CA POST Approves Modular Dispatcher Basic Path Effective April 1, 2027

If you schedule Public Safety Dispatcher Basic in California, mark April 1, 2027 on the academy calendar. That is when California POST’s new modular delivery option becomes available alongside the familiar standard course format.

Bulletin 2026-36, dated September 4, 2026, tells agencies the Office of Administrative Law signed off on the rulemaking August 20, 2026. The package amends Commission Regulations 1015 and 1018, updates Commission Procedure D-1-5, and refreshes the Training Specifications for the Public Safety Dispatchers’ Basic Course. The point of the change is practical: POST wants a uniform modular path so presenters can break Basic into pieces without inventing their own delivery model.

What actually changes for academies

This is a scheduling and delivery update, not a wholesale rewrite of every learning domain. Agencies that need more flexible academy calendars—part-time hires, smaller classes, or cohorts that cannot sit a continuous block—can plan against the modular format once it is live. Agencies that are happy with the standard format keep it. POST is adding an option, not retiring the one already on the books.

Training coordinators should still read the Notice of Approval that rides with the bulletin. That PDF carries the approved regulatory text. Do not rebuild 2027 course catalogs on a hallway summary of the bulletin alone.

What to do before April 1, 2027

Pull Bulletin 2026-36 and the linked Notice of Approval from the POST site now, while calendars for next spring are still soft. Talk with your dispatcher Basic presenters about whether modular delivery helps your hiring pipeline. Leave the old format in place until the effective date; modular delivery is not live yet.

Questions on the regulatory change go to Michelle Daubner at (916) 227-4827. Executive Director Manuel Alvarez, Jr. signed the bulletin.

Sources: California POST, Bulletin 2026-36 (Amendments to Commission Regulations 1015 and 1018, Commission Procedure D-1-5, and Training Specifications for the Public Safety Dispatchers’ Basic Course – Approved – Effective April 1, 2027); California POST bulletins.