Advocacy Days 2025 & Priority Bills Update

March was a productive month for the CASBO Governmental Relations team with a focus on advocacy! We spent part of the first week of the month in Washington, D.C., working on building relationships and lobbying on key federal issues.  On March 18 and 19, we gathered in Sacramento to talk about the state budget and CASBO’s priorities with the Legislature and Administration.  During both trips, CASBO’s members helped lawmakers understand how the decisions before them impact local educational agencies and their ability to serve students well.

Above: CASBO attends Advocacy Days 2025 in Washington D.C. Visit our Google Photos album to view or share more of the trip.

Federal Advocacy Days Update

On March 4 and 5, we traveled to Washington, D.C., advocating for California’s students. The team attended thirteen meetings with members of Congress, their staff, and the Federal Communications Commission.

In each meeting, CASBO members shared their experiences with supporting diverse student and community needs. Our advocacy left a lasting impression, and we were able to educate, network, and share innovative solutions on priorities where CASBO has been a leading voice.

We highlighted the following issues:

In Congress, we advocated for:

  • Increasing federal special education funding and reducing costly litigation.
  • Strengthening the educator workforce and broadening workforce development.
  • Sustaining ESEA, Title I-A Funding for students in poverty.
  • Modernizing and strengthening the E-Rate Program.

At the Federal Communications Commission, we focused on the E-Rate program and advocated for:

  • Maintaining the Cybersecurity Pilot Program and using its findings to modernize E-Rate.
  • Maintaining home Wi-Fi hotspots as an E-Rate eligible service.
  • Maintaining school bus Wi-Fi as an E-Rate eligible service.

Outcomes of the Federal Advocacy Trip

CASBO’s team successfully represented our members and the needs of the state’s diverse local educational agencies during our time in the nation’s capital. Several offices requested data from CASBO, and the team is in communication with those offices as we continue the work to educate and support policymakers.

Above: CASBO attends Advocacy Days 2025 in Sacramento, CA. Visit our Google Photos album to view or share more of the trip.

State Advocacy Days Update

The Legislative Committee and Advocacy Network Committee participated in CASBO’s 2025 Advocacy Days on March 18th and March 19th. During the Advocacy Days, members had vigorous schedules, with 55 total meetings in two days. These meetings were scheduled with legislators, staff, committee consultants, and the Administration’s team.

Honoring Senator John Laird with the Commitment to Education Award

It was a great pleasure to honor Senator Laird with CASBO’s 2025 Commitment to Education Award. The Senator was recognized for his work in supporting public education and advocating for the diverse needs of California’s local educational agencies and students as the Chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education.

Honoring CASBO’s President, Eric Dill

CASBO President, Eric Dill, was honored by Assemblymember Darshana Patel for his years of dedication to education and service to CASBO. Members were thrilled to join Eric and Assemblymember Patel on the Assembly floor as he received his Assembly resolution.

Discussing CASBO Priorities and Making an Impact

Members met with legislators from all ten CASBO sections. The diverse range of meetings led to deep conversations on the different needs of LEAs and why school finance is an investment in student success. Along with an advocacy experience, these meetings were also an educational and networking experience. Our members were able to learn the Legislature’s priorities and educate them about the complex subject of education finance during their meetings.

Outcomes from Advocacy Days 

Legislators and staff learned about CASBO’s priorities and heard from their constituents about the needs of the LEAs in their legislative districts and across the state. CASBO members were asked to share their knowledge, data, and LEA information to help legislators and consultants make sound decisions.

CASBO’s budget platform received many compliments. Many offices agreed with CASBO’s priorities and shared their alignment and understanding of issues being advocated for. The leave-behind flyer was clear and precise, and the offices appreciated it for being easy to read and follow.

Next Steps

During our meetings, CASBO was asked for its perspective on numerous bills. CASBO will continue to advocate for the above priorities through policy and budget subcommittee hearings and locally in sections.

The Governmental Relations team and the CASBO Legislative Committee continue to review legislation and make CASBO’s voice heard through taking positions, sending letters, and testifying in committee hearings. Budget conversations will continue ahead of the May Revise.

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State Legislature Flyer

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Priority Bills Update

Below are CASBO’s priority bills as of March 28, 2025.  The Legislative Committee will continue reviewing bills and taking positions through the May Revise.

