Senate Standing Committee on Education

Everybody the Senate Education Committee will begin in 10 seconds. Senate Committee on Education will now come to order again. Good morning. Welcome to our annual hearing on behalf of the California Association of Student Councils. Students participate on the student Advisory Board on legislation in education, have worked very hard to identify problems, research issues, and develop legislative proposals. Representatives of this advisory board will present legislative proposals to us this morning. I want to thank you again for last night.

I had a wonderful time spending time with all of you. I hope that you felt the same way. Several of the students'proposals today have been carried as bills in the past and have subsequently become law. I look forward to hearing your ideas, and I thank you for your desire to improve the educational experiences of all students in California. Again, we're waiting for some other committees. A busy day here in the Capitol, so we will get started.

And so at this time, I'd like to call on the students who will be making opening remarks and commendations. Kristie To and sue. zero, please come forward to the table and begin when you are ready.

Chairman Newman. My name is Kristie To, and I'm a senior at Northwood High School in Orange County. And I also have the privilege of serving as the state President of the California Association of Student Councils, or CASC, for the 20232024 year. This year's student advisory board on legislation and education has been especially rewarding as directors and delegates alike have shown incredible resilience and flexibility. Navigating our first time having a full delegation in years.

Hearing the unique visions of students from all across California coalesce into a collective movement of change has reaffirmed the power of youth. Of course, this experience could not have been possible without our core conference team, who worked tirelessly to make this conference possible. This opportunity to create and share proposals has been an unparalleled experience for our delegates. So we thank the Senate Committee on Education for dedicating the time to honor our voice.

Your recognition of us, not only as students, but also emerging changemakers is what propels us forward. And for that, we thank you. Without further ado, I welcome the Cask Education policy Director, Sue Oh, for more on today's presentations.

And thank you. And welcome.

Thank you for the lovely introduction, Kristie. Good morning, Chairman Newman. My name is Sue Oh. And I'm a senior at Sunny Hills High School from Assembly District 59 and Senate District 29. I'm also the education policy Director for the California Association of Student Councils and a Director of the 2024 Student Advisory Board on Legislation in Education.

This year marks the 24th anniversary of the Student Advisory Board on legislation in Education, started in 2000 that has given students throughout the State of California a voice of proposed changes in education policy to the state Legislature. Decades later, students continue to meet to brainstorm, discuss and make these proposals in a span of two very intensive days. The delegates standing behind me are bright, talented, spunky, and are always open to listen and learn.

Their zeal for life, passion for change, willingness to make sacrifices, and desire to put in the work inspire me and so many others. This year is monumental for us. Behind me sits a full delegation from all throughout the state who have traveled to Sacramento to make a difference within their education system. The proposals of students provided before you are completely of the student's own creation, made up of the experiences and knowledge of students who live the California education system day by day.

Unlike other interest holders or experts in the education field, our qualifications are quite simple. Every day we wake up and we go to school, we see areas for improvement and seek to create that change. Today, the seven issues that we will be presenting on are those that this body has decided are priorities that need to be addressed in our education system. Today I come forth to you with a delegation of students ready to enact a positive change.

Our delegation generated and came on consensus on six topics as top priorities, food and nutrition, access to technology, comprehensive social sciences curriculum, restorative justice, environmental justice, and awareness, and access for immigrant students. Finally, cast State Council will present a proposal on access to literature. I am confident that the proposals presented are of the utmost concern identified by our delegation of students. I'd like to thank Lynn Lorber for working so hard to make this conference possible and transition back to an in person program.

And I would also like to thank Senator Newman for his support of student involvement in the education policymaking sphere and for his willingness to address the student delegation at stable program yesterday. Finally, I would like to thank you all for this opportunity for our students to present their proposals and recognizing the importance of student voice, I'd like to introduce our first presentation, which will be on the topic of food and nutrition, presented by Claire Lee, Lelia Cottonrack, and Jackson Richards. Thank you.

You're welcome. Please come forward. And we're going to use the table here. And so please come forward to the table as you're coming up, let me give you all a couple of examples of prior ideas that actually turned into bills that were carried on behalf of the student councils by Members.

SB 468 was carried by Senator Leva and was actually signed in law in 2017, and that modifies the existing requirement that school district governing boards provide the student board Member with materials presented to the board Members to specify that student Members are to receive all open meeting materials at the same time the materials are presented to the board Members.

Another example, SB 532, also by Senator Leva, requires that a school district governing board act on a request for pupil representation on the board within 60 days of receipt of that request and requires a majority vote of all voting Members of the board in order to eliminate student representative from that board, subject to the motion to do so being noticed as a public item. And so we are looking forward to your ideas. I'd like to welcome my colleague, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas. Good morning.

Thank you for being with us. And with that, proceed. Welcome to the panelists. And again, it was great spending time with you last night. And you need to press the little red button. I think it's red. There you go.

Good morning, Chairman Newman. Good morning. My name is Lellia Cottonrack. I am a senior at Lincoln High School in Assembly District 13 Senate District five.

My name is Clara Lee, a junior from Westlake High School. Assembly District 42 Senate District 27.

My name is Jack Snurshards, a senior from Shasta High School. Assembly District one Senate district one.

Welcome and proceed at your leisure and each of you will have approximately two minutes to speak. I'll do my best not to cut anybody off, but keep that in mind.

Growing up in rural Northern California, I saw, day in and day out, the striking effects of hunger on my peers. I was a student at old Shasta Elementary School from kindergarten to the third grade, where the consequences of hunger could not have been more clear. Each and every day, my classmates took full advantage of the free and reduced meal program.

Thinking back on these memories, it is clear that these students would have also strongly benefited from a third vital meal on behalf of the State of California. Thinking of my peers in Shasta County, as well as an additional 2 million underfed students across the state, we strongly support the implementation of a three meal promise for all California students.

Chronic hunger affects every aspect of a student's ability to thrive and succeed. In both children and teens, chronic hunger is directly linked to developmental delays, anxiety, depression, and even PTSD. Hunger leads to behavioral issues, an inability to focus, chronic fatigue, and consistent underperformance in classroom settings. When students are not getting three real meals a day, they are tired, unfocused, stressed, susceptible to developmental disabilities, and likely to lash out. Across California, over 2 million kids live in households affected by food insecurity.

If our youth aren't guaranteed a next meal, how can we expect them to focus on their studies when addressing metrics of student achievement and school quality? Educators don't necessarily consider these wider effects of hunger. As a result, policymaker solutions to raising test scores, student engagement, school climate, and student mental health do not prioritize the crucial issue, nutrition. To solve this problem and curb the considerable number of students impacted by food insecurity, we are asking the Senate to adopt the implementation of the three meal promise.

The three meal promise is a commitment to California students from kindergarten through 12th grade, a guarantee to access three meals a day. Our plan would mandate education agencies to provide free breakfast, lunch, and dinner on an opt in basis every school day. California schools are already providing breakfast and lunch to their students with the three meal promise. Dinner would also be available to pick up after school, guaranteeing that students who opt to this plan have a meal to take home.

To ensure that students also receive enough nutrients to focus on their studies, the meals provided would adhere to the same Federal nutrition standards placed on current school meals by the US Department of Agriculture. This solution will ensure that every student is Fed and receives the nourishment they require to succeed physically, mentally, and academically. Once the three meal promise is fully implemented, we hope to see significant improvement in all aspects of students lives, helping to secure their futures one step at a time.

The greatest benefit will be a reduction in the proportion of California students who are malnourished, which, according to a study by Feeding America, currently lies at a whopping 13.7%.

Eradicating student hunger as a large cause of Low student wellness levels will send powerful waves of improvement in all directions, including in academic performance as students are nourished enough to have increased attention span in mental health as students are secure enough to have confidence in their next meal and in student relationships as students are energized enough to foster closer relationships with peers and staff Members, all of which are key factors of success in school.

With our three meal promise, students will feel motivation to go to school with full bellies, decreasing chronic absenteeism, and giving those previously more focused on whether they would even be able to eat dinner or not. Now the peace of mind to focus on homework and pursue newly reachable goals and futures. Step by step, we can create a nutritional precedent that will not only protect the health of current students, but also those of future generations to nurture the most educated students and create a well functioning workforce.

The effectiveness of this solution relies in entirety on how we are able to actualize it. The three meal promise would be an extension of the programs we already have in California. The take home dinners would follow the same nutritional guidelines as existing breakfasts and lunches in schools, and it is best to give individual schools and districts a great deal of autonomy in coordinating how to distribute these resources.

This is why we are leaving the ways and means of distributing meals to local jurisdictions, with the sole requirement being that all students who opt in to get that third meal unequivocally receive it. In order to curb the cost of this operation, we encourage local school districts to coordinate with local food banks to secure donations for meals as well as brainstorm ways to eliminate food waste. Allowing local authorities to decide how to handle these distributions is the most effective way.

Due to high levels of variance between different California counties, cities, and even districts catering to a federalistic approach would ensure the techniques of local needs are preserved while also protecting the three meal promise. The State of California has been presented with an opportunity. We are able to look all our students in the eye, no matter their nationality or origin, social status or economic background, and promise them a right to three full meals a day. The claim to food is of the most principled human rights.

Enacting the three meal promise ensures that our students freedom to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are codified. What expectation do we have that the children of our great state will pursue happiness, enjoy liberty, or even live without the insurance of proper nutrition? As these very words are being said, close to 2 million children are grappling with empty bellies and are uncertain where their next meal may come from. California must end hunger for our students once and for all.

Seeing as we already provide breakfast and lunch, have a strong and thorough EBT program, and are always working on our school meal standards, the next logical step in this fight against food insecurity is promising that third vital meal for those who need it. It is time for the Golden State to halt the perpetual grinding gears of hunger in youth. California is the most beautiful, unique and diverse state in the nation, and our policies ought to reflect that.

The three meal promise ensures that all students, no matter if they reside in the northern foothills or southern Valley, the western Bay or eastern deserts, know and believe that they have a promised right to three full meals a day. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you. Well presented. That was a savvy move, sort of switching back and forth so we couldn't time any of you. I'd like to welcome my colleague, Senator Cortese. Thank you for being here. Well done. Any comments or questions from my colleagues? And so I would say, well presented. This is interesting to me. I actually am exploring legislation this year that would actually ensure that students at schools who maintained either a halal or Kosher Diet had access to the appropriate meals for them.

