As the clock struck midnight on Sept. 30, it signaled the traditional end of the two-year 2023–24 legislative session. With nearly 1,000 bills reaching his desk at the end of the session, which concluded Aug. 31, Gov. Gavin Newsom had 30 days to sign or veto all legislation. Of the 990 bills that reached the Governor, he vetoed 183.
Demonstrating the influence of CSBA advocacy, the Governor signed both of CSBA’s co-sponsored bills and vetoed another that CSBA vehemently advocated against. Most notably, the Governor vetoed Assembly Bill 2088, which would have forced schools to bypass external applicants and offer existing employees the right of first refusal for new classified vacancies without regard to fitness for the position or past job performance.
He signed Senate Bill 1244 (Newman, D-Fullerton) and SB 1315 (Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera), CSBA co-sponsored bills that will help to strengthen the process for students to pursue dual enrollment opportunities with local community colleges and address the administrative burdens many local educational agencies face, respectively.
Read a full breakdown of the Governor’s actions below.
Administration and governance
AB 1815 (Weber, D-San Diego): Discrimination: race: hairstyles.
- This bill states that discrimination based upon one’s hairstyle is prohibited, making it declaratory of existing law.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2046 (Bryan, D-Los Angeles): Educational programs: single gender schools and classes.
- Extends the sunset permitting LEAs to operate single gender schools and classes from Jan. 1, 2025, to July 1, 2031.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2350 (Hoover, R-Folsom): Open meetings: school boards: emergencies: notifications by email.
- Authorizes a school board holding an emergency meeting to fulfill the premeeting notification requirement by email instead of by telephone. If the internet and telephone services are not functioning, aligns the premeeting notification requirement with existing law, which waives the requirement and requires the school board to notify the media of details of the meeting as soon after the meeting as possible.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2724 (Gómez Reyes, D-Colton): High school pupils: voter registration.
- Beginning in the 2026–27 school year, it would have required LEAs to ensure that students receive information about how to register to vote before the 12th grade.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2999 (Schiavo, D-Chatsworth): Pupil instruction: homework policy.
- Encourages rather than requires LEAs and charter schools to develop, adopt, distribute and update, at least once every five years, a homework policy by the start of the 2027–28 school year.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 3074 (Schiavo, D-Chatsworth): School or athletic team names: California Racial Mascots Act.
- Prohibits LEAs from using any derogatory Native American term for school or athletic team names, mascots, or nicknames by revising the California Racial Mascots Act, except for schools operated by an Indian tribe or a tribal organization or an LEA that has received written consent from a local federally recognized tribe, beginning July 1, 2026.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 3216 (Hoover, R-Folsom): Pupils: use of smartphones.
- Require LEAs to adopt a policy limiting or prohibiting the use of smartphones and to update that policy every five years.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
SB 907 (Newman, D-Fullerton): Orange County Board of Education: members.
- Moves the Orange County Board of Education’s elections from the primary election to the general election in even numbered election years and increases the board’s size from five to seven in conjunction with the 2030 decennial census.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
SB 991 (Gonzalez, D-Long Beach): School districts: Los Angeles Unified School District: inspector general.
- Requires the Los Angeles Unified School District Office of the Inspector General to submit a report to the Legislature upon request rather than annually, and removes the sunset date, extending the authority of the office indefinitely.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1315 (Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera): School accountability: annual reporting requirements.
- Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to report to the Governor and Legislature the total number of reports, scope of reports and recommendations on which reports should be maintained, combined or eliminated.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Co-sponsor/Support
SB 1445 (Cortese, D-San Jose): Governing boards: pupil members: expulsion hearing.
- Permits a school board, including charter school governing boards to allow a student board member to make restorative justice recommendations to the board when it is conducting an expulsion hearing, and requires the board to provide limited case information to the student board member with the consent of the student being considered for expulsion.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Teacher credentialing and professional development
AB 2473 (Committee on Education): Education Committee Omnibus.
- An urgency measure, makes a number of changes to the Education Code, including allowing credential holders to earn supplementary authorizations through existing recognized methods of demonstrating subject matter competence and requiring the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to issue supplementary authorizations to out-of-state teachers for commonly taught subjects.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1263 (Newman, D-Fullerton): Teacher credentialing: teaching performance assessment: workgroup.
