Senate Education Committee advances bills on curriculum, higher education regulation, workforce and mental-health education; several pass to Appropriations

The Senate Education Committee met May 20 in Sacramento and voted to advance a slate of bills to the Senate Appropriations Committee after substantive hearings on higher education regulation, K–12 curriculum and instruction, career and workforce programs, and a narrowly tailored pilot study of psilocybin for veterans and former first responders.

The most disputed measures were SB 472, which would direct the California Department of Education to notify local education agencies that Holocaust and other genocide education is part of the history-social science framework and authorize a voluntary state survey of instruction; SB 751, which would authorize a five-year University of California–led pilot to study psilocybin therapy for veterans and inactive first responders under federal oversight; and SB 531, which would require age-appropriate mental-health education beginning in elementary grades. Committee debate mixed technical and policy questions — including scope, local control, potential administrative burden and public-safety concerns — and several bills were amended before members voted to move them forward to Appropriations.

SB 372 (Araguan). The committee heard from Senator Araguin and witnesses for Northeastern University about a narrowly targeted bill to recognize a highly qualified nonprofit research institution with a physical California campus (the former Mills College in Oakland) as an independent institution of higher education under applicable state law. Renee Adeshlever, vice president for campus administration at Northeastern University Oakland, said the bill "would make clear that Northeastern meets the statutory definition of independent institution of higher education under California law and ensure Northeastern is subject to all laws and regulations that are..." She and Alex Graves of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities argued the current Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) regulatory framework treats some nonprofit branch campuses the same as vocational or for‑profit schools, creating unnecessary administrative burdens. The committee voted to pass SB 372 as amended to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 510 (Richardson) — history and social science content. Senator Richardson described SB 510 as a measure to strengthen the history-social science framework and encourage fuller and more accurate classroom coverage of African American history and contributions. Supporters (including the California Faculty Association) described the bill as clarifying and supporting locally developed instruction rather than mandating specific texts. The committee accepted amendments and voted to forward the bill to Appropriations.

SB 472 (Stern) —…