Yours is an interesting concept, obviously builds on some groundbreaking and really beneficial legislation that turned into programs. But there is the matter of cost. And so I would say if this were actual legislation, the next step, or among the steps would be to be assessed for its fiscal impact. It would go to the Senate Committee on appropriations as it moved through, if it started in the Senate. And the challenge we face right now, as the state, as you're well aware, is a budgetary crunch.

So that would have to be considered. But I think this is good legislation, well intentioned, and the problem you're trying to solve is very real. Well done. So thank you.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you.

Good. And so let me welcome up the next panel and see if you can meet the standard of the first panel. Panel two is about technology access to technology education. I show as my panelists, Bashar Kabara, Tamar Harris, and Harris Song. Welcome to all three of you. And you are ready to start in any fashion, any order, and I welcome you all. You got to press that button, please. No, there it is. Okay. There you go.

Good morning. Senator Newman, Senator Smallwood Cuevas, and Senator Cortesi. My name is Bashar Kabar from Senate district seven, Assembly District 16. I'm from San Ramos Valley Unified School District in Contra Costa County.

I'm Harris song. I'm from Senate District 29 and 30. And I'm from Assembly District 56. I'm also at Wana Valley Unified School District in Los Angeles County.

Welcome.

And my name is Tamara Harris. I'm from Senate District 35, Assembly District 65, from Compton Unified School District in Los Angeles County.

Thank you and welcome. Please proceed.

The advent of the desktop computer is undoubtedly one of the most pivotal inventions of the modern era, shifting the global landscape forever. When they were introduced to classrooms in the early 1980s, computers opened doors to knowledge previously unimaginable, unleashing the power of information as students's fingertips. Despite its educational utility, it naturally took some time for teachers and even their students to adapt to this technology. Yet today, computers have become a stable resource in classrooms around the world. But the landscape is shifting again.

It's no secret that artificial intelligence is changing the very world around us every single day. As the climate of the Internet, the workplace, and even the home acclimate to the innovations of tomorrow, it's pertinent that we adapt the classrooms of yesterday. We propose that the Legislature incentivize educators to one, undergo professional development regarding artificial intelligence, its ethics, and its utility in the classroom and two, disseminate this knowledge on an educator to educator basis.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a branch of computer science that focuses on creating systems or machines capable of performing tasks that typically require a human intelligence. These tasks include learning, reasoning, problem solving, perception, and language understanding. In the context of classrooms, AI can enhance educational experiences by providing personalized learning, automating administrative tasks, and offering new ways for students to engage with the material.

That definition in of itself was written by Chat GBT, an artificial intelligence that has gained immense popularity since its release in 2022, not only due to its cutting edge capabilities, but for its role as a powerful resource for students. In an analysis of the current State of AI in California classrooms, we recognized ascension in the usage of this resource in instructional settings. In an attempt to integrate this new AI tech into an educational environment.

An AP English language and composition teacher at Sunny Hills High School allows students to use chat GBT to find and cite resources for essays. Students are allowed to ask chat GBT to find sources that can then be cited, with some teachers going a step further by learning to use chat GBT for themselves. As a French teacher from Roland High school uses chat GBT to reword and review the class syllabus.

But on the other hand, educators such as an English 12 teacher from Roland Blame AI as another way for students to cheat on essays or homework. Since the rise of chat GBT, these features have replaced take home writing assignments with time in class essays. And as you can see, students witness some teachers promoting and other teachers taking GPT, taking AI, and they're pushing against it, they're blocking it away.

And it's not only causing dissent among teachers, but asunder shitty among students questioning what is acceptable and what isn't. Ultimately, because of how new this is. It's also its greatest weakness, leaving educators uninformed and preventing them from using this invaluable tool within their classrooms effectively. And the amount of teachers who are currently educated about AI is just far too Low, according to two studies conducted within the last year.

Of the two studies, the larger having 1000 k to 12 teachers and 200 administrative participants, shows that in four of 10 teachers expect to use AI in the next year, but less than half of them say they are ready. And it's because of this patchwork of policies and having educators wonder what's the ethical implications will run through, turn it in, what would the administrators say about it?

And having educators learn about these technologies would raise confidence in the tool by showing them how AI is more than just a way for students to cheat on their essays. Of educators being taught that artificial intelligence can be used positively, we can convince 66% of teachers who have never used these AI tools, and 37 of which who say that they don't want to on why this technology deserves a place in our classroom.

We acknowledge the monumental task we are trying to tackle. Rome was a built in a day, and we don't expect comprehensive AI regulations to be passed this month or even within the next few years. But we believe that California is ready for the first step forward. The first part of our Proposition is to create a program that incentivizes educators and administrators through an additional stipend pay, attending workshops that teach about the usages of artificial intelligence in the classroom.

Instead of mandating these training courses to be taught at every school district and at every school site, we want to attract talent that already have some familiarity in the subject, whether that be through IT professionals or computer science teachers. This is where the second part of our propositions comes into play. To opt into these paid trainings, we mandate that the staff share their knowledge with their peers on an educator to educator basis.

By sharing the knowledge this way, we not only make the knowledge more digestible for teachers without the technical experience in computer science, we minimize the number of dollars spent on development days, instructors and substitute teachers. While these AI development sessions are not negotiable for an informed advanced teaching forms, they are also not free. With a lengthy, jam packed LCAP, there isn't much room for extra allocations at the district level.

This is why we propose the Legislature leverage STEM grants through the CDE or even private grant funds like Google's grant for AI education. While the task ahead is monumental and the journey towards solidifying AI regulations in education may be lengthy, our commitment to equipping educators for the technological future remains steadfast. By implementing these incentivized development days, we aim to pave the way for a more informed, adaptable and tech savvy education system in California today. We're a unique point.

As students and as citizens of the next generation, we are here because we know that we will be the ones dealing with the consequences of AI, both its benefits and its drawbacks. We are not here to replace whiteboards with televisions or textbooks with Chat GPT, but we are here to emphasize how, with the correct training, AI can serve as another tool in the teacher's toolbox in providing a quality California education. Thank you.

Thank you and well presented. Any comments or questions from my colleagues. Senator Cortese, thank you.

Another great panel. Obviously, this is an area the Legislature will be dealing with in high volume this year in terms of number of bills, and that's still a work in progress because our Bill deadline hasn't come and gone yet. But I wanted to ask all of you, I mean, again, great comments and insight into needs. We're all pretty familiar with chat, GPT and things like autonomous vehicles, which people are dealing with every day of all demographics and age groups. Everybody knows cars, right?

It's kind of an easy thing to get your mind around. What strikes me is that for all of you, every aspect, every space that you'll be educated in and ultimately will work in or prosper in is going to be impacted by AI, not just artificial intelligence helping out with a term paper. How much, have you discussed that? And whichever one of you wants to take a shot at that. Have you discussed that and thought about that?

And what do we do in terms of what does your Legislature do, those of us who are elected now to get ahead of this for you and to make sure we're dealing with not just the couple of sort of trendy, obvious things that are going on, but the broader picture. Right?

Well, that's a great question. And of course, it's a really dynamic environment, especially as new things are coming out every single day. So that's why our main priority right now is to be prepared for these things. It's better to go in with some kind of legislation that prepares us for a more dynamic classroom environment rather than waiting when it's too late. And then we have these things catch up to us.

So if we instruct teachers, which will then trickle down to the students on how to properly use these tools, it'll prevent a misuse of these tools in the future.

So broad teacher training. Right. And we're hoping specific to any particular AI application, if I'm hearing you, I'm just trying.

Right. And we're hoping that through that, that'll trickle down not only to the rest of the teachers in the Department, but also to the students themselves, just through.

The chair, a follow up. It's kind of a comment and a question. It's a comment intended to provoke a response. But my own experience, again, we've all had some experience with chat, GBT and similar functions or similar applicate apps. Obviously, the accuracy is a lot to be desired.

It reminds me of my early days in law, where we shifted from manually what we used to call shepherdizing, because shepherdizing that, there was volumes of legal books, you see them in pictures, sometimes still in law offices with volumes of cases. And you'd manually go through these and try to keep distilling down until you finally had the rule of law through all the case law and everything that would apply to the situation.

And then Lexus came along and Westlaw came along and really kind of early versions of AI where you could just punch in what is the rule of law in terms of free speech when it comes to newspapers, and it would give you a response. But what we learned right away, and our teachers taught us back in the day, is you better use it. Definitely use it.

Get it to help take you as far as you can, but make sure that you're doing your own vetting, your own research to get to the truth. And I'm wondering, just in your own homework, your own studies, if you've started to develop those kind of habits, is that part of what needs to be taught? I guess, is what I'm really asking it. Look, don't rely on this in absolute terms, because you're going to embarrass yourself, at least for now.

Yeah. So the technology may have updated, but our attitudes towards it has not changed from back in your day. I see.

By the way, his day is a long time ago. So, you know,

ChatGTP is a very powerful and sometimes accurate resource. But in order to get the best, the most personalized and the most functional work out of it, we do still recommend that you still go in through it and vet it yourself or rewrite it or use it as an inspiration. Only turning in what Chat GPT gives you is only a sure way to get kicked out of a classroom.

Yeah, well, and get the wrong information. I mean, ultimately, I think if somebody gets kicked out of a classroom, it's sort of punitive and old school response, but it's all intended to make sure you're in school, to get to the truth, to learn, or at least debate what the real principles are that are going to drive the answers to these questions.

Speaking from someone who does go back a long way, I think that's generally the concern, but I think it comes across in your testimony today that all of you are taking that very seriously.

So thank you, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas

Thank you so much for that thorough presentation. And I absolutely remember when I was my senior year in high school, which was a long time ago as well, and I took typing on a select typewriter. It was a really big typewriter, and a couple of years later, the Internet was born and there was no bridge that I had from high school to help me in college how to use this new technology.

So I'm appreciating this forward thinking and understanding how we build a foundation for these kinds of technologies that help prepare students, and that means preparing teachers. So I really appreciate how you connected the know, I was reading an article about AI in education, and they were looking at China in particular and the ways in which AI technology is being used to actually teach language classes, in some ways replacing the instruction of a teacher, someone that has the cognitive and relationship abilities to help develop young minds.

And I'm curious, as you are thinking about the importance of introducing the technology, how do we, my colleague talked about autonomous vehicles, and we certainly have seen legislation where those technologies have an impact on the workforce. And last we checked, we still need workers to pay income tax, to pay property tax, to really invest in our state. That's how we build our budget and that's how we pay for services.

And so my question is, in your analysis and research, how do you ensure that those great teachers that have helped to develop you, who over your course of your educational life have inspired or maybe challenged you in the classroom in a different way to do your absolute very best?

