Community colleges: current expense of education: exclusions

Districts can use local unrestricted funds to continue eligible services after certain federal discretionary grants end, while preserving requirements for faculty staffing and classroom instruction.

What the law does ​

• Allows districts to exclude qualifying local unrestricted spending on formerly federally funded student-support functions from current education expenses.
• Caps the exclusion at the prior federal grant amount and limits it to grants terminated, nonrenewed, or defunded by federal action on or after September 10, 2025.
• Requires districts using the option to act at a noticed regular public governing-board meeting and certify eligibility annually to the Chancellor’s Office.
• Requires the Chancellor’s Office to retain certifications and include them in its annual legislative report.
• Preserves the requirement to spend at least half of current education expenses on classroom-instructor salaries, faculty-obligation rules, faculty positions, instructional quality, and bargaining over instructional decisions.
• Bars using the exclusion to create or expand administrative positions or increase administrator or supervisor pay beyond existing contracts or salary schedules.

Who it affects ​

• Community college districts and their governing boards.
• Community college students who use tutoring, counseling, mentoring, financial-aid, transfer, housing, and other eligible support services.
• Community college faculty, administrators, and supervisors.
• The Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges.

Context ​

This temporary authority ends July 1, 2031, or earlier if the specified federal funding is fully restored to every community college district.