Close the State Accountability Gap legislative package bill summary
The four-bill solution: Plan. Measure. Report. Improve.
CSBA’s Close the State Accountability Gap is based around seven goals:
- A state-level operations and support plan
- Unified state-level strategy for supporting LEAs
- Budget alignment to direct funding to highest-level opportunities for local support
- Shared accountability between state and LEAs
- Regular evaluation of state programs
- A customer-service approach to LEA support
- Reduction of state-imposed barriers to local progress
AB 2225: The State Plan
Author: Assemblymember Darshana Patel
Failing to plan is planning to fail. California needs a comprehensive plan to support LEAs in their work to boost overall student performance and close achievement gaps
AB 2225 is the foundation of the Close the State Accountability Gap package. The bill would require the state to create the State Educational Alignment and Impact Plana state-level plan — a roadmap focused on how California’s state education agencies, programs, budgets, requirements and technical assistance systems can better support LEAs.
The plan must include clear state goals and benchmarks; assess whether state-imposed requirements help or hinder local efforts; evaluate funding alignment and unfunded or partially funded mandates; improve coordination among state entities; define high-quality technical assistance and recommend corrective action if the state misses its goals.
AB 2225 will not create new local mandates, new local reporting requirements or new local accountability structures. The bill focuses on the state’s responsibility to support local success, not on adding another layer of compliance for schools.
Local schools are accountable every day. AB 2225 says the state should be accountable, too — with a clear plan, measurable goals and support systems that help students succeed.
AB 2514: Public Transparency Dashboard
Author: Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom
Let the public see whether the state is doing its part
AB 2514 brings transparency to the state’s role in supporting local educational agencies as they strive to accelerate student achievement. It would require the AB 2225 working group to recommend the development of a public-facing tool that would show whether the state is making progress in implementing the plan to support local school district and COEs in closing achievement gaps.
The bill requires recommendations on proposed metrics to measure state-support quality, accessibility of state programs, program effectiveness, operational efficiency, interagency collaboration, financial support, transparency, accountability and the Department of Education’s governance structure, policies, regulations and initiatives.
The dashboard would measure the state’s progress in improving support and service to LEAs in a way that is clear, concise, easy to use and easy for the public to understand. It is not intended to duplicate the California School Dashboard or create another way to judge local schools—plenty of tools already exist for that purpose. Unlike the California School Dashboard, which measures the performance of LEAs and student groups, AB 2514 is aimed at something different — helping the public understand whether the state is improving its own operations and support for local schools.
Families, taxpayers, educators and policymakers deserve to know whether state systems are helping schools or getting in the way. AB 2514 makes state support visible and open to evaluation.
AB 2149: Independent Budget and Accountability Review
Author: Assemblymember Robert Garcia
Safeguards to ensure the state budget reflects the state plan to support local schools
AB 2149 ensures California’s state-level commitment to closing achievement gaps shows up where it matters most: in the state budget and in state policy decisions. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst’s Office to publish periodic reports assessing whether the prior year’s adopted state budget aligns with the state-level plan.
The report would be part of the LAO’s assessment of the state budget and would include recommendations for actions the state can take to meet the goals and benchmarks created through AB 2225. AB 2149 would also require the LAO to look at whether the prior year’s adopted state budget aligns with the Closing the Achievement Gap State Operations and Support Plan, review unfunded or partially funded mandates, state requirements placed on local educational agencies, assess the effectiveness of state-run or state-directed programs and identify barriers local schools face in closing achievement gaps. The LAO would consult education stakeholders in preparing each report.
A plan without budget alignment is just a promise. AB 2149 helps make sure California’s education dollars, mandates and programs are aligned toward better outcomes for students.
AB 2202: Ongoing Oversight and Continuous Improvement
Author: Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi
Keep the state accountable and focused on follow-through
AB 2202 gives the Close the State Accountability Gap package staying power. It would create a commission as an advisory body to the State Board of Education, helping ensure the state keeps reviewing, improving and aligning its support for local schools over time.
Under AB 2202, a broad-based commission would use the state-level plan as its guiding document and advise the State Board of Education and the Department of Education, assess gaps in state support, evaluate whether state laws and initiatives help or hinder local efforts, and recommend coordinated state action to facilitate local efforts to improve student achievement.
AB 2202 would also require the commission to consult with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, identify best practices that can be scaled statewide, collect feedback from LEA staff, identify where state agencies are operating too heavily as compliance monitors, and review whether current accountability requirements should be modified to better support LEAs in closing achievement gaps.
California does not need another short-term report that fades away. AB 2202 creates a standing structure for follow-through, public recommendations and continuous improvement for students, families and local schools.
Close the State Accountability Gap: Complementing and expanding on AB 181
In passing and signing AB 181 into law, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature recognized that California’s state education governance system is too fragmented and not properly structured to support local school districts and county offices of education. AB 181 begins to address that problem by establishing an education commissioner and clarifying state-level responsibilities. But governance reform cannot stop at reassigning responsibilities. The Close the State Accountability Gap legislative package is the next step and a complementary effort that goes beyond changing the org chart to reshape systems and operations to better support local schools.
While AB 181 creates a clearer leadership structure; Close the State Accountabiliyt Gap legislation creates the plan, benchmarks, reporting, feedback loop and accountability infrastructure needed to make that structure work for students and local schools.