How do you think about managing this technology in a way that certainly will help strengthen educational tools, but also without deep review and monitoring and oversight, can threaten some of the very professions that are essential and that a human element is necessary in terms of ensuring the best outcomes possible, not just in.

The technical way of teaching, but also in the human and interactive way of teaching and interacting. And so I'm curious, in your research, how have you seen, if not in this state, maybe in other countries, that oversight to ensure that we are using technology, we are making sure we're learning and studying it and integrating it, but we're also mindful of protecting those workers, or in this case, teachers who are so critical to the profession.

I'm just curious if that came up in your research and what did you learn about that?

Thank you, Senator Cuevas, for your question. So you asked about how we can protect teachers from their jobs, essentially, is that correct? And I think that's a really big issue with a lot of technology. But I think when we were doing our research, we looked at the Internet. We looked at when Internet was introduced to the classroom, when teachers now had millions of Wikipedia articles to access dictionaries, libraries they couldn't have access with just their school library, their county library at home.

And we still have teachers now because I believe teaching isn't just about knowledge, but it's also about making a connection. It's about working together with your students. So I think that we'll still have teachers. The job security of teachers will still be very strong because they're still here guiding us every moment. They're still here working together with us.

And as again, the Internet, maybe we haven't seen that many other countries implement AI security yet because of how novel it is, because chat GBT was only recently became really popular, I think within the past year. But at least in the Internet, with any new technology, there will always be places, because teachers will always serve an important part of our education, and especially as students.

Thank you. Let me welcome our colleague, Senator Chobo. Thank you for being here. Let me build on Senator Smallwood Crevice's very good question, but with sort of a more basic kind of baseline question. What's your sense of sort of the capabilities and awareness of your teachers as we get started? Right. It's sort of a given with new technologies that young people embrace most quickly. And I'd be curious as to kind of your assessment across your three how savvy are teachers?

What do we need to ensure by way of confidence or resources for them to be the kinds of mentors that Mr. Song, you mentioned? Go ahead.

Right. So because of how much AI is changing every day, I would say even from a personal standpoint, I'm not always up to date myself with the newest features. So I'm always constantly learning, researching how to use AI. I think that translates to teachers, of course, not only just from a generational gap, but it's a new resource. It takes time to adapt new things. So I think that from your question.

You asked how teachers would are they ready? Are your teachers as sort of conversant as they need to be to be a resource for you in adopting and using these new technologies?

Yeah, I think they're ready, but I think it just varies so much. I have computer science teachers who've been working with programming. I have been one of the programmers of chat GBT for all I know, because they're in that space so much. But then there's also teachers. My English teacher, she's aware. She has a computer. She sends emails, she uses outlook, she uses chrome to search up information. But she's not tech literate. Her passion is English. Her passion is teaching about mice and men.

Her passion is exploring the ways where we can visualize each play every day. So there are some teachers ready. There aren't. But at least from our point of view, AI is just another tool in their toolbox as we set off forth in our education journey.

And also, I don't mean to prolong this, but that's why our approach was emphasizing just the recommendation that we would target these courses or these development days towards the computer science more technically aware teachers. And our hope with that is that they could translate this into a more digestible way that other teachers like, for instance, a math teacher or even an English teacher, it would be a little too raw for them to take the course themselves. So if we have it go through another teacher, they can kind of work around how they know to teach. Right.

I appreciate it. Hence the provision for educator to educate sharing.

Right.

I appreciate that. Anybody, any other Members questions, comments for the panel? Excellent presentation. Well answered questions. Thank you very much. Thank you. All done. Let us now welcome up panel number three. Panel number three is on comprehensive social science curriculum. I show as our presenters, Claire Chin, Chase Kim and Alexa Coniaris welcome all three of.

Good morning, Chairman Newman, Vice Chair Ochoa Bogh, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, and Senator Cortese. My name is Chase Kim and I am from Senate District 32 and Assembly District 59.

And my name is Claire Chin from Senate District 7 and Assembly District 16.

My name is Alexa Koniares. I'm from Senate District 27 and Assembly District 44.

Welcome. Please proceed.

Two years ago, my district banned critical race theory from our social sciences curriculum, and despite student pushback against the decision, it has taken a hold of our classrooms and it has had massive repercussions across the district. For example, when an English teacher taught a book on the civil rights movement, she was taken by parents to the district board and was forced to stop teaching this crucial, truthful piece of literature.

Meanwhile, however, ethnic studies thrives in other schools, such as in Westlake High school, where courses on ethnic studies, world religion, and contemporary issues are encouraged and are popular among students. The reality is current inconsistency on race and ethnic studies dangers all students rights to a free and comprehensive history education. Thanks to Assembly Bill 101, we have ethnic studies requirements coming to California schools beginning in the fall of next year, which will help provide this consistency.

However, the bill has few details on making sure that districts abide closely to state guidelines and only gives loose suggestions on getting community feedback on its implementation. Our proposal solves these issues by suggesting that district, parent, teacher, and student committees be made specifically for reporting the progress of ethnic studies curriculum to the state and to local interested parties. By promoting such a policy of transparent communication, these district communities shuttle ideas and feedback between the state and the local levels.

We keep all of California students and families on the same page when it comes to these new requirements, ensuring its continuing efficacy for years to come. Only through this cooperation can we see through the daunting beginnings of entirely new educational standards. Learning and open discussion must happen outside of the classroom as well as within. Let's return to my own district for a moment.

Rather than embrace students dissenting opinions as proof of the beauty of our right to free speech, one of the main reasons for banning critical race theory was that, quote, there were too many differing opinions on it. These kinds of censorship completely prevent positive, productive discussion on the teaching of race. Today, teachers lose the ability to preside over their own classrooms, and books on the civil rights movement are banned from our shelves. Instead of this reality, let's make open communication the new norm.

With proper channels of debate for parents, teachers, and students, we can make progress in social science together, even in a course as sensitive as ethnic studies.

Addressing this issue we find that it is this very lack of communication from parents that has exacerbated the anxiety of social science teachers in a political classroom. However, it is also crucial to recognize the repercussions of this issue also extend beyond the classroom, having profound effects on our democracy and society. This current age of polarization has left many teachers in fear of misunderstanding parents, conflict among students, and harsh punishments from administrators.

Although understandable, these impetuous acts of censorship have done nothing to foster a more deliberative and open minded generation. Additionally, it's imperative to acknowledge that ill intentioned acts of censorship exist and have also left many of California students feeling marginalized by their own education system. In fact, with more than two thirds of principals still reporting demeaning and hateful remarks made about African American students, it is abundantly clear that censorship, regardless of intent, is not the answer.

Thankfully, the advent of the ethnic studies course marks the start of a more diverse and inclusive curriculum. But still, ignoring concern around controversy would be incredibly unfair and undemocratic. Thus, as the Comprehensive Social Sciences Curriculum Group, we advocate for the inclusion of parent, teacher, and student discussion-based committees on topics solely relating to ethnic studies, in accordance with current Assembly Bill 101. More specifically, these district committees would have two major goals.

First, to provide a platform for community voice, as these discussion based meetings will be open to any interested parent, teacher, or student. And second, to ensure consistent transparency around the ethnic studies course and its curriculum. To foster fair and structured conversations, these forums will also be led by qualified individuals or a district committee appointed by a higher authority body. After every meeting, the committee would then report out to the state and locals.

Ideally, these meetings would be monthly and in-person to ensure constant accountability with the course's development and to maximize public input. In addition, we recognize that there is a current priority under the LCAP that mandates parental approval of all academic curricula. However, we'd like to clarify that our solution works to increase local contributor input in specifically ethnic studies rather than reforming any other current curriculum.

Although these forums could potentially lead to curriculum changes, the intended purpose is to alleviate the anxieties of parents, teachers, and students by creating a safe discussion space. Not only would this forum offer insights to the existing system, it also gives students the unique opportunity to be civically engaged.

After all, the ability to effectively and respectfully express one's opinions for the betterment of all is an inherent responsibility of every future citizen in our democracy, especially with the nuanced and controversial nature of ethnic studies, we truly believe that now is the perfect time to incorporate greater discussion. This would give legislative bodies a whole year to finalize and implement these aforementioned measures.

The fiscal question will depend on each individual school district's generosity with funding. Existing budget considerations in California and the strategic allocation of funds within districts will incur possible location fees, staff overtime payments, transportation costs, and childcare amenities. The need for additional expenditures includes advertisement, payment, or food, which in total could all amount to upwards of $20,000 across districts. Despite any potential cost, our group truly believes that this is an issue worth tackling.

The absence of transparency in classrooms, the prevalence of impartiality in lessons, and the necessity for discussion on ethnic studies are all rooted in moments where schools cut out conversations about our past. These events stem from a fear of controversy and an avoidance of complicated topics, leaving students with gaps in their understanding of history. Our state is known as a place of great diversity, where all people are celebrated as the backbone of society.

We deserve to learn our own stories and we cannot sacrifice conversations for the sake of controversy. A new beginning is upon us with graduation requirements on ethnic studies inside the classroom, let's take it one step further by incorporating the voices of every person involved outside of the classroom. Discourse doesn't divisive a dialogue. It dissolves differences to prevent censorship and misunderstanding. We have to talk about it, and we have to give everyone a place where their ideas will be heard.

We always tell ourselves that the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow. But our current system, which often pushes away controversy and hides the truth, makes it impossible for the children of today to dream of a better tomorrow. Therefore, we mandate the establishment of parent, teacher, and student district committees in accordance with the new upcoming graduation requirements on an ethnic studies course. Opening these discussion forums will foster effective conversations furthering a student's education. We thank you for your time.

Thank you. Colleagues, any questions or comments? Senator Ochoa Bogh.

Thank you for your presentation and good morning. A pleasure to be here today. I just want to say that I commend the vision of having open dialogue about ideas which were missing. And I would add to that the only setback that I see in why we are not able to do that is literally the vilification of people.

So for me, I try to always focus and try to mitigate and facilitate conversations in my district by kind of just putting as a base that we don't need to vilify the people. We need to talk about the ideas. And I think when we start approaching that manner of thought and action, we're going to be able to do better in actually speaking about ideas and moving forward in a positive manner. So thank you.

I just wanted to put that little plug in there because it's important that we don't vilify the people, but we actually talk about the idea. So thank you for being here today.

Thank you. Anybody else? Senator Smallwood-Cuevas.

