Incentive Program are allocated to applicants in that fiscal year
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would allow LEAs to deem a student who successfully completes a course or series of courses in an apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship program to have fulfilled the visual/performing arts, world language, or CTE course requirement if the program meets specified requirements.
     
    Link to Bill  

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would create and coordinate apprenticeships for in- and out-of-school (opportunity) youth (16-24), identify a process for approving industry pathways for pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeship programs for students in high school, college, and adult education programs, provide paid training opportunities and support services to opportunity youth, establish a streamlined youth apprenticeship data system, and identify county and regional intermediaries, including COEs, to provide implementation support to LEAs and employers.
     
    Link to Bill  

  • POSITION: SPONSOR 
     
    This bill adds a requirement for LEAs to designate a transition liaison for court school students, mirroring the existing requirement for COE to designate a liason, to facilitate improved cooperation on pre existing statutory requirements including expeditious reenrollment, transfer of records, and transfer of credits. This bill would also place a 20 day limit on the assignment of credits and partial credits for delineated student groups including, but not limited to, court school students.
     
    Sponsor Letter  Sponsor Letter

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would establish the Cal-Bridge program between community colleges, CSUs, and UCs to create a pathway promoting STEM majors to pursue PhDs, including five subprograms to provide resources, research opportunities, and financial support. It would also establish the ENLACE program to create pathways that prepate high school and college students for post-secondary STEM education and workforce opportunities. Students must attend a CA community college, CSU, or UC and major in STEM.
     
    Link to Bill    

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    Current law allows unacompanied unhoused youth to access their own school records at 14 years old without consent from a parent or guardian. This bill would allow foster youth to also access their own pupil records at 14 years old without consent of a parent or guardian.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

     

  • POSITION: OPPOSE 
     
    This bill would require CDE by 1/1/30 to build a database of all special education related complaints against school districts for which there is an investigation report. The bill will require investigation reports posted on the database include the summary of allegations, applicable citations, findings of fact, conclusions, and required corrective actions. Parents would be required to "opt in" to have their report entered into the database before the report is posted. This information on the database would be available to the public but all personally identifyable information would be redacted.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would delete the prohibition against an applicant being awarded more than the amount determined by the allocation formula and would require that grantees in a prior fiscal year receive a renewal grant for 3 additional years. The bill would also require, beginning in FY 2026–27 , up to 90% of the grants awarded pursuant to the program to be designated for renewal grants and up to 10% to be designated for grants for new applicants, unless otherwise determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require CCAP agreement protocols to no longer require students to submit a principal recommendation and authorize students to complete one application as a special part-time student CCAP participant. It would also eliminate the limit on the amount of courses a CCAP participant can take per term and require CCAP partners to annually report the total number of students who completed 12 or more units of college work, completed a certificate, or completed courses required for an associate's degree.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter 1  Letter 2  

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill establishes three-year pilot for technical assistance designed to enhance equity and inclusion within CTE pathways. The bill mandates the Superintendent of Public Instruction to designate a lead COE within six months to administer the program, supported by a $4 million General Fund appropriation. This lead COE must develop scalable inclusive models and toolkits, provide intensive technical assistance to two selected pilot regions, and prioritize COEs with high percentages of underserved students. The lead COE must provide services starting the following fiscal year and submit annual progress reports to the Governor and Legislature throughout the pilot's duration.
     
    Link to Bill 

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would encourage LEAs to integrate outdoor learning into standards-aligned instruction across subject areas and authorize them to describe in LCAP how outdoor learning will support pupil engagement, environmental literacy, etc. It would establish the Statewide Outdoor Learning Pilot Program for 3 years to build statewide evidence and award six pilot LEAs across the state partnering with community-based outdoor learning providers. It would require the SPI to 1) develop and publish statewide guidance on outdoor learning (best practices, safety/risk management, equitable access, partnership strategies, etc.) after consulting with COEs, educators, tribal partners, environmental experts, and others by July 2028 and 2) publish a final report by Dec 31 of final year of pilot
     
    Link to Bill 

Human Resources

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would authorize an employer to seek a workplace violence restraining order on behalf of a group or class of employees if a credible threat of violence is generally directed at the employer’s workplace or at the employer’s employees.
     
    Link to Bill    

Improve Fiscal Health and Governance

  • POSITION: OPPOSE Unless Amended
     
     
     
    Link to Bill  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would extend the authorization for the competitive selection process for awarding lease-leaseback (LLB) contracts for school construction projects by five years to July 1, 2032.
     
    Link to Bill    Letter

Increase Child, Youth, Educator, and Staff Wellness

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require the Instructional Quality Commission to consider including recommendations in the next revision of health curriculum framework. Recommendations include how to prevent human trafficking, exploitation for labor and services, how to stay safe from sexually exploitative materials and deep fakes, foundational digital citizenship skills, and skills-based content. It would require recommendations to be cumulative and age-appropriate. It would also require the Commission to consider including a recommendation that LEAs provide at least 3 staff members with annual training related to content related to human trafficking and online safety.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require the Instructional Quality Commission to consider recommendations to SBE including specific content related to sexual health instruction to educate students on dating abuse and digital violence.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

  •  

    POSITION: OPPOSE 
     
    This bill would have required a rural school district or charter school to have at least one armed school resource officer, who would be authorized to carry a loaded firearm, to be present at each school of the school district or charter school during regular school hours.
     