- Requires the CTC to convene a workgroup to assess current design and implementation of the teacher performance assessment and report recommendations to the Legislature.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Labor and human resources
AB 938 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance) Education finance: classified and certificated staff salaries.
- Adds classified salaries and benefits to the existing Salary and Benefit Schedule for the Bargaining Units (Form J–90) beginning Jan. 31, 2026. Certificated salaries and benefit schedules are already required for Form J-90s.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Disapprove
AB 2088 (McCarty, D-Sacramento): K–14 classified employees: part-time or full-time vacancies: public postings.
- Would have required LEAs to offer open part-time positions to existing classified staff before making it available to public candidates.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor.
- CSBA Position: Opposed
AB 2134 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance): School employees: transfer of leave of absence for illness or injury.
- Removes the requirement that the State Board of Education (SBE) adopt regulations governing transfer of leave requests and instead standardizes the process by which transfer of leave requests are handled by LEAs.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2245 (Carrillo, D-Palmdale): Certificated school employees: permanent status: regional occupational centers or programs operated by single school districts.
- Requires career technical education (CTE) teachers serving in single district regional occupation centers and programs to receive permanency after two consecutive years of teaching.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
Education finance
SB 98 (Portantino, D-Burbank): Education finance: Local Control Funding Formula: enrollment-based funding report.
- Requires the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to provide a report to the Legislature, on or before Jan, 1, 2026, on the effects of changing the pupil count methodology of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) from average daily attendance (ADA) to pupil enrollment. Includes CSBA language to require the report to assess the:
- Impacts of transitioning from ADA to enrollment would have on Proposition 98 and the minimum funding guarantee, and its implementing statutes
- Ability of LCFF with a pupil count methodology based on pupil enrollment to fund existing and ongoing public education obligations
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support
SB 1429 (Ochoa-Bogh, R-Yucaipa): Education finance: emergencies: snowstorms.
- Adds snowstorms to the list of emergencies for which an LEA can recoup ADA apportionment when schools close due to a natural disaster.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Special education
AB 438 (Rubio, D-West Covina): Pupils with exceptional needs: individualized education programs: postsecondary goals and transition services.
- Lowers the age at which postsecondary transition planning for students with exceptional needs begins from age 16 to when a student starts high school, as determined by the student’s individualized education program (IEP) team.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support
AB 1938 (Gallagher, R-Chico): Special education: inclusion and universal design for learning.
- Requires LEAs, when implementing inclusion and universal design for learning initiatives and when developing specified plans for students who are deaf, hard of hearing (DHH) or deaf-blind, to consider existing law and guidance related to these students, and requires the CDE to communicate this information to LEAs.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 445 (Portantino, D-Glendale):– Special education: standardized individualized education program template: translation.
- Requires the CDE, by Jan. 1, 2026, to translate the state-standardized IEP template into the top 10 most commonly spoken languages used across the state, make those templates available on its website, and notify LEAs of their availability.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support if amended
SB 483 (Cortese, D-Campbell): Pupil rights: prone restraint.
- Prohibits the use of prone restraint by LEAs, nonpublic schools and agencies, and the State Special Schools for the Blind and the Deaf.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support
Curriculum and instruction
AB 1871 (Alanis, R-Modesto): Adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12: social sciences: personal financial literacy.
- Adds personal financial literacy component to social science coursework for grades 7 through 12.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 1971 (Addis, D-Morro Bay): Administration of standardized tests.
- Prohibits national assessment providers from knowingly publishing, distributing or selling the personal information of students.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2053 (Mathis, R-Porterville): Pupil instruction: abusive relationships.
- Requires existing adolescent relationship abuse and intimate partner violence instruction to include information about resources available to students, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline and local domestic violence hotlines.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2074 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance): Pupil instruction: English Learner Roadmap Policy: statewide implementation plan.
- Requires the CDE to develop a statewide implementation plan for the English Learner (EL) Roadmap Policy.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2165 (Gómez Reyes, D-Colton): Pupil instruction: financial aid application.
- Requires LEAs, prior to exempting a student from the requirement to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or a California Dream Act Application (CDAA), to provide students information about the consequences of not completing those applications.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2377 (Rivas, D-Sylmar): Pupil instruction: physical education: accommodation: religious fasting.