I just wanted to commend you on coming with a solution. Where is the vehicle for the conversation to happen? And it's sad that we're in 2024 and we're having this conversation about how we have inclusionary education. Part of the reason why we have ethnic studies is because the history that we had learned for so long excluded far too many.

And so I appreciate this really courageous vehicle of bringing parents and teachers and students together to strengthen and to sustain the ethnic studies programs and to make them the real tools of education that we need them to do. I guess my question in looking at this model, were there other curriculum development strategies that use this kind of a task force, and did you have any sense of the success of this model in terms of developing and tracking implementation of curriculum?

Yeah, absolutely. So thank you for the question. And currently in the LCAP, there is a mandate that states that all curricula have to be approved by the parents. But currently, that's pretty inconsistent across different districts because, as you know, the LCAP is district wide. And so with this legislation, we hope to amend either the current bill and mandate a parental court that's more overarching and more consistent so that every single district has the same opportunity for parental voice.

Thank you. Let me ask. I mean, I appreciate Senator Smallwood-Cuevas' question and your answer. To the extent that you're endeavoring to increase participation, how do we account for something that I would sort of describe as participation bias? Which is to say, quite often those who are most invested or most energized are the ones who come quickly to those meetings versus those who are not. And you wind up with kind of an imbalance.

I think that's sort of what we're seeing generally in sort of the discussion on ethnic studies. So how would you three think about, how can we account for that to ensure that we have some level of the optimum level of participation, but within that balance so that all views are considered within those conversations?

Well, I think one part of that we touched on a little bit in the fiscal responsibility of this proposal, but I think it's really about increasing accessibility, because it's not only those who have really, really strong opinions are showing up to these meetings and giving their ideas. It's also that a lot of people just can't attend these meetings and don't have access to these meetings.

So one of the things we talked about was maybe increasing transportation or funding a transportation solution that would get people to these meetings to share their voice. So if we lower that barrier, then it's more likely that everybody, no matter their ideas, no matter how extreme they might be, are going to show up to these meetings and give their opinion and give feedback and give their voice.

Let me ask one more question, because I think you appropriately cited the ethnic studies legislation, and that it provides that it shall include course outlines that allow for local, state specific, national and global inquiry and ethnic studies. I think what we're seeing right now, especially given sort of events across the world, is an emphasis on the global inquiry to some extent at the expense of others. As students, how do you think about ethnic studies?

I guess I'd ask, what are you looking, ideally for you and your peers to learn through the addition of ethnic studies? And how can we be careful, if that's possible, not to inject current events in ways that wind up being really polarizing?

I mean, I think part of the beauty of ethnic studies is that it connects past with present. But I do think that currently ethnic studies does focus on a couple of specific groups, and that could leave out other groups. But one thing that our team really focused on was discussion based classes. So, for example, currently at my school, Monte Vista, ethnic studies is a discussion based course where our teacher hosts discussions for everyone to come and seminars for all them to express their opinions.

And so that could mean, like, any marginalized group or a current group could come and share what they believe and their opinions and insights on the course and experiences. And I believe that that could foster more productive dialogue, as there will be a teacher there to administrate that specific discussion.

And if I just might add something really quick. One thing we really talked about in our group is, why is ethnic studies important in the first place? And really our answer to that was we should learn our own histories as well as US history, global history, everything. And one member in our group brought up the quote that in order to move, "we need to know our own past to move into the future".

So it's really important that we acknowledge all peoples of California in order to have these kinds of productive discussions.

Appreciate that. So, again, is your sense that we're finding the right balance? Right, because what you've described is learning about one's own history largely takes place within the American story. Is the balance in that versus, say, current events and sort of the relationship to other parts of the world and how that informs our discussions here. What's your sense? And by the way, I give you credit for taking on a very controversial subject, right? This is a big deal, certainly in lots of different circles.

Yeah. So we do definitely recognize the controversial nature of ethnic studies, but we also see that in the status quo, without ethnic studies, that also still exists. So people are still targeting marginalized groups and there is still discrimination happening. We think that with ethnic studies, it is the correct first step to take in solving that issue. And obviously, ethnic studies is a very new course, so it's going to need some reforming.

And we really hope that with this parent council, people are able to come together and talk about it more, because our root problem was the fact that teachers are currently having anxiety and having concerns over what parents might think of controversial issues being taught in their classroom. And ethnic studies being such a controversial course inherently is a perfect example of that. And we think that in order to move forward as a society, ethnic studies is the first step.

But in order to protect that first step, we have to have parent counsels.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Well done, well presented, and certainly food for thought. So thank you to each of the panelists, and we'll welcome up the next panel.

Thank you.

Next panel is panel four about restorative justice. I show Alicia Del Toro, Bryan Rodriguez, and Joshua Lee as our panelists. Welcome. And you may proceed when ready.

Good morning, Chairman Newman, Senator Bogh, Senator Cuevas, and Senator Cortese. My name is Joshua Lee, and I attend Sunny Hills High School in Senate District 29.

My name is Alicia Del Toro, and I'm a senior at St. Francis High School here in Sacramento.

And my name is Brian Rodriguez and I attend SIATech, downtown Los Angeles Independent Study High School in Senate District 35.

Welcome.

In 2019, my cousin was expelled from his high school for the illegal distribution of narcotics. He was expelled for selling a bar of Xanax. The school's name is King Drew Medical Magnet High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and he was transferred to Alain LeRoy Locke College Preparatory Academy, one of the 25 Green Dot charter schools in the area. No further measures were taken to rectify the issue other than a school expulsion.

Susceptible to the effects of my environment, I also have had experiences with narcotics in school. As a growing teen, after seeing my cousin's problem, I lost hope in the education system, specifically the school system in impoverished areas that run rampant with drug paraphernalia, racial tensions, gun violence, overcrowded classrooms, underfunded schools, which in turn caused me to drop out of high school at 17.

However, the punitive punishments given when students fall victim to aforementioned external factors don't show students the proper pathway to healing from the afflictions caused by their environment, instead increasing the likelihood that a student will become criminalized. Restorative justice instead aims to ameliorate a flawed system.

A more restorative approach, such as letting a fellow peer join the conversation and decision making process that decides a student's punishment, will help promote positive change towards the restoration of well being, justice, and health in the lives of students all over California.

Currently, students lack the power and voice to give meaningful input towards school's disciplinary measures. These are treated simply as punishment rather than opportunities for students to learn and better themselves. More specifically, students cannot participate in expulsion proceedings as expulsion is a process controlled by the governing board or school district in closed sessions. Although certain districts have district student board members, they are excluded from expulsion hearings due to AB 275, which prohibits them from sitting in closed sessions deemed as sensitive topics.

While we definitely understand the concerns surrounding confidentiality, sensitivity, and bias, the absence of student voice and meaningful restorative measures causes students to feel a lack of trust in existing procedures. According to Education Next, an education research journal, students eliminated by the system are less likely to attend college, more likely to drop out of high school, and more likely to be incarcerated as an adult.

Without restorative justice measures, students will never see discipline as a way to improve themselves, but instead as a rejection of their presence in society. Now, we are aware that Education Code 49055 is looking for student input for restorative justice best practices. We deeply appreciate these efforts and that's exactly what we'd like to continue working towards today with our proposal.

The Student Advisory Board on Legislation and Education proposes a mandate for all California school districts to offer the involvement of their student board member in expulsion hearings. The student board member can attend these meetings, provide input, and vote on the decision of expulsion. By providing the option of student board member input, the individual whom the hearing is being held for can decide if they are comfortable with that or not, solving issues of bias and confidentiality.

Also, if there are no active student board members within a school district, the district must inform students of AB 824, which requires districts to instate a student board member after receiving a petition from students.

The presence of existing district student board members in expulsion hearings is extremely feasible as the process would take little to no new resources or expenses. Student board members would simply participate in these hearings as usual, with the possibility of any confidentiality or bias training that is deemed necessary. Our solution strays away from expensive attempts to create new programs or guidelines. It avoids responsibilities that would ultimately be placed on teachers and staff who are already managing so much amidst the current staffing crisis.

Student voice allows for appropriate representation and input, thus contributing to a more restorative approach to discipline in schools rather than existing punitive measures. The importance of restorative justice over punitive punishment becomes especially amplified as marginalized students with infractions experience higher dropout rates and worsen academic performance. Our approach would then diversify the decision making processes, allowing students to gain trust and have faith in their ability to improve.

Moreover, by adding a different perspective to the decision making behind the punishment process, we hope to inspire school systems and other states to follow suit in approaching school punishment with restorative justice in mind. Once again, we ask for a mandate for all California school districts to offer the involvement of their student board member in expulsion hearings.

Let us strive for a tomorrow where every student is no longer afraid of the repercussions of disciplinary action, but instead can benefit from it as a method of growth, empowerment, and learning. Thank you.

Thank you. Any comments or questions, Senator? Okay, so this, I will say, is a truly interesting concept. So my first question for you is, and I understand you'd include bias training and confidentiality training. How can we ensure that student members are up to this task? This is obviously kind of a heavy subject. So what are your thoughts there, system wide, to ensure that each student board member is appropriate to this very serious responsibility?

I think that training is definitely something that's very important and it needs to be widespread in order to get these students ready for this. I think the development of the training would be something that delves into that further. I think also the idea of this is that as students themselves, that's what makes their input valuable. I think many times students are expelled and their situation wasn't looked into deep enough. And if you asked any students at that school, that student was not a danger to them.

And that's the idea of why the student perspective is so necessary.

Again, really interesting to this other component where there is no student representative that the district would be required to notify, and instate a student member, would that be triggered by an expulsion hearing, or is that sort of something. I'm just thinking about the mechanics. Or is that simply in the case where there is not a student member? They're sort of separate acts if one's not a trigger for the other, what's your intent there?

I think specifically within our proposal, that was the idea that once the student who is attending the hearing realizes that there is no student board member there to give input for them, then the districts would make it clear to all the students about AB 824, I believe it is. And so we understand that it would be too quick of a process to actually have that student board member there for their hearing.

But the idea is that that would start the process of getting a student board member there to represent any future students.

So then the intent is to use an expulsion hearing as the trigger.

Yeah.

Okay. Appreciate that. But also allowing that, you probably wouldn't be able to instate a member for that particular incident or hearing. Okay, really interesting. I mean, I'm sorry, more of my colleagues aren't here because I think this is something that actually is certainly worthy of exploration for legislation. Go ahead.

So currently, my question to you would be, what is your understanding of the current process for expulsion?

Okay. I attend a private school, so it is a bit different from my understanding, but from what I understand from my research and process of developing this proposal in the past few days, is that the decision of expulsion is district based. It goes to the district board and there's no student representation, and a hearing is held for them. And then the decision is made.

