Special education: resource specialists: special classes.

Assembly Member Addis, joined by Assembly Members Alanis and Jeff Gonzalez, advances a measure that revises how districts implement resource specialist services and lays groundwork for future special-class staffing guidance. The core change requires local educational agencies to distribute the workload of initial assessments evenly across all resource specialists within the district, subject to collective bargaining where applicable, while preserving the current caseload cap of 28 pupils per specialist and keeping resource specialists focused on their duties rather than teaching regular classes. The measure also maintains existing resource specialist duties—monitoring pupil progress, participating in IEP reviews, coordinating services, and assisting parents and staff—and continues to require a majority of resource specialists to be supported by instructional aides in the local plan.

Additionally, the bill adds a new provision that requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and post a recommended maximum adult-to-pupil staffing ratio for special classes serving pupils ages 3 to 22 by July 1, 2027, and to report the recommendation to the Legislature and State Board by April 1, 2027. The process requires broad consultation with credentialed education specialists in special class settings (a majority of those consulted), school administrators and chief business officials, paraprofessionals, and parents, with representation across rural, urban, and high-need regions. It also requires input from researchers, inclusive-practices advocates, and considers factors such as the range of pupil needs, age, school settings, current district practices, other states’ ratios, workforce and facility constraints, and the federal IDEA's least restrictive environment principles. The SPI is to post the recommendation on the department’s website.

Fiscal and implementation considerations are written to be determined: the bill does not itself appropriate funds, but it provides that, if the state mandates costs on local districts, reimbursement would occur under existing mandate provisions. Local agencies may need to adjust planning, workload tracking, and staffing in response to the new workload-distribution obligation, and to any future guidance that may arise from the staffing-ratio process. The changes interact with existing special education law and federal requirements, and the timing sets a multi-year path from immediate operational changes to public guidance anticipated in 2027.