A bill that would push California public schools to teach kids as young as first grade about sleep, nutrition, stress and screen time now sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after clearing both chambers of the Legislature without a single no vote. Senate Bill 1133, known as the Ready to Learn, Ready for Health Act, would apply to students in grades 1 through 12 and direct the state's Instructional Quality Commission to consider weaving evidence-based preventive health instruction into California's curriculum.
The bill does not create a new class or force districts to buy new materials right away. As reported by the Sacramento Bee, it works by directing the commission to weigh adding topics like nutrition and food literacy, sleep, exercise, stress management and screen use the next time California updates its Health Education Framework. That framework was last adopted in May 2019, according to the California Department of Education, and SB 1133 targets the update cycle beginning on or after January 1, 2027, meaning classroom lessons will not change overnight.
State Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican from Huntington Beach who authored the bill, said the legislation grew out of alarm over rising rates of childhood illness. He said obesity among children is way up and that social media use and stress management are intertwined, according to the Bee's reporting. Strickland has said education could dramatically reduce chronic health conditions among school-aged kids, noting that students spend over 1,200 hours in school every year compared to just a few hours at the doctor's office.
A Nonprofit's Push Behind the Bill
Strickland worked with End Chronic Disease, a nonprofit focused on raising awareness of preventive health measures, which sponsored SB 1133 after approaching him last fall about the idea, per the same account. Kelly McKenna, the group's CEO and co-founder, said the bill aims to teach children at a young age that their daily actions shape their health, adding that chronic disease is as much an education problem as a health problem. McKenna previously served as Managing Director of Stanford University's Initiative on Learning Differences and worked in private finance at J.P. Morgan before founding the organization, according to End Chronic Disease.
The push comes amid striking statistics on kids' health. National Institutes of Health studies have found that more than 30% of children have at least one chronic health condition, the Bee reported, while End Chronic Disease's own cited data puts that figure even higher, at more than 40% of school-aged children living with conditions like asthma, obesity, type 2 diabetes or autoimmune illness, according to a report distributed via EIN Presswire. A national poll the group conducted in summer 2025 found that 94% of likely voters supported adding nutrition education to K-12 health classes, with nearly 63% strongly in favor.
Sleep, Screens and a Sports Wish
Among the topics lawmakers want the commission to weigh are the relationship between exercise and mental health, nutrition's effect on long-term disease risk, the effects of social media use and screen time, how stress and sleep affect overall health, and how water and air quality affect health. The sleep piece lines up with troubling national data: a CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey report released in January 2025 found only 23% of U.S. high school students got at least eight hours of sleep on average school nights in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Strickland has also said he hopes children today play team sports, tying physical activity into the broader wellness push behind the bill.
SB 1133 builds on a pattern in Sacramento of using framework updates to address student well-being rather than mandating new coursework outright. Existing California Education Code provisions already required the Instructional Quality Commission, during framework updates on or after January 1, 2025, to consider incorporating evidence-based instruction on mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation, according to CalMatters. The commission itself, established in 1927 to advise the State Board of Education on curriculum standards, comprises 18 members including at least seven active K-12 classroom or mentor teachers, per the California Department of Education.
A Companion Bill Targets CalFresh Purchases
Strickland introduced SB 1133 alongside a companion measure, SB 1134, dubbed the SNAP to Thrive Act, which would direct the California Department of Social Services to apply for a federal waiver by July 1, 2027, to prohibit CalFresh benefits from being used to purchase sodas, candy and prepackaged desserts, according to LegiScan. Together, the two bills reflect a broader strategy from Strickland and End Chronic Disease to attack chronic metabolic disease among young people from both the classroom and the grocery aisle.
State health frameworks have proven politically sensitive before. California's 2019 Health Education Framework previously drew public scrutiny over recommended high school instructional resources, including documentary screenings on media influence and self-image — a controversy Hoodline covered in its report on classroom film debates. Whether SB 1133's health topics generate similar debate once the 2027 revision process begins remains to be seen, but for now the bill awaits only Newsom's signature after passing the Assembly and Senate unanimously.