Who is the district board and who's involved in those hearings for the expulsion?

The district, I'm not sure.

So as a former school board member, I actually was privy to disciplinary action hearings. And within those hearings, we actually had the student. We had the parents or the caretakers of those students, and we had the school board members like ourselves. We also had the Superintendent and a counselor.

And in those conversations where we were discussing the discipline plan for the student, I can tell you that there was a lot of reservation on being very punitive, because the mindset for many of us that attended these hearings, and especially as board members, school board members, was the fact that we wanted to ensure that we were doing what was best for that student, for that child, regardless. And we did hearings for kids across different ages.

But I can assure you that when you have the parents there, we give the opportunities for the parents, for the student themselves, to talk about the mindset of where they are, what their thought process was of the actions that they committed, how they're growing from the experience, how they plan on moving forward on that. So it was very inclusionary.

It wasn't necessarily wanted to be punitive, but wanted to be more in the restorative, trying to talk about what the issue was at hand, always talking about what the root of the problem was for that particular student and the action that was committed on there.

So I would study a little further as to what the current practices are for expulsion, because, yes, every district would be different, but it is my experience in knowing many individuals in the educational setting that there's always an intent to care for that mindset and the behavioral health and the well being in the long term because of what we've learned about the pathways to the prison system or to being incarcerated. So there's a lot of pushback and a lot of reluctancy on it being expelled.

I mean, that has to be really at the very, very extreme of an action in order for that to happen in today's environment, in my personal opinion and experience. So I would ask and investigate a little bit more as to the process, the current processes for different school districts, including your very own.

Thank you for sharing more about the process. I definitely think all those perspectives are very important and they give a lot of insight to the students lives. I think adding student input to those people would make it much stronger. My parents, my very own parents, my mom is actually sitting back here right now. They will tell you that the person that I am at school is much different than I am at home.

I'm very quiet at home, and students have a much better understanding of how I act in school. And ultimately expulsion, it'll definitely affect the students lives, but it won't only affect them, it affects the entire student body. And so providing that student input, I think will hopefully add to the expulsion decision and provide more insight when making these decisions.

I guess I'd ask, Senator Ochoa Bogh, based on your experience, would it be a positive addition to that larger conversation to have a student as part of those conversations? Or might it not be productive?

Oh, no. I think engagement is always a positive thing. Feedback is always positive in that manner. But I know that many school districts don't have student- We did. We had a student on our school board. So as a matter of fact, my daughter was actually a student member of our school board. But no, I think it's always a positive thing on that end, as long as the student actually has preparation and training, I think it's important to have that feedback.

I appreciate it. I guess, you know, one of the sort of premises of your idea is the very real perception, as I understand it, that the absence of a student voice is influencing the outcome, right. And to Senator Ochoa Bogh's point, it's a complicated process, lots of input.

But I guess the question here is it might actually be a productive thing on multiple levels to have a student as participant not only within the conversation, but also ensuring, from the perspective of other students, that there's a student voice in this conversation. So, go ahead. It's a really interesting idea.

So it's interesting because I think within this proposal, I think your thought process is that if a student voice is there, there will be no expulsion.

That's not the process. I mean, obviously there will be expulsion still. I think that the idea is that students could provide a perspective of what the student is like in schools. I'll share a personal experience. My sister was expelled earlier this year for drug use and the decision in her expulsion, there was no further investigation as to her situation in the school. She took drugs because her friends were really struggling to deal with their stress issues.

And so her idea was to take my dad's medical grade marijuana that he uses for his severe insomnia to school. And these students, after the expulsion was made, if you ask any of those students, they would tell you that my sister was a great student. She was a great friend. She was on student council. She held rallies. She held Dress for Funds.

And the idea is that providing student input can give greater insight as to who the student is as a person and what their presence at school is truly like. Because although there's all these teachers and parents and counselors who are giving input, parents couldn't really tell you what the kid is like at school. And so the hope is that students could. Maybe there would be less expulsions, maybe it would stay the same, but student input would be there because it's missing right now.

So are we assuming that the student would actually know the student that's being considered for expulsion?

No, that's not being assumed. It's just the student input. Students know how other youth works and in the school environment, so that's the perspective that would be being added to the conversation.

So not necessarily the fact that they know this particular student that's being assessed and giving input as to how that student acts in school. Just assuming that knowing how students act in general.

Yes. I think that's arguably the job of the student board member to represent all the students within that district.

Okay, interesting, thought provoking. Well done. Appreciate your presentation, and I thank you. So we'll move on to the next panel. With an eye on time, next panel is Environmental Justice. Thank you to these panelists.

Thank you.

Thank you. And the next panel is I show as my presenters Walter Helvin, Bethany Zhao, and Gracie Kim. Welcome to all three of you.

Okay. Is this on? We're good.

Don't be nervous. Welcome.

Thank you.

We're here to learn, so please proceed.

Hello, Chairman Newman and Vice Chair Ocha Bogh. Am I pronouncing that correctly? Thank you. I'll let my colleagues introduce themselves.

Hi, my name is Gracie Kim. I'm a sophomore at Santa Susana High School. I'm in the 42nd Assembly District and the 27th Senate District.

My name is Bethany Zhao. I'm a student at Oceana High School in the 23rd Assembly District and 13th Senate District.

Again, welcome.

My name is Walter Helvin. I am from the First Assembly District and First Senate District. I am a student at Ghidotti Early College High School from the County of Nevada, and I'm a senior. I come from a rural community in Northern California and have experienced the effects of environmental justice myself. In a region dominated by mismanaged forests and the severe effects of long-term drought, in this state and across the western states, we experience the adverse effects of living with a disproportionately large wildfire risk. This negatively impacts my own education and the education of my peers as we are forced to worry about our own safety and the safety of our friends and our family when we're trying to live our lives and attend school. Public safety power shutoffs, now quite infamous, constantly interrupt our ability to work in school or from home, as we often lose both power and internet while dangerous and unsafe air quality prevents us from even spending time outside as a result of the fires that occur every year in our area. I've missed many days of school because the air was unsafe, our power was shut off, or our roads were inaccessible due to fires and other blockages. Even besides missing school, I know what it is like to fear for the very existence of my home, my school, and my community because of an environmental disaster exacerbated by the consequences of climate change. But my story and the stories from my hometown aren't unique. All across the state are similar stories from kids just like me who face environmental injustice that impedes their education.

All of these students have a shared commonality in their school experiences. A lack of initiative, care, and understanding for environmental issues. A tendency to place environmental concerns on the back burner as the last priority. People assume that the exponential decay our world has been experiencing ecologically, such as air pollution, plastic pollution, climate change, et cetera, is just not important enough to immediately address. There exists a prevailing assumption that the consequences for ignoring these concerns are somewhat hazy, residing in the indistinct realm of the future. However, through these personal anecdotes, it's undeniable that our world and our youth are actively and presently experiencing environmental injustice. This is not a future problem. These harms are today. Additionally, schools have only been perpetuating this universal decline, whether it be through disregard for plastic pollution and single-use plastics, through the prevalence of food waste, and provided food. Through their lack of initiative to tackle these concerns, several schools have demonstrated a clear avoidance of the topic altogether.

However, despite this lack of action on the climate, schools present an opportunity to become a hub for building climate resilience in their local community. Schools are a universal aspect of almost every community across the state, across the country; students grow up in the school system. They spend their lives in school. Parents often have to be responsible for taking their kids to school, to sports, extracurriculars, and all of their other activities, while many community members and educators spend their lives working for and with our schools. Our California public schools are a focal point for change in many communities and present a viable opportunity to affect positive change in the areas of the state that have been treated unjustly and feel ignored and mistreated by our state government. Truly empowering communities starts by involving citizens where they are most comfortable and using schools as a base of power, which could lead to building better, more trusting relationships with the rest of our state and local government. Achieving this is the first step towards creating environmental justice and successfully strengthening all of our communities to be climate resilient. This leads us to our proposal. Already existing in the education system are a variety of boards, committees, commissions, et cetera, all of which oversee many different things and have different responsibilities. However, in order to effectively address environmental and environmental hazards, we propose the creation of environmental justice committees at the school district level. These committees will fit into the existing structure and hierarchy of the education system rather than acting as an additional or completely new form of bureaucracy.

In California, an alarming 562,442 tons of waste flood our schools each year. What's more, approximately half of this waste is a potential gold mine. Organic materials like paper, cardboard, and uneaten cafeteria food can be recycled and reused for a brighter future. Additionally, 43% of schools bear seemingly benign environmental risks, including mold, compromised air quality, and contaminated playgrounds. In reality, though rarely addressed as a serious issue, these risks translate into real, tangible consequences: respiratory illness, academic setbacks, attendance, and a decline in physical activity among students. Climate-driven changes in air quality are estimated to increase annual cases of child asthma between 4 and 11%, respectively.

Decreased time in schools, diminished quality of education, strain on student physical and mental well-being, and a future where these issues not only persist but continuously worsen is our fate if we fail to address the climate crisis. The Environmental Justice Group of Sable proposes the establishment of school district sustainability committees to transform future of struggle into hope. These advisory bodies to a district's trustees, composed of students, staff members, community leaders, and an optional but recommended trustee, will mitigate environmental health hazards and implement sustainable initiatives in conjunction with school boards, as each community has unique environmental hazards and desired sustainability improvements that can only be addressed by diverse perspectives who have encountered or will be impacted by the challenges they seek to address. By mandating these committees, California will serve as a national leader in sustainability. California will implement sustainability that benefits student health and learning while ensuring a prosperous future for us all. At the heart of our proposal is a desire to reduce the consequences of climate change, extreme weather, flooding, fires, and far more that robs all Californians of the ability to live safely and students the opportunity to attend school and receive the quality of education that we all deserve.

Multiple school districts have already implemented environmental committees, and the results have been only positive. For example, the Woodland Joint Unified School District, WJUSD, has created an environmental stewardship committee with the purpose of making schools and campuses safe and environmentally healthy, thus reducing the district's ecological footprint and helping inform and educate the next generation of environmental citizens. Furthermore, the Oak Park Unified School District, OPUSD, has created an environmental education and awareness committee where students, parents, and faculty alike are provided with forums to discuss issues and recommend action regarding environmental education and sustainability programs. In OPUSD, these two districts serve as positive examples for the rest of California to follow.