- Requires students be granted a physical education accommodation during a period of religious fasting with written notification from the pupil’s parent or guardian.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 1805 (Ta, R-Westminster): Instructional materials: history-social science: Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County.
- Requires the SBE’s Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to consider including Mendez v. Westminster School District in the History-Social Science Frameworks the next time the SBE adopts new instructional materials.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 1821 (Ramos, D-Highland): Pupil instruction: course of study: social sciences: treatment of Native Americans.
- Adds the treatment and perspectives of Native Americans during the Spanish colonization of California and the Gold Rush era to the courses of study for grades 1 through 6 and 7 through 12, when the social sciences curriculum framework and course requirements are next updated.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2073 (Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton): Physical education courses: alternate term schedules.
- Permits LEAs to adopt alternate term schedules for physical education courses if it is aligned with the PE framework and complies with existing PE requirements.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2229 (Wilson, D-Suisun City): California Healthy Youth Act: menstrual health education.
- Adds the topic of menstrual health to the definition of “comprehensive sexual health education.”
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2865 (Carrillo, D-Los Angeles): Pupil instruction: excessive alcohol use.
- Requires existing courses on the danger of drugs and alcohol to include information about excessive drinking.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1277 (Stern, D-Los Angeles): Pupil instruction: genocide education: the Holocaust.
- Establishes the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education to establish a statewide teacher professional development program on genocide.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1410 (Ochoa-Bogh, R-Yucaipa): Pupil instruction: curriculum frameworks: mathematics: algebra.
- Requires the IQC, when the mathematics curriculum framework is next revised after Jan. 1, 2025, to consider including that pupils in grade 8 be offered the opportunity to take an Algebra I or Mathematics I course that is aligned to the content standards adopted by the state board.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1411 (Ochoa-Bogh, R-Yucaipa): Instructional Quality Commission: curriculum framework and evaluation criteria committee: higher education faculty representation.
- Would have required the IQC, when it revises a curriculum framework in mathematics or science, to ensure that the associated curriculum framework and evaluation criteria committee includes representation from higher education faculty with relevant subject matter expertise, and would authorize the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates to nominate two faculty from California public institutions of higher education for consideration to serve on the relevant curriculum framework and evaluation criteria committee.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1412 (Ochoa-Bogh, R-Yucaipa): Instructional Quality Commission: qualifications: prohibited communications.
- Would have prohibited curriculum vendors from being eligible for appointment to a curriculum framework and evaluation criteria committee of the commission or being selected to serve as a member of the writing team.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1471 (Stern, D-Los Angeles): Pupil instruction: quiet reflection.
- Would have permitted a teacher to conduct a brief period of quiet reflection and prohibits this quiet reflection from being conducted or construed to be a religious service or exercise.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Student health and mental health
AB 2316 (Gabriel, D-Encino): Pupil nutrition: substances: prohibition.
- Prohibits LEAs, including charter schools, from serving and selling foods containing synthetic food dye additives that have been linked to health harms in children, including cancer, damage to the immune system, neurobehavioral issues and hyperactivity.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2711 (Ramos, D-Highland): Suspensions and expulsions: voluntary disclosures.
- Prohibits students who voluntarily disclose their use of a controlled substance, including alcohol and tobacco, in order to seek help to address their substance abuse.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Neutral
SB 954 (Menjivar, D-Burbank): Sexual health.
- Contingent upon a budget appropriation, would have required LEAs to make condoms available for free to all students in grades 9 through 12, place condoms in a minimum of two locations on school grounds, and provide specified sexual health notices, and requires that one employee at each school site be designated to implement the provisions of the bill.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Disapprove
SB 997 (Portantino, D-Burbank): Pupil health: opioid antagonists and fentanyl test strips.
- Prohibits LEAs from prohibiting students in middle schools, junior high schools, high schools, or adult schools, from carrying fentanyl test strips or administering an opioid antagonist.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Approve
SB 1248 (Hurtado, D-Sanger): Pupil health: extreme weather conditions: physical activity.
- Requires the CDE to develop guidelines specifying thresholds or index ratings that trigger modifications to pupil physical activities during extreme weather conditions.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Approve
SB 1283 (Stern, D-Los Angeles): Pupils: use of social media.
