CSBA sponsored six bills, four of which were sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk and three of which were signed into law by the Governor in 2025.

• Assembly Bill 1021 (Wicks, D-Oakland and Muratsuchi, D-Torrance) provides greater access to education workforce housing.
• AB 1390 (Solache, D-Lynwood) modernizes the 40-year-old compensation stipends afforded to school district and county board of education trustees based upon local educational agency size.

The reform of the process for appealing charter school petitions that have been denied by school district and county office governing boards to the State Board of Education (SBE) was a key part of 2019’s Assembly Bill 1505 (O’Donnell). Included in the reforms was a limitation on the authority of the SBE’s review of appeals of denied charter school petitions to a review of the documentary record to determine whether there has been an “abuse of discretion” by the local boards. The SBE failed to comply with the AB 1505 reforms when it reversed the denials of the Mayacamas Charter Middle School (MCMS) petition by the Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) and the Napa County Board of Education (NCBOE) in September 2022. In January 2023, the ELA, alongside CSBA and ELA member NVUSD, filed a writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory relief against the SBE, asking the Sacramento County Superior Court to direct the SBE to properly follow AB 1505 and apply the correct standard of review. This is the first litigation regarding SBE’s limited authority to review charter school appeals under AB 1505.

Drawing 130 participants, the County Board Conference was dedicated to the specialized training needs of county office of education trustees and featured General Sessions, micro-trainings, breakout sessions and networking mixers. A highlight of the program was the General Session “Children Behind Bars: The Real Cost of Youth Incarceration,” presented by the National Center for Youth Law, which centered the voices of youth with lived experience in the juvenile legal system.

From student-writing tools powered by large language models to predictive analytics in district operations, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the way educators teach, students learn and administrators lead. Recognizing the advantages, risks and complexity of AI’s integration into public education, CSBA has developed Board Policy 0441 – Artificial Intelligence, which was released as part of the June 2025 Policy Update Packet. This new board policy provides a foundation for governing boards to navigate the fast-evolving development of AI, with a focus on responsible, equitable and transparent use. It was released along with revised versions of BP 0440 – District Technology Plan, BP 4040 – Employee Use of Technology, BP 5131.9 – Academic Honesty, BP 6154 – Homework and Makeup Work, BP 6162.5 – Student Assessment and BP 6163.4 – Student Use of Technology.

Instructional materials are central to students’ educational success, and local governing boards play a critical role in ensuring the smooth adoption of high-quality materials that reflect the diversity in their communities. Resources found on the Adopting Instructional Materials webpage, launched in 2025, highlight the importance of high-quality instructional materials for student learning, provide crucial information about the legal requirements enacted by Assembly Bill 1078, provide a comprehensive overview of the adoption process at the state and local level, and considers upcoming adoptions related to California’s new Mathematics Framework. These resources are brought to CSBA members by a generous grant from the Gates Foundation.