The climate crisis is not one that can be addressed in a moment as it requires continuous progress, continuous progress, which these committees would enact to make their communities safer and more sustainable, resulting in a safer and more sustainable California. Fewer children missing school due to extreme weather less destruction of homes due to the wildfires that devastate far too many, less sickness from environmental hazards. As the force behind all of these issues is climate change, which you have the power to combat today. Remember that there is one student sitting here today who personally knows many people whose homes have been destroyed by wildfires, which only become more common due to the worsening environmental crisis. Too many people are suffering from the consequences of climate inaction, both in this room and outside of it. Remember that you, too, and your community will bear the consequences of failing to act to preserve the planet. For them and for those who will come after us all because we ask you to support continuous improvements in student learning and health and well-being that ultimately help all in California, we ask you to support establishing school district sustainability subcommittees. Thank you.

Thank you and well presented. I also want to add, Miss Kim, if somebody ever makes a documentary about me, I want you to be the narrator. You have an awesome. So, you know, this is interesting to me. I'm guessing, was anybody here last year for. Last year's probably not, right? It did cycles every year. You were. So I don't know if you remember last year we actually had a fairly long discussion about modifying the California school safety plan regime. And in that case, it was about better communicating all the provisions and processes to communities. This is very similar, I think, and actually very important. Right. I would suggest possibly, as kind of a follow-up discussion, modifying your proposal in lieu of a new committee; maybe the provision should mandate incorporation into the comprehensive school safety plan of these kinds of discussions and precautions around climate change-related events. I've got it in front of me that the school safety plan actually provides already for a school site council that would include the principal, a teacher who's a representative of one of the certificate employee organizations, a parent, a child attends the school, a classified employee, and other members. Maybe this should be a part of their mission. But I take very seriously your thinking that this is something, it's real, especially when you consider the variety of different environments across California. And Mr. Helvin, I was going to call you Walter. I didn't want to call you Walter in front of everybody, but I think you're know, we've seen evidence that this is a real problem and we should take appropriate precautions. So well done. Any other comments or questions? Senator Cortese?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me just preface by saying, in case the students haven't been instructed about Sacramento Style Committee hearings here, people getting up and leaving and coming back and so forth, a lot of us are double booked. And it's not because we're really bad at scheduling. It's just that at times, we're actually not today necessarily, but in three committees literally at the same time. It'd be like if you were assigned in school to three classes at the same time. So you just keep balancing. So I wanted to say that because as people come and go, and I appreciate that the chair had already said that earlier, but no disrespect intended, and I was very sorry to actually miss the last presentation because that is an area of career-long effort and work and concern for me on restorative justice. And I'm happy to talk to any of the members of that group and that panel afterwards about the ideas that they have. I like what I saw in writing, and I think there's even more you can do there. On this issue, last year, there was a bill that I was a principal co-author of Assemblymember Luz Rivas was the author of it, AB 285, which, for the first time, mandated climate literacy in our schools, in our public school. So that's fresh off the press. The Governor just signed that, probably -well, I know when he signed it in October, but I'm not sure when you were doing all the research on this. But just as another point of connectivity, it may be that setting up these school-based and or district-based councils, again, which I really believe in, I think this has been a common thread with all the panels, is let's get back to site-based decision making. Let's let local parents and teachers and administrators, of course, but let them convene and figure out how to, in essence, apply or tweak policies to the environment they're in. Compton is not necessarily always going to be in the same kind of parameter environment on issues, environmental issues or other issues as Humoldt, for example. So you've got to allow some latitude there. But I just wanted to mention, great presentation, great solution here. I'm just kind of wondering if maybe, I will certainly consider it, but either at the legislative level or just at the school district level, because I think they can do it on their own, that the new literacy requirements on climate are attached to this local council. Because on the one hand, you could say not everything here in environmental justice is necessarily exactly climate related. On the other hand, you could say at some point almost everything does pivot off of it, right? Wildfires and everything else, as you've talked about. So something maybe just in terms of follow up, I would certainly be open to thoughts on how to go back. And we don't amend bills that are already signed into law, but we do, as you know, because you've documented bill history in your own presentations here, we certainly build on that. And it's not unusual to come back and say about that new law, AB 285, by the way, connect up the moving parts here. We should have local school environmental justice councils that are informing the climate literacy that's taught in each school and school district, depending on how teachers and parents and students there would like to see that done. And that's all I had to say. But I'm certainly open to any reaction to that. And that's all I have.

Appreciate it. In all I had to Senator's criticism point about building on previous legislation. The legislation he refers to was actually signed in a law in 2017, went in effect in 2018, and it includes specific language, for instance, about a response to a criminal incident that may result in, I could easily see, including in the Ed code language that is specific to environmental and climate related precautions. So a really good idea, and I think it's something that I and other members of our body would be happy to follow up on. So thank you. Well done. Next Pannel.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, panel six, and the topic there is awareness and access on immigration. And I show as our panelists, Sean Lee, Ebely Solorzano, and Leo Ding welcome, each of you. You may proceed in any order when you're ready.

Good morning, Chairman Newman. Good morning, Vice Chair Ochoa Bogh. And good morning, Senator Cortese. My name is Sean Lee. I'm from the 67th Assembly District and the 29th Senate district. I'm currently a junior at Sunny Hills High School.

My name is Leo Ding. I am from Assembly District 16 and Senate District 7. And I'm from Miramonte High School.

My name is Ebely Solorzano. I am from Assembly District 57 and Senate District 28. And I am a senior at Scitech school. Just a couple of months ago, one of Scitech students, my friend Kjan, was forced to leave California. He had no choice but to leave all the progress that he had made in subjects he never had the chance to even learn before. To simply put it, it's not fair. It's not fair to him. It's also not fair to undocumented students that came from countries across the world for a chance at a better life. And it's especially unfair for all of us standing here in this very Senate chamber today. So today we are coming to you for Kjan, for all our classmates, our community, and to advocate for awareness and access of education for immigrant students, a topic being brought up for the very first time at.

On behalf of the Sable delegation, we propose a two pronged solution to address the difficulties documented and undocumented immigrant students face. The first prong is for the creation of posters, pamphlets, and online resources for students and school faculty to increase the awareness of resources available to immigrant students and have that information disseminated across campus. The second prong is to urge the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for establishing immigration policies to expand the f one student visa accessibility for k through 12 schools. Foreign students often encounter difficulties in their education, not because of a lack of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps but rather because of unclear distribution of information and resources. For tens of thousands of students who are unequipped to deal with the bureaucratic nature of the school system, it becomes almost impossible to manage conflicts surrounding immigration and their status as Californians.

The first prong to our resolution is to address the prevalent issue of the lack of awareness that students and school staff and faculty have regarding access to resources ranging from basic necessities to immigrant rights, which ultimately determines the fate of countless immigrant students in the State of California. Due to this insufficient awareness, many immigrant students are left without any knowledge on how to obtain resources regarding rights, basic needs, and education. Living in Southern California, there are many immigrant students in our school community. I have a close friend of mine who dropped out of school because he had to work multiple jobs due to economic reasons. He is not alone. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, over 30% of immigrants aged 16 through 24 will end up dropping out of their education, a rate that is over three times higher than any other California group. Our proposed solution to this lack of awareness lies in displaying posters and distributing pamphlets to high school administration, teachers, counselors, and students. Posters would be prominently displayed at school sites, in counselor rooms, and in classrooms. Pamphlets would consist of a list of resources for disadvantaged immigrant students categorized by subjects of information such as scholarships, educational resources, housing assistance, and legal aid. These resources already exist. For example, the Jeff Sein Kwan Yang Memorial Scholarship awards thousands of dollars for immigrant students who are in pursuit of a higher education. The issue isn't the lack of resources, it's the lack of awareness that these resources exist. By requiring the California Department of Education to develop modeled posters in multiple languages that compile lists of statewide resources, each school site and educational institution serving students from grades six through 12 will be equipped with the tools needed to support their students. In mandating these posters and pamphlets, information aiding immigrant students will be spread throughout each and every high school and school in California.

One of my friends at Scitech is not just facing the risk of deportation, but living directly through it. Currently, the US citizenship and Immigration Services determine that students enrolled in California and U. S. University are eligible for student visas. However, this eligibility does not include public high schools for more than just one year of education. The second prong is our resolution to have the California State Senate urge the United States citizenship and Immigration Services to expand the f one student visa program to be accessible to prospective k through 12 us students. We understand that at the state level, there is little we can do with regard to visas therefore, we urge our State of California recommends that updates are made to student visas to expand. The central challenge facing foreign students in California relates to limitations and vulnerabilities of their visa status, especially when considering the limitations of their student visas. The short term validity creates uncertainty and instability for students who are trying to complete their education. These proposed visas update would not only extend the duration of visas to match the length of educational programs, but also include provisions for renewals. This approach aims to provide a more stable and secure educational experience for foreign students, ensuring that they can fully commit to their studies without constant worry of visa expiration during their academic journey. We are blessed to live in a state where we can go to school with students from diverse backgrounds, some of whom may be undocumented students. Yet now imagine having to go to school fearful of being deported. Immigrant students have reported levels of anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD that were high enough to warrant a clinical diagnosis in relation to fear of deportation. Mental health has proven to lead to increased dropout rates, substance abuse, and other harmful effects. Our resolution is impacting our most vulnerable population, immigrants, whether documented or undocumented. Our resolution aims to accomplish this first step in eliminating educational disparities that exist within our diverse California classrooms.

For millions across the globe, it's about accessing a valuable education, but for many others, it's about keeping that education. And it's an education that we all deserve. While it's true that we neither have the resources nor the power to grant all students that right, it is still true that we can ensure that all students are aware of the help and rights they have now so that they themselves can build themselves a better future. So again, our two pronged solution is to first recommend that all school sites distribute informational posters and pamphlets across campus. And our prong two is to urge the California State Senate to urge the US citizenship and Immigration services to expand f one student visas to k through 12. And this resolution serves to provide both the awareness and the action that is needed for a state and nation to treat those who are invisible. Thank you so much.

Thank you to all three of you. Well presented, questions or comments from my colleagues. Actually, I think there's an area where you get substantial agreement among legislators, and certainly sort of the essence of your proposal is completely consistent with some of the work that we've done over the last several years. So I do appreciate that and I will make sure that this gets circulated to our colleagues. Anybody else? Senator Cortese

Just curious. For whatever reason, perhaps it was the few years that I served on a law school board, it seemed to me that some of the indices of the problems that you've indicated at the high school level, particularly, I think with our k through 12 level, and I'm not sure what you looked at, that's part of my question really start to become even more problematic sometimes when you have outside agencies, if you will. It's not really an agency but the California State bar or organizations that really aren't adjusting their grading, their tolerance, if you will, for any of these issues, really any of these issues, including language issues, is there a solution for that? Is there something more that should be done to start preparing students for the even tougher challenges when they're sort of on their own in a graduate school environment like that, where there really aren't a lot of things to help prop them up any longer? Any thoughts on that?

