AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 22, 2026

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

96

Introduced by Assembly Member Patel

February 20, 2026

An act to add Section 52073.6 to the Education Code, relating to school accountability. accountability, and making an appropriation therefor.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: yes   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

(1) Existing law establishes a single system for providing support to local educational agencies and schools and for specified federal educational programs. Existing law provides that the purpose of the statewide system of support is to build the capacity of local educational agencies, as specified.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence to establish a process, administered by the department, to select, subject to approval by the executive director of the State Board of Education, an expert lead agency based on specific expertise in an area of need to conduct activities and build statewide capacity to address that area of need within the statewide system of support, as well as geographic lead agencies for other specified purposes, as provided.

This bill, contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes, bill would require the department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, through contracts or memoranda of understanding with one or 2 county offices of education, to administer the Supporting Inclusive Practices project. The bill would provide that the purposes of the project are, among others, to improve pupil outcomes by increasing opportunities for pupils with disabilities to access education in general education settings, as provided, and to support the educator workforce to serve pupils with disabilities. The bill would require the collaborative, as part of the project, to administer the universal support components, including providing technical assistance to local educational agencies and charter schools focused on supporting evidence-based practices to increase access by pupils with disabilities to education in general education settings. The bill would require the department, as part of the project, to administer the direct support components by deploying targeted technical assistance to support local educational agencies and charter schools, as provided. The bill would require the department and the collaborative to coordinate their respective components, including a shared referral process by which local educational agencies and charter schools receiving assistance from the collaborative may be referred to the department for direct support, as provided.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Under longstanding state and federal law, pupils with disabilities have the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment, which provides needed supports in general education settings with the greatest possible access to peers and promotes inclusion through belonging, relationships, and full participation in the school community.

(b) Despite decades of effort to increase least restrictive environment placements, California has made slow progress, and the state’s rate of inclusion continues to lag behind most other states.

(c) Pupils with disabilities have consistently been identified by the California School Dashboard as a low-performing pupil group, triggering various kinds of support and intervention.

(d) The Supporting Inclusive Practices project (SIP project) works to increase opportunities for pupils with disabilities to access education in general education settings and goes beyond basic access to ensure that pupils experience authentic learning environments rooted in belonging, which improves attendance, reduces discipline, increases graduation rates, and supports postsecondary success.

(e) Research has shown that the SIP project is highly effective. Local educational agencies working with the SIP project have experienced growth in placements in the least restrictive environment 13 times the state average and 6 times the national average. In school districts working with the SIP project, achievement in English language arts and math improves among pupils with disabilities.

(f) Expanding the SIP project and building on its existing alignment and partnerships with statewide improvement initiatives would significantly broaden its reach and bring systemwide coherence to benefit both disabled and nondisabled pupils in California.

SEC. 2.

Section 52073.6 is added to the Education Code, to read:

52073.6.

(a) The Supporting Inclusive Practices project is hereby established, to be administered independently and in coordination in accordance with subdivision (b) by the department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, with funds appropriated to each agency for these purposes, through contracts or memoranda of understanding with one or two county offices of education. The purposes of this project are to do all of the following:

(1) Improve pupil outcomes, as measured by the California School Dashboard pursuant to Section 52064.5, by increasing opportunities for pupils with disabilities to access education in general education settings, as mandated by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400 et seq.), and as measured by state performance plan indicators related to least restrictive environment, including in preschool, and pupil academic achievement.

(2) Align and integrate with differentiated assistance, direct technical assistance, and other initiatives within the statewide system of support, and with the department’s general supervision process, and leverage expertise of the project in serving pupils with disabilities across improvement initiatives housed at the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence.

(3) Support the educator workforce to serve pupils with disabilities.

(4) Provide technical assistance to local educational agencies and charter schools to improve inclusive outcomes for pupils with disabilities.

(b) The department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence shall administer the project as follows:

(1) The department shall administer the direct support components of the project, deploying targeted technical assistance to support local educational agencies and charter schools identified as not meeting state performance plan indicators pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400 et seq.) and or selected for monitoring under the general supervision process to meet the state’s requirements under Sections 300.600, 300.604(a), and 300.604(b) of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations that support inclusive outcomes for pupils with disabilities.

(2) The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence shall administer the universal support components of the project, providing support and resources to local educational agencies and charter schools in all regions of the state, and integrating the project with differentiated assistance, direct technical assistance, and other initiatives within the statewide system of support. The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence shall conduct, at a minimum, the following activities:

(A) Providing technical assistance to local educational agencies and charter schools focused on supporting evidence-based practices to increase access by pupils with disabilities to education in general education settings.

(B) Establishing demonstration sites.

(C) Holding inclusion academies.

(D) Working with teacher preparation programs to establish inclusive clinical placement pipelines.

(E) Developing and making resources available to all local educational agencies and charter schools.

(F) Collaborating with an institution of higher education to support evaluation of the project.

(3) The department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence shall administer their respective components of the project, as identified in paragraphs (1) and (2), independently with funds appropriated for those purposes, but shall coordinate their activities to ensure alignment between the universal support activities and the direct support activities. This coordination shall, at a minimum, address all of the following:

(A) A shared referral process by which local educational agencies and charter schools receiving universal support from the collaborative may be referred to the department for direct support when their needs exceed the scope of the universal support.

(B) Joint data sharing protocols to allow both agencies to track local educational agency and charter school participation, progress, and outcomes across the full continuum of project activities.

(C) Annual joint review of activities and outcomes to identify gaps, overlaps, and opportunities for enhanced coordination.

(c) The project shall, for each year in which funding is appropriated for the project, submit a report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, the department, the state board, and the Department of Finance. Each report shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following information:

(1) A summary of the activities conducted, including local educational agency and charter school participation by activity.

(2) The number of local educational agencies and charter schools, educators, and pupils served by the project.

(3) A summary of outcome data of local educational agencies and charter schools receiving direct technical assistance, including, but not limited to, performance on state performance plan indicators, and the indicators used on the California School Dashboard.

(4) How the project has worked with other state initiatives.

(5) Recommendations for improving state-level activities or policies.

(d) When carrying out activities pursuant to this section, the department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence shall adhere to, and inform local educational agencies and charter schools with which it works of, the requirements of Section 56040.6, pertaining to pupils who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind.

(e) This section shall not be construed as modifying or otherwise affecting the right of pupils with disabilities, including pupils who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind, to a free and appropriate public education pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400 et seq.), the development of an individualized education program, as defined in Section 56032, or the individualized education program team’s determination of placement pursuant to Sections 300.320 to 300.328, inclusive, of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations and Section 56345, aids to ensure effective communication pursuant to Section 35.160 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or the continuum of program options required to be made available pursuant to Sections 56000.5, 56360, and 56361.