AB 1224 (Valencia) Teacher credentialing: substitute teachers: days of service. This bill would extend the period in which a substitute teacher can serve in a single classroom for a period of up to 60 days.

CASBO Position: Co-Sponso

AB 1233 (Hoover) Noncertificated employees: applicants: previous employment. This bill would require individuals applying for non-certificated positions to provide the prospective employer with a complete list of every LEA that the applicant has previously been an employee of.

CASBO Position: Support

AB 65 (Aguiar-Curry) School and community college employees: paid disability and parental leave. This bill would require a public-school employer to provide up to 14 weeks of paid leave for certificated or classified employees who are out for pregnancy-related conditions.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB 340 (Ahrens) Employer-employee relations: confidential communications. This bill would treat conversations between an employee and employee representative as privileged, providing the same protection given to conversations between attorneys and their clients.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB 361 (Schultz) Best value procurement: school districts and county offices of education. This bill would expand the best value procurement method for bid evaluation and selection on school construction projects above $1 million to all school districts in California.

CASBO Position: Support

AB 374 (Nguyen) K–14 classified employees: payment of wages: itemized statements. This bill would require classified public school employees and classified community college district school employees to be provided with the same information guaranteed to private sector employees on their paychecks.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB 503 (Gonzalez, M.) School facilities: Civic Center Act: direct costs. This bill would reinstate the authority of school districts to collect fees for the repair, refurbishment and restoration of their facilities from outside groups who use them pursuant to the Civic Center Act.

CASBO Position: Support

AB 614 (Lee) Claims against public entities. This bill would extend the statute of limitations for claims subject to the Government Claims Act from 6 to 12 months.

CASBO Position: Oppose

SB 494 (Cortese) Classified school and community college employees: disciplinary hearings: appeals: contracted administrative law judges. This bill would require an impartial third-party hearing officer to hear disciplinary appeals of permanent classified personnel at school or community college non-merit districts. This bill also requires the district to pay for the third-party hearing officer, and for the third-party hearing officer to be jointly selected by the district and the classified employee from a list of arbitrators, unless the parties agree otherwise.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB 810 (Irwin) Local government: internet websites and email addresses. This bill would require school districts and other public entities to move to a .gov or ca.gov domain by January 1, 2029.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB 962 (Hoover) Pupil safety: comprehensive school safety plans: use of smartphones. This bill would clarify that any elements of a school safety plan that addresses smart phone use cannot prohibit a student from having a cellphone for the allowable reasons in statute – emergencies, part of an IEP, or prescribed by a doctor.

CASBO Position: Support

AB-68 (Essayli) School safety: armed school resource officers. This bill would require a school district or charter school to hire or contract with at least one armed school resource officer authorized to carry a loaded firearm to be present at each school during regular school hours and any other time when pupils are present on campus.

CASBO Position: Oppose

SB-399 (Niello) School districts: interdistrict transfers. This proposed legislation would require local educational agencies (LEA) to maintain and submit information on interdistrict transfers to the California Department of Education (CDE) by June 30th of each year.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB-862 (Castillo) California School Dashboard: local control and accountability plans: college and career pathway data. This bill would require the percentage of students who intend to enroll in college or apprenticeship/skilled trade to be reported in the School Climate Local Indicator in the Local Control Accountability Plan and California School Dashboard.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB-917 (Avila-Farias) County offices of education: school districts: average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils: permanent status. This bill would give tenure to teachers in small LEAs and regional occupational centers and programs (ROCP) after two years, undoing a long-standing agreement that teachers in these settings are not eligible for tenure to maintain flexibility for these LEAs and programs.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB-606 (Quirk-Silva) Certificated employees: professional services credential: out-of-state applicants. This bill would create reciprocity for qualified out-of-state applicants to receive a professional services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services

CASBO Position: Support

AB-1371 (Sharp-Collins) Occupational safety and health: employee refusal to perform hazardous tasks. This bill would allow an employee, acting in good faith, to refuse to perform a tasked assigned by an employer if it would violate those prescribed safety standards or if the employee has a reasonable apprehension that the performance of the assigned task would result in injury or illness to the employee or other employees.

CASBO Position: Oppose

AB-1247 (Garcia) Classified employees: school districts and community college districts: contracting out: training requirements. This bill would add additional requirements for hiring contracted employees and would require that classified staff be compensated for training mandated by law, a collective bargaining agreement, or an employer policy.

CASBO Position: Oppose