Category: Intervention

BREAKING: California Senate Unanimously Passes Early Literacy Bill AB 1454!

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Bill Now Heads to Governor’s Desk for Final Approval

On September 12, the California Senate voted 38-0 to pass Assembly Bill 1454, a landmark early literacy bill that is a critical step towards improving literacy outcomes for California’s 5.8 million public school students. The bill now moves to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk for his signature.

AB 1454 is co-authored by Senators Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana), Dr. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and Assemblymembers Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay), Mia Bonta (D-Oakland), Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), and Dr. Darshana Patel (D-San Diego County). The bill has won broad support from over 90 education and social justice groups statewide—including Decoding Dyslexia CA, EdVoice, the NAACP CA/HI State Conference, and Families In Schools—working together to transform how California students learn to read.

California has long faced some of the nation’s widest reading achievement gaps, especially for English learners and low-income Black and Latino students. Today, only 4 in 10 third graders read at grade level. AB 1454 plays a critical role in closing those gaps by requiring schools to use instructional materials aligned with decades of research on how children learn to read. The bill also updates standards for administrator and reading specialist preparation programs to include training on effective means of teaching literacy.

Earlier this year, Governor Newsom signed the 2025-26 Budget, which includes $200 million to be allocated for in-service teacher training in effective means for teaching literacy. The combination of investments in both teacher training and instructional materials aligned to the  reading research consensus fill an urgent need to support teachers as they meet a new requirement underway in California schools, screening all K-2 students for risk of reading difficulties, including dyslexia. 

Screening for Risk

Starting this school year (2025–26), all California schools must begin using short, universal screeners in kindergarten through second grade. These are quick “check-ups” that help identify which students may be at risk for reading difficulties, including dyslexia. Screeners don’t diagnose, but they give teachers important early warnings about who might need extra support.

Training Teachers to Respond

Screening only works if educators know what to do next. That’s where Assembly Bill 1454 and Governor Newsom’s 2025 budget come in. Together, they direct more than $200 million toward training teachers in the science of reading and equipping them with the instructional tools they need to support students flagged for extra support.

Why This Matters

When screeners and teacher training work hand in hand, the system shifts from reacting after students fall behind to intervening early. Screeners point to who needs help, teacher training ensures educators know how to provide it, and this last piece will ensure they have the tools to do so.

The combined efforts of AB 1454 and the 2025-26 Budget investments open the door to long-overdue change in how California students are taught to read. With Senate passage complete, AB 1454 now awaits Governor Newsom’s signature – a big step towards improving reading instruction for millions of California students. 

As always, please encourage your community – families, educators, and advocates – to sign up for DDCA emails to stay informed on all efforts to transform literacy outcomes in California.

New Early Literacy Bill AB 1454 Moves Forward!

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The compromise bill passed unanimously in the Assembly Education Committee on April 30th.

After several weeks of negotiations, AB 1454 (Rivas) has been amended to reflect a consensus between literacy bills AB 1121 (Rubio) and AB 1194 (Muratsuchi). While the compromise bill doesn’t include everything we had hoped for, we feel it is a huge step forward for literacy in our state. DDCA thanks Speaker Robert Rivas, Assemblywoman Blanca E. Rubio, and Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi for collaborating to co-author AB 1454. 

In summary, AB 1454:

  • Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to identify and post on its website a list of inservice professional development programs for effective literacy instruction for training certificated and classified staff who provide reading instruction, or who support any teacher who provides reading instruction in transitional kindergarten through 5th grade;
  • Requires the CDE, contingent upon appropriation, to apportion funds to Local Education Agencies for professional development using one of the identified programs;
  • Requires the State Board of Education to conduct a follow-up instructional materials adoption for English language arts and English language development;
  • Requires professional development and instructional materials to include the requirements in current law regarding evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills in print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency to all pupils, including tiered supports for pupils with reading difficulties, English learners, and pupils with exceptional needs;
  • Requires the professional development and instructional materials to be aligned to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s (CTC) teaching performance expectations, the English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework, and the California Dyslexia Guidelines;
  • Requires the CTC to ensure that the program standards for the professional preparation of candidates for an administrative services credential include preparation on how to support teachers in delivering instruction through effective means for teaching literacy. 

Details can be found in the AB 1454 Bill Analysis and you can watch the hearing at this link (AB 1454 begins around the 2:10 mark). We thank the over 50 advocates who traveled from across the state to attend the rally, hearing, and mini-lobby day. It was an inspirational day!

What’s the story of AB 1454?

The weeks approaching the April 30th hearing were almost a repeat of the year prior, when AB 2222, the comprehensive early literacy bill co-sponsored by DDCA in 2024, was not scheduled for a hearing. Following opposition from California Teachers Association and Californians Together, Speaker Robert Rivas asked the AB 2222 sponsors to return in 2025 after working with opposing groups.

A new version of the bill, AB 1121 (Rubio), was introduced in February 2025. In the days leading up to the deadline, negotiations between lawmakers, the bill co-sponsors DDCA, EdVoice, Families In Schools, the NAACP California-Hawaii State Conference, and several opposing groups intensified until a compromise was reached hours before the deadline. 

Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, the author of AB 1121, said at the hearing that negotiating the compromise was “by far, the hardest thing that I have ever done in nine years as a legislator.” 

The next hearing for AB 1454, before the Assembly Appropriations Committee, will be scheduled in the coming weeks. We are now focused on making sure this bill is adequately funded!

Why is this bill important?

As parents of dyslexic children and professionals who work with struggling readers, we know the solution to reading failure is teachers equipped with the tools necessary to deliver evidence-based instruction. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, as a result of the new universal screening law, which DDCA worked towards for many years, all kindergarten through grade 2 students will be screened annually for risk of reading difficulties. Now that students will be identified as showing signs of struggle in the early grades, teachers need to be prepared to support students’ needs. AB 1454 addresses this knowledge gap. 

Since we got started thirteen years ago, DDCA has been laser-focused on improving reading outcomes for California’s millions of public school students, especially for the approximately 930,000 students with dyslexia. Students with dyslexia are uniquely susceptible to poor instruction and experience the effects of poor instruction the most profoundly, with severe consequences. AB 1454 aims to improve access to evidence-based instruction delivered by well-prepared teachers, which benefits all students and is critical to the success of students with dyslexia.

AB 1454 has the potential to uplift reading outcomes for millions of California students. Join us to see it through the next steps, and all the way to its success!