AB 903: School accountability: local control and accountability plans: education technology: best practices: School Technology Empowerment Advisory Committee.

Existing law requires school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools to adopt and update a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) using a template adopted by the State Board of Education that requires an LCAP to include certain information, including, among other information, (1) a description of the annual goals to be achieved for specified state priorities, including, among others, pupil achievement and pupil outcomes, (2) a description of the specific actions that the local educational agency will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve these goals, and (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided.

This bill would, among other things, require the state board, State Department of Education, in consultation with the department state board and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, on or before December 31, 2026, to prepare, and update at least once every 2 years, a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that receive specified federal funding, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into their LCAPs. The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, to conduct at least 3 informational webinars in 2027 for those local educational agencies to understand how to incorporate the best practices and model policy into their LCAPs.

The bill would require the state board department to establish a School Technology Empowerment Advisory Committee that includes one representative at least one school board member, administrator, teacher, and representative from the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, and multiple individuals or organizations that represent the interests of supporting the use of technology in public schools, with experience regarding the effective use of technology in accelerating pupil academic performance from specified organizations, as provided, and performance, as provided. The bill would require the advisory committee to share with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and advise the Superintendent on, best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for local educational agencies. The bill would also require the advisory committee, on or before December 31, 2028, and annually thereafter, to prepare an annual report on the progress in harnessing the power of technology to accelerate pupil academic achievement and to submit the report to the department and the state board.