    Link to Bill      Letter (Assembly Education Committee)   

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require health education courses in middle and high school to also include instruction on digital wellness. It would require instruction to include an introduction to relationship between digital technology use and mental health and reasonably designed instruction on overarching themes/core principles of digital wellness. It would also require CDE to develop a plan to expand digital wellness instruction in CA and include, among other things, recommendations for age-appropriate curriculum frameworks, guidance for schools with limited technology resources, and professional development opportunities with tech companies, mental health orgs, and media literacy experts
     
    Link to Bill    

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    In the event of a lapse in federal funding that causes a withholding, suspension, or delay of CalFresh, this bill would require the California State Dept of Social Services to utilize state funds to make sure CalFresh benefits continue to be issued to existing recipients.
     
    Link to Bill    

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would strengthen privacy protections for students by addressing gaps in existing laws including the K-12 Pupil Online Personal Information Protection Act (KOPIPA), Early Learning Personal Information Protection Act (ELPIPA), and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Specifically, this bill would prohibit education technology (EdTech) operators from using student data to train artificial intelligence systems; prohibit the collection, use, or disclosure of especially sensitive student information (reproductive/sexual health, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity) to protect vulnerable students; and implement data minimization requirements and limiting retention to what is “reasonably necessary” for the specific purpose for which the information was collected.
     
    Link to Bill  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would establish the Unaccompanied Youth Transitional Housing Program which would provide funding for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to partner with local nonprofits, as defined, and to offer 5-year grants to fund transitional housing projects for unaccompanied homeless youth (16-17). This bill is sponsored by the SPI. 
     
    Link to Bill  

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would strengthen newly instated protections for minors interacting with companion bots with a focus on preventing bots from producing or facilitating exchange of sexually explicit material.
     
    Link to Bill  

     

  •  

    POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill will require a school district or charter school to hire or contract with at least one armed school resource officer, as defined, authorized to carry a loaded firearm to be present at each school of the school district or charter school during regular school hours and any other time when pupils are present on campus, phased in by certain grade spans, as provided. By imposing an additional requirement on school districts and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
     
    Link to Bill      Letter (Senate Education Committee)    Letter (Senate Health Committee)  Letter (Senate Appropriations)

     

  •  

    POSITION: OPPOSE 
     
    This bill would reduce the safety of students and personnel in schools and daycares near metal shredders by significantly altering the regulatory framework surrounding metal shredding facilities and reclassifying the hazardous waste they produce as non hazardous material, removing hazardous-waste specific safety requirements.
     
    Link to Bill      Letter (Senate Environmental Quality Committee)   

     

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require the Instructional Quality Commission to consider including info on signs and symptoms of heat illness during the next revision of the publication “Health Framework for California Public Schools”
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require existing SROs to carry and be trained to use an opioid overdose reversal medications like Naloxone and CalRx.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require all state and local agency officials to complete at least one hour of anti-hate speech training within the first 6 months of taking office and once every 4 years.
     
    Link to Bill  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require a business providing test proctoring services to a school district, county office of education, or charter school for classroom- or course-based exams to use end-to-end encryption.
     
    Link to Bill  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to enable call transfers between 988 centers and subnetwork of LGBTQ+ suicide prevention providers, routing youth to a suicide prevention specialist by dialing 988 and pressing “3” or by text/chat.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would encourage schools with a website to post information about community programs that offer nutrition assistance to families.
     
    Link to Bill  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT  (no longer Taking Position following amendments)
     
    This bill, subject to an appropriation, would require the State Department of Social Services to establish the California Success, Opportunity, and Academic Resilience (SOAR) Guaranteed Income Program. The program would award public school pupils in grade 12 who are homeless a guaranteed income of $1,000 each month for 4 months from May 1, 2026, to August 1, 2026.
     
    Link to Bill  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require the California Department of Education (CDE) to convene a stakeholder workgroup to review the current statutory requirements for comprehensive school safety plans and to make recommendations on streamlining the plans and the process for updating them to maximize school safety.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would add peace officers employed by a state agency to the ban on law enforcement wearing masks while performing their duties, addressing federal court concerns over SB 627 that resulted in a temporary block on the law in February 2026.
     
    Link to Bill    

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require LEAs to provide an annual written notice to parents and guardians at the beginning of the first semester/quarter that must summarize state safe-storage laws, explain the risks of unsecured weapons, and be posted prominently on the school’s website (if applicable) and updated annually starting 2027-28 SY.
     
    Link to Bill  Letter  

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    Move responsibility from CDE to the Behavioural Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission for developing an evidence-based online training program on pupil suicide prevention (can be used by LEAs, COEs, and charters to train staff and pupils). Adds that this training should be trauma informed, and culturally and linguistically competent (in addition to evidence-based) and expands from 7-12th to 1st-12th.
     
    Link to Bill 

Strengthen Education Workforce

  • POSITION: SUPPORT 
     
    This bill would require new regulations to authorize specified visa sponsors designated by the Department of State to sponsor teachers from Mexico for placement in CA LEAs, expand authorized exchanges to include COEs and charter schools, and eliminate the one-year time limit on the exchanges.
     
    Link to Bill    

Other Advocacy

State Budget Advocacy

 

 

 

State Administrative Advocacy

Federal Advocacy

Miscellaneous Advocacy