So a lot of the things we were discussing in our group is firstly the lack of resources available for students k through 12 and of course passed that in college and graduate school. And we understand there's things like the California Dream Act and other things that have been passed in the past to address those issues. But the second part of the problem we realized was that there are many of these resources available for students, but many times the students and their families don't know about them. So the first part of our solution is mainly tackling that to make sure that the state can compile a list of resources and other ways that immigrant students can kind of use to address their issues and have that distributed at every single school campus, whether through pamphlets or posters. So yeah, we haven't tackled the higher education aspect as much yet, but we're trying to focus on the distribution of resources.

Yeah, I think it's one of those things and I appreciate all the work that you've done and I'm not suggesting that you missed anything or stopped short, but in my old school board education background, we always tried to look at things vertically and also from a social services background when I was in county government. So you see, well, what is the payoff or not as you get to the higher levels of education or career? Again, I'm not expecting you to go that far in today's presentation, but when we don't, I know my colleague to my right would agree with this 1000% because we work together a lot on workforce issues and equity issues. But if you haven't dealt with those issues, these issues early, what does the data say is happening in terms of equity later on? Are these same students that want to struggling and we don't have enough representation in the practice of law. So we have less immigration attorneys with lived experience because they have so much of a struggle making it through. To your point, they don't have access to the materials that are actually out there that would help. And sometimes that's a cost issue. It's hard enough just to get through school, let alone graduate school for most people, particularly somebody who's coming out of relative poverty, which is so often the case with so many of our immigrants. So appreciate your presentation. Want you to know that I understand from my own observation anecdotally what some of those breakdowns are. And I think us actually continue to do studies on what the repercussions are long term so that we have data that backs up what we're pushing for here is going to be important. Thank you.

Thank you.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas.

I'm so sorry that I had to miss part of the presentation, but I just wanted to ask a question, in terms of population, what is the estimation of how many undocumented students would benefit from this proposal?

So part of our proposal is to help both documented and undocumented students, and I believe that amounts to around 400,000 in the state.

400,000 students?

Yes. But of course, it's hard to get a clear estimate of that, and people estimate it differently across agencies. But we do know that these students are unable to access many resources, or these resources exist, they just don't know how to get to them. And we want to make sure that a school site is a safe space where they can actually find these resources. If the school can provide posters and pamphlets for them, especially in schools where they know they have a higher population of immigrant students.

No, I appreciate that. And my good colleague from San Jose was mentioning our quest for equity and how do we ensure our most disadvantaged populations have access to opportunity. And so when we say 400,000 community members, who then will be matriculating out of school and into the workforce and into opportunities if we don't ensure that this information is shared, we have a significant portion of our community, many of whom live in my district, that will be struggling to meet basic needs, housing, food, employment. And so it is critically important that we develop ways to share information, because knowledge is power. And I also appreciate the focus. I think visual posters and pamphlets seem to be like low hanging fruit. But when we think about certain populations, when we think about literacy and the whole family and how students are sort of a conduit for information, those things become very relevant in terms of folks having access and able to digest that information. So really appreciating the methodology that was laid out in this piece as well. Did you have a funding sort of recommendation for how we would actually fund the distribution of information?

So we all understood from pretty early on that the state might be unable to take on a large funding proposal at this time. So we wanted to start in a way where we can disseminate our existing resources. So our proposal would not have significant funds needed because it'll be delegated to the local districts. And of course, the creation of posters and pamphlets would require funding, but not as much in proportion to many other issues that the state is tackling. So, yeah, our proposal wouldn't, we don't have an estimate, but we know it's not going to be as much as some other proposals may be.

Thank you for that.

Thank anybody else. Excellent presentation. Thank you. And we will welcome up the next panel. Well done.

Thank you.

And last but not least, panel number seven on access to literature. Welcome to Kristie To, Madati and Sue.

Is it just the two of you? Yeah, just the two of you. It's not just the two of you. It's the two of you. Welcome. Please proceed.

Good morning, Chairman Newman, Vice Chair Ochoa Bogh, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, and Senator Cortese. My name is Kristie To and I'm a senior from Northwood High School from Assembly District 73 and Senate District 37, and I'm also the CASC State President.

Hello, my name is Lavani Madadi and I'm a senior at Angela Rodriguez High School from Assembly District 11 and Senate District 3, as well as CASC Governmental Affairs and Policy Director. We are here to speak to you on the behalf of the California Association of Student Council's State Council as the governing body of CASC. The State Council's vision is to expand educational resources for all students within California's public education system, with a particular emphasis on allowing students to channel their creativity by expanding access to books.

Our goal is to ensure that students across the state have equitable opportunities for learning and enrichment through an increased availability of books of all genres, shaping a more diverse mindset for each student, developing sensitive and caring leaders of our future and giving students a sense of freedom over their educations inside and outside of the classroom.

Being raised by my grandparents, my bedtime stories consisted of Vietnamese folktales, a way for me to embrace my cultural identity as a Vietnamese American and gain invaluable exposure to my family's tapestry of cultural traditions. These bedtime stories not only nurtured my imagination and the confidence I have in my identity today, but also instilled within me a deep appreciation for the freedom I had in my learning that occurred outside of the classroom.

Now being connected with other students from across the state, it is disheartening for me to learn that many of my peers have not been given this opportunity because they do not have the access to books that they simply deserve.

My peers recount how their school libraries have a very limited selection of books and book genres to explore, have a lack of library staff to support their school libraries, do not have funding to create libraries with a diverse array of books, or simply do not have school libraries, as well as do not have access to local libraries near to them. Every child deserves the right to learn through books in their libraries.

The CASC State Council has identified that many elementary schools across California do not have libraries containing a diverse array of books or do not have libraries at all. According to the California Department of Education, 16% of the schools responding to a survey conducted by the CDE do not even have a library.

Although textbooks and instructional materials can be found online, this does not prompt the creative imaginations of California students found through recreational books that should be offered in their school's libraries. According to a study conducted throughout California based in the Bay Area, it has been found that for the past 40 years, California has consistently ranks near the very bottom for school library funding nationwide.

This has resulted in a limited number of books per child in schools, a reduced number of libraries, and in some cases, no operating school library at all. Due to this, students lack a sensitive and ethical understanding of diverse perspectives and experiences, hindering their exposure to the richness of the literary world and contributing to educational inequities that will persist in their lives forever, such as negatively affecting students'literacy rates and learning capabilities, especially since California has the second lowest literacy rate in the nation.

The lack of libraries in California's elementary schools is often attributed to budget constraints, unequal distribution of resources, and systematic disparities that disproportionately affect schools in underserved communities. To combat this, we've developed a solution.

We, the California Association of Student Council State Council, urged the state Legislature to mandate the CDE to create a digital library of books containing a varying number of genres catered for ages four through 18 that will be accessible to every student in California, especially to those who do not have access to a school library.

First and foremost, ebooks enhance accessibility, allowing students to access a vast library of resources anytime, anywhere. This is particularly beneficial for students who may not have easy access to physical libraries or those with physical disabilities that make handling traditional books challenging. All students unequivocally are entitled to a quality education as well as the necessary resources to aid them in their educational journey.

In addition, the online format of books enables further flexibility among curriculae and resource management in schools. Ebooks can be updated more easily than printed books, allowing schools to adapt to changing curriculum and incorporate the latest information and research.

In my own school, a number of teachers opt to provide us with updated virtual textbooks, which are easier to obtain than printed ones. Furthermore, ebooks provide flexibility in managing educational resources. Schools can easily expand their digital collections without concerns about physical storage limitations.

In addition, as society transitions further into a digital age, as more and more resources become electronic, technological literacy is critical. According to a survey conducted in 2021, around 75% of children aged between five and 15 had a tablet in their home, and 88% of children between 13 and 18 years had a smartphone in their home.

As it is crucial to teach students how to navigate the digital world, our proposed solution will combat this, introducing ebooks helps students become familiar with digital tools and platforms, preparing them for the digital demands of higher education in the workforce, contributing to the development of valuable digital skills. According to a study conducted by the national library of medicine, even children with emergent literary skills who cannot yet read can explore ebooks by themselves without the help of an adult.

This means that children can begin to develop skills to navigate educational digital media even before literacy. Furthermore, the same study found that stories presented through multimedia can support and even strengthen children's understanding of the story compared to listening to stories in a more traditional setting, such as storybook reading. So not only do ebooks introduce children to books and enable increased digital literacy, but they also increase reading comprehension that can prove significantly in building the foundation of their reading abilities.

On another note, embracing ebooks can contribute to sustainability efforts. By reducing the demand for paper and decreasing the environmental impact of printing and shipping books, schools can promote ecofriendly practices and instill a sense of environmental responsibility in students, building a student body that's informed, sensitive, and equipped to create change in the world. Although our solution would incur a large sum of money to be invested, ebooks can be more cost effective than printed books.

They eliminate printing and distribution costs, making it possible to provide a broader range of resources within budget constraints. This can be especially beneficial for schools with limited financial resources. Reading books are essential for children's cognitive, emotional, and social development, improving language skills, fostering empathy, stimulating imagination, and developing critical thinking.

In addition to contributing to academic success, the expansion of access to books for students will not only contribute to an overall love for learning, but also cultivate a wellrounded population of individuals who will empathetically lead the future of our world. According to an analysis of the nation's report card, 25 million children in the US cannot read proficiently, and California should take the initiative to be the driving force behind reversing this unfortunate trend.

This emotional engagement that students form with characters and storylines helps children understand and navigate their own emotions, thus creating an increased sense of emotional intelligence. A literate and well read generation is better equipped to contribute positively to their communities, empowering children in all aspects of life. Thank you.

Thank you and well done. Any comments or questions from my colleagues? Senator Ochoa Bogh.

So this is a special topic for me as a former teacher, elementary school teacher taught 1st, second and third grade, which is from first or kindergarten to third grade. You go to school to learn how to read, so reading is my passion. I love to teach. As a matter of fact, I taught two of my kids how to read and it's a beautiful experience to see the children's eyes light up when they can actually read.

