An act to amend Sections 51760, 51760.1, 51760.2, 51760.3, 51762.5, 51763, 51764, 51766, 51767, 51768, and 52376 51768 of, to add Sections 48800.8, 48930.5, 51759, 51769.1, 52372.3, 52455, 53026, 53071.2, 54698, 56474.5, 76004.5, 79149.8, and 88834 to, to add Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 51755) to Chapter 5 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, and to repeal and add Section 51769 of, the Education Code, and to amend Section 3100 of, and to add Section 3100.5 to, the Labor Code, relating to pupil instruction.
SB 845 revises California law governing career technical education (CTE), work-based learning, and youth apprenticeships. It updates the State Superintendent’s duties for developing CTE model standards and curriculum frameworks, requiring those standards to be organized by CTE subject area, refreshed on a cycle of no more than five years, and developed with input from CTE teachers, labor, business, industry, postsecondary institutions, and advisory groups for each industry sector. The bill also directs the Superintendent to recommend policies to keep CTE aligned with current industry standards and allows curricular guidance to support implementation, while continuing to prohibit the Superintendent and State Board from adopting rules on course content or instructional methods.
The bill expands and clarifies what counts as work-based learning and how it can be delivered. It authorizes school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and state special schools to offer work experience education and related credit-bearing opportunities, extends some credit eligibility to 10th graders, and adds definitions for internships, mentorships, school-based enterprises, preapprenticeships, youth apprenticeships, and related terms. It also authorizes work-based learning through CTE courses, early college credit courses, and other academic courses, and requires local educational agencies to document and maintain records of these activities.
SB 845 further strengthens the connection between high school CTE and postsecondary education by requiring district plans to include at least two-course CTE sequences and by reframing articulation with community colleges to focus on college credit, prerequisite completion, and alignment with community college certificates and degree programs. It also creates a framework for school-based youth apprenticeship programs, including interagency coordination between the Department of Education, the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, and the California Community Colleges, and authorizes the development of occupational and industry skills frameworks to speed approval and standardize youth apprenticeship programs. The bill also permits local educational agencies to be treated as employers for certain school-based work-based learning activities and allows them to provide workers’ compensation and liability coverage in specified circumstances.
The bill’s legal impact is broad: it amends multiple Education Code sections, adds new Education Code provisions on work-based learning and youth apprenticeships, and adds a new Labor Code section authorizing the Division of Apprenticeship Standards to adopt rules for high school-based youth apprenticeship programs. It also creates new data-collection responsibilities for the Department of Education, requires local recordkeeping, and may impose state-mandated local costs, with reimbursement available if the Commission on State Mandates so determines. Several provisions are contingent on legislative appropriation, especially those involving new interagency workgroups, framework development, and data systems.
Overall sentiment appears strongly favorable and noncontroversial. The bill passed committee with unanimous votes reported in the available history, including 7-0 and 5-0 committee votes and a 39-0 Senate third reading vote. The main points of policy emphasis are support for career pathways, labor participation in standards-setting, and stronger apprenticeship alignment; the available record does not show significant opposition, though fiscal and implementation concerns are reflected in the bill’s referral to Appropriations and its contingent funding language.
SB 845 would substantially revise the Education Code provisions governing CTE, work experience education, and school-based work-based learning, while also adding a new Labor Code section for youth apprenticeship oversight. It expands the authority of local educational agencies beyond school districts to include county offices of education, charter schools, and state special schools; broadens the types of activities that can count as work-based learning; extends some credit-earning opportunities to 10th grade; and requires new standards, frameworks, advisory groups, recordkeeping, and data collection. The bill also creates a more formal state-local-labor structure for youth apprenticeship program design and approval, and it may trigger reimbursable state-mandated local costs.
The available voting history indicates broad bipartisan or at least unanimous support, with committee votes of 7-0 and 5-0 and a 39-0 Senate third reading vote. The bill’s framing around expanding career pathways, apprenticeships, and employer/labor engagement appears to have been well received. The repeated referrals to Appropriations suggest fiscal implementation questions, but not substantive opposition in the record provided.
No major substantive opposition is reflected in the provided transcripts or vote history. The main areas that could generate concern are administrative burden, funding, and implementation timing: the bill requires new standards, advisory groups, data systems, and interagency coordination, but several provisions are contingent on appropriation. There may also be policy sensitivity around local educational agencies being treated as employers for student work-based learning, the role of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards in approving youth apprenticeship frameworks, and the balance between state guidance and local control over CTE programming.