Educational equity: discrimination prevention coordinators.

Senators Gonzalez and Weber Pierson and Assembly Members Fong and Ward propose a notable change in educational equity by adding four Discrimination Prevention Coordinators—Religious, Race and Ethnicity, Gender, and LGBTQ—to the Office of Civil Rights, with each coordinator appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The act would become operative only if the companion legislation that establishes the Office of Civil Rights takes effect on or before January 1, 2026.

The four new coordinators are created through four Education Code additions: 33803.2, 33803.3, 33803.4, and 33803.5. Each provision states that the Office of Civil Rights shall employ the respective coordinator. The appointee is to be selected by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The text describes the coordinators as employees of the OCR but does not specify duties, powers, reporting lines, budgets, or detailed programmatic requirements for the roles.

Operational context and relationship to broader policy are framed by the bill’s digest, which notes the OCR’s purpose in working with local educational agencies to prevent and address discrimination and bias. The act’s provisions are contingent on the companion legislation creating the OCR and explicitly tie their effectiveness to that legislation’s enactment and timely operation within the specified date.

Fiscal and implementation considerations are not defined within the bill itself. No appropriation is included, and the bill notes that funding would be addressed elsewhere, likely through the companion OCR measure or future budget decisions. The text does not specify enforcement mechanisms, duties, or performance metrics for the coordinators, nor does it articulate how their work interfaces with existing state or federal discrimination enforcement. Stakeholders—local educational agencies, students, families, staff, and affected communities—would interface with the OCR under the new governance structure if the companion legislation becomes operative, situating these coordinators as targeted leadership within a broader anti-discrimination framework.