Interestingly enough, you were mentioning the fact that we don't have, many of our kids do not actually read, are not able to read at grade level. I was just visiting a group that counsels and tutors elementary school students and they were emphasizing that this one particularly, I think she tutored 20 kids. I believe it was 20 students that she was in charge of, and the majority between second and I believe it was fifth or 6th grade. She said they just can't read.

And one of the biggest, I asked, what do you think the contributing factors are to the inability for these students to read? And she says a lot of it has to do with their attention span. They don't have the attention span to be able to sit down and actually read. And so I was just digging a little bit further on that end. But I love the idea of having ebooks, and I know my Chief of Staff who's huge on libraries and having accessibility to libraries. Student access to libraries.

I love the idea because of the reasons that you mentioned, the fact that it's properly less expensive to make it more feasible than available, the fact that it can get to areas where the students don't have access to actual books. But it does make me sad to hear the facts that you shared with us, that we have schools that don't have libraries.

My mind just is blown away at the thought that we would have schools in California without libraries because we do quite a bit in the state Legislature. Allocate funding per student, a baseline funding for each student, I believe, last year. How much did we afford per pupils? Funding? I believe it was 21,000. It's about $21,000 per pupil that we have afforded in the State of California.

So the idea that we would have students without the basic resources to be able to learn is actually dumbfounding for me. I would love to hear some ideas, and I love what you have here, but some ideas as to why that is not the case. Why is it that some schools do not have libraries and access, considering the fact that we have a base funding for our particular students and especially our students?

I don't know if you looked into a little further, but this goes to the other panel that spoke a little earlier, that the state actually allocates extra funding for students who are English language learners, foster youth and children that are living in poverty in the State of California, and that extra funding is supposed to be utilized to give extra resources to our students because they may lack certain services or skill sets or need that extra help.

So I would look also investigate into why that's happening in certain school districts because the state has been very generous. Actually, I think it's always about priorities when it comes to funding, but how we allocate funding should be aimed, especially in schools, for our basic reading, writing and math and science and social studies as well. So something to ponder and look into.

Thank you. Any other comments from my colleagues? Senator Smallwood-Cuevas?

Thank you so much for the presentation and presenting a solution in terms of how we can utilize the technology to address some of the resource gap and create more accessibility to reading and to literature. My question has to do with the digital divide. Unfortunately, there are communities in my district that still don't have Internet access. The state we've done a lot to invest. We're working very closely with the Federal Government to address the middle mile issue.

And it's one thing that our Governor says is his top priority in this year's budget is to make sure communities like South Central, who were prioritized for those kinds of investments, actually received them. I don't know if you remember the picture of the two little girls sitting outside at the Mcdonald's trying to do their homework during COVID because they did not have Internet access in their own neighborhood, on their own street, in their own home.

So we're working to correct that problem, and we are certainly working with the Administration on making sure that those little girls in the community get made whole. But I say that to say, how do we deal with the lack of access to the Internet and ensuring that those students can participate in what would be a tremendous resource of having ebooks and having the opportunity to have books in their hands, but without that, technology will be very difficult. Is there any analysis that you had that sort of tied the correlation to fixing the digital divide and the literacy literature divide?

During our research, we did find that a lot of students may not have access to technology, and that was a big factor that we thought about while developing our proposal. I know, especially after Covid, there was a large push for kind of decreasing that digital divide that does exist. I know in my own district, there was a large push to get every single student with a Chromebook or any sort of device that they could use to have access to the Internet.

We also provided Wifi routers so that they could have that during distance learning. And I feel like that's something that local districts can try to push and implement. My own district allocated that into our budget so that could be a way to kind of mitigate that crisis. But I do admit that is a pretty large factor that plays against our proposal. But I do not think that we should take away from the benefits that could come with expanding ebooks.

Senator Cortese, please.

Thank you for your presentation. I just want to acknowledge all your hard work, and I would strongly suggest dropping a line of some kind of contact to our pro tem Senator Tony Atkins on potential expansion of the Dolly Parton imagination library. That's a little bit of insight.

Just so you know, Senator Atkins loves Dolly Parton.

I believe that was Senator Groves also. SB 1183.

Was that her Bill? I could see the two of them moving for expansion on that. So we do have some folks that have already been working on that stuff. But anyway, thank you again so much.

And let me add, I think Senator Smallwood-Cuevas' comments are actually very important about the digital, you know, so these two things aren't mutually exclusive. We should work deliberately to solve that problem. But as we do, I think the addition of digital content is not only smart, but kind of obvious, right? So I give you credit for the suggestion. And we have in California, a state librarian, a very smart, creative guy named Greg Lucas is our librarian.

So worth probably engaging the librarian in this conversation, because digital technology, to your point, does allow not only for increasing the size of the repository, but also sharing it more broadly. And we should absolutely be working on that. So thank you for that final panel. Well done. You are excused. Awesome work. Let me open up to my colleagues for some quick closing comments, and then I'll give my own. So, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas?

Well, I just want to say thank you to all of the presenters today for these courageous proposals, really thoughtful analysis, and strong recommendations for our Committee to weigh. It's so wonderful to look out into this audience and to see the future of our Legislature right here in front of us. Continue the hard work, continue to find answers to hard questions.

And we look forward, and I look forward, particularly to following up with some of you on some of the proposals that were presented and to see how we can work together to bring those about, particularly those that are focused on our most vulnerable communities and recognizing that our students and those campuses create a tremendous opportunity to inform and to engage and empower. So just want to say thank you to all of you for your hard work and the great information shared today.

Agreed. Senator Cortese.

In closing, and I mentioned it earlier, I'm really happy to see, as somebody who, way back, as the chair would say, was a school board Member, in a very large school district, actually the largest High School District of Northern California, where we were just starting to know site based decision making, school based decision making. And I'm glad to see that that hasn't gone away and that this generation is really pushing that, pushing for know we know best, I think is know part of what's underlying that.

And I agree with that. And as I had a couple of us, as we talked about earlier, had to step in and out because of commitments. But I really do want to circle back with the restorative justice folks. If you were to go back and look at my Bill, SB 10, Melanie's law on fentanyl, it really took in two of the things that you emphasized today.

One is to have school sites, through their site councils and through their school safety plans mandated to have that discussion. What do we need to do to make things safe here around fentanyl? But lastly, I don't want to say we snuck it in because I know every single one of my colleagues read every single line of the Bill.

But if you look closely at that Bill, there's a restorative justice provision in it. It says we shouldn't be going after our students who want to cooperate and help make the campus safer with punitive measures. We should be bringing them in.

And if they were incidentally involved in something and that information can help bring a safer campus, then sure, they should have a restorative agreement as to how they're going to conduct themselves going forward. But expelling them, criminal sanctions, kicking them out of school, just my opinion. But that Bill did get 80 votes when it went over to the State Assembly and no opposition.

So there is support here for those kind of concepts, for all the concepts you brought forward today, just know that your words are not falling on deaf ears. And there's a whole bunch of people in this building right now that are monitoring this hearing on these televisions, taking notes on everything that was said. It's not just us. Thank you for being here.

Thank you. And Vice Chair Ochoa Bogh.

Well, in closing, I just want to share how impressed I am with the level of intellect, curiosity, as well as dedication and passion in the work that you folks are all working in. I hope that that continues in life because it's important to have those skill sets and an aptitude. I also want to thank your leaders, your leadership, your leaders that have actually allowed you to facilitate that learning and that drive to be here today.

So to the leaders that have worked with this youth, thank you so much for your time in our youth, because we really are. We say it's so much easier to raise a child in a healthy environment, to blossom, than it is to mend a broken spirit. So it's why I choose to be in the Education Committee, because I am passionate about education. And I also want to comment on the beautiful eloquence of our speakers today.

That was very impressive, and I wish I had that skill set to be as eloquent as many of you that spoke today. It was absolutely beautiful. I felt like a proud mama listening to all of you speak today. It was very impressive. And on many of the issues that we have today, if I just plant a seed that as you move forward in your leadership decisions in your careers, that we continue to facilitate conversation.

And if I can just plug in that the safest space is here and here, because no one has the power to take away your personal power unless you give them permission to do that. You are empowered as individuals with your own personal ideas. And so I just wanted to emphasize how precious and valuable all of you are. And thank you for being here and sharing your ideas with us.

Thank you, Senator Ochoa Bogh. I will say, and I know I echo the Senators. I'm so impressed by all of you, by all the work, and not just because you pretended to be interested in my talk last night, but for your work today. We're obviously impressed at these kind of innovative, timely concepts you brought to us. But I'm also aware this was a group project. So many of you participate. Also, in addition to the presenters, I want to give credit, as I do this to the writers.

I understand that they were people who actually crafted these incredibly well put together legislative presentations that are better, in some ways, I think my colleagues will admit, than some of the work that we do.

And so for panel one, food nutrition, Haley Cho. Panel two, artificial intelligence, Tyler Lam. Panel three, comprehensive social science, Jennifer Abdon. Panel four, restorative justice, Rhea Dama. Panel five, environmental justice, Sean Kim. Panel six, Vanessa Yang.

And to Kristie To, Lavani Madadi and Sue Oh. For your presentation on the last panel, for the writing, for everybody who participated. To Senator Ochoa Bogh's point, I sort of think about my 17 year old self. I can't imagine doing nearly as good a job as any of you people did today. And so thank you. A wonderful job. I also want to thank Committee staff for all their work. These are the folks that actually make this Committee work.

My staff, Committee chief consultant, Linda Lorber, had to go to a meeting. But I know she shares with me her gratitude for the work that you do, and we're glad to be recipients of your good ideas and your wisdom. And we generally frown on demonstrated public displays here. But let me please give yourselves a round of applause, please. And with that, again, to Sue Oh and Chrissy To. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you here, not only next year, but in between now and then as we do our work. Thank you.

Okay, I'd like to just offer a few closing remarks and just introduce myself again for the Senators who weren't here earlier. My name is Sue Oh. And I'm a senior at Sunny Hills High School from Assembly District 59 and Sand District 29. And I have the honor of being a Director of the conference today. So I like to once again thank the esteemed Chairman Newman, Vice Chair Ochoa Bogh, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, and Senator David Cortese for taking the time out of their day for listening to our proposal.

And I sincerely hope that the very actions and the words that we shared here can be turned into actions implemented by you, the Senate Committee on Education. And once again, I just want to recognize the inspiration that you all are to us here by uplifting student voices. And we're so excited to see how all these proposals can be turned into actions in the future. Thank you.

And thank you. And with that, this meeting of the Senate Committee education is hereby adjourned. Thanks very much. And I think.