- Authorizes LEAs to adopt a policy to limit or prohibit students from using social media while on school premises.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support
School safety
AB 2690 (Patterson, R-Roseville): Pupil safety: parental notification: synthetic drugs.
- Requires LEAs to include in their annual notice to students and their families about the dangers of using drugs information about how social media platforms are used to market and sell synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support
AB 2887 (Maienschein, D-San Diego): School safety plans: medical emergency procedures.
- Requires LEAs to include in their school safety plan procedures on responding to heart attacks or similar life-threatening medical emergencies.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2968 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael): School safety and fire prevention: fire hazard severity zones: comprehensive school safety plans: communication and evacuation plans.
- Beginning with the 2026–27 school year, require the disaster procedures in the comprehensive school safety plans to include the establishment of a procedure to identify appropriate refuge shelter for all pupils and staff, for use in the event of an evacuation order, and to notify the operational area having jurisdiction of the refuge.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
At-risk and at-promise students
AB 1919 (Weber, D-San Diego): Pupil discipline: suspension: restorative justice practices.
- Would have required LEAs, including charter schools to adopt at least one of the CDE’s evidence-based restorative justice practices.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2137 (Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton): Homeless and foster youth.
- Permits a foster youth services coordinating program to provide tutoring, mentoring, and counseling services to a foster youth pupil, if those services are not able to be provided by the LEA.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2176 (Berman, D-Menlo Park): Juvenile court schools: chronic absenteeism rates.
- Requires the California Office of Youth and Community Restoration to develop an annual report on chronic absenteeism rates in juvenile court schools. Contingent upon a budget appropriation, it would require the office to investigate the reasons for absenteeism at juvenile court schools with chronic absenteeism rates of 15 percent or more.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2181 (Gipson, D-Carson): Juvenile court school pupils: graduation requirements and continued education options.
- Requires a juvenile court school to exempt a student from local graduation requirements of the county office of education, and to permit a student to remain enrolled to fulfill the state’s graduation requirements.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support
AB 1984 (Weber, D-San Diego): Pupil discipline: transfer reporting.
- Requires the CDE to collect and publish data on student transfers due to disciplinary reasons, including whether the transfer was a result of a school referral.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 939 (Umberg, D-Santa Ana): Educational equity: school site and community resources: neurodivergent pupils.
- Requires the CDE to post on its website information to support students who have been subjected to discrimination or bullying on the basis of neurodiversity and include in its training information about how to support students who are bullied because they are neurodivergent. Also requires LEAs to ensure that resources related to neurodiversity are readily accessible to students and parents.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
School facilities
SB 937 (Wiener, D-San Francisco): Development projects: fees and charges.
- Prohibits a local agency that imposes fees or charges on a residential development for the construction of public improvements or facilities from requiring the payment of those fees or charges until the date of the final inspection or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first, except for utility service fees.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
SB 1374 (Becker, D-Menlo Park): Net energy metering.
- Would have reversed a Public Utility Commission decision to lower the compensation rates for excess energy produced by LEAs with solar energy production.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Support
Dual enrollment
AB 359 ( Holden (D-Pasadena): Pupil instruction: dual enrollment: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships.
- Would have made a number of changes to the College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) dual enrollment program, including requiring enrollment prioritization for underserved students and eliminating the requirement that CCAP programs work with local workforce development boards.
- Status: Vetoed by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
SB 1244 (Newman, D-Fullerton): Pupil instruction: dual enrollment: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships.
- Creates a process for school districts to initiate dual enrollment programs with a neighboring community college district when an agreement cannot be reached with a home community college district, thereby fostering greater flexibility in meeting the educational needs of students statewide.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Co-sponsor/Support
Attendance
AB 1884 (Ward, D-San Diego): Pupil attendance: excused absences: uniformed services deployments.
- Authorizes a student’s excused absence when spending time with a member of their immediate family who is an active duty member of the military, without requiring that the deployment be to a combat zone or combat support position.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 691 (Portantino, D-Burbank): Pupil attendance: truancy notifications.
- Beginning July 1, 2025, requires LEAs to notify a pupil’s parent or guardian if that pupil is classified as being truant.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1138 (Newman, D-Fullerton): Pupil attendance: excused absences: military entrance processing.
- Authorizes a student’s excused absence due to participation in military entrance processing.
- Status: Signed into law by the Governor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
