Major Investments: 2025-26 Budget Includes Teacher Training in Evidence-Based Reading Instruction and Support for Screening

On June 27, 2025, Governor Newsom signed the 2025-26 Budget, which includes $200 million to be allocated for teacher training in effective means for teaching literacy. 

Effective means for teaching literacy includes,evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills, which shall include explicit and systematic instruction in print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency, attending to oral language development, vocabulary and background knowledge, and comprehension, including tiered supports for pupils with reading difficulties, English learners, and pupils with exceptional needs” as stated in the Education Omnibus Budget Trailer Bill, AB 121. See excerpted bill language here. 

This investment in professional development is a long-awaited commitment to CA’s children and is a promise to prioritize their right to read by adequately training teachers in methods based on decades of scientific research. This is a major achievement only made possible by our unwavering grassroots efforts, over many years, to ensure every child in California learns to read. 

Decoding Dyslexia CA thanks Governor Newsom, Speaker Rivas, Assemblymember Rubio, Assemblymember Muratsuchi for their strong leadership and also partners EdVoice, Families in Schools, and California Hawaii State Conference NAACP for their tremendous advocacy.

With teacher training now included in the signed 2025-26 Budget, AB 1454 has been amended to remove the professional development section. 

AB 1454 is continuing its journey through the legislative process with a hearing in the Senate Education Committee set for the morning of Wednesday, July 9th. DDCA and the other Early Literacy Coalition partners will be attending the hearing to show strong support for the bill.  If you would like to join us in Sacramento and be informed of the details as they firm up, please email DecodingDyslexiaCAinfo@gmail.com.  

Lastly, we are thrilled to share that in addition to teacher training in evidence-based reading instruction, the 2025-26 Budget also includes investments to support the implementation of screening for risk of reading difficulties, which is mandated to begin this coming school year. DDCA advocated for years for this requirement, and we are excited to see state resources being dedicated towards its success. The bill allocates the appropriated funds, of $40,000,000, to school districts throughout CA to support screening implementation. See excerpted bill text here.

In addition, $10,000,000 is designated to the California Dyslexia Initiative to contract with the University of California, San Francisco Dyslexia Center towards the expansion and support of a free screening tool designed for California’s diverse pupil population. See excerpted bill text here.

We will continue to provide updates on AB 1454’s journey through the Senate, so please encourage your community – families, educators, and advocates – to sign up for DDCA emails to stay informed of this important bill.

Opinion: Thousands of California kids with dyslexia deserve better reading instruction

Opinion Piece as published in the Times of San Diego on April 5, 2025 written by Frida Brunzell, Decoding Dyslexia CA’s San Diego Support Group Leader

I adopted my son Sebastian at birth. He was a bright, curious little boy who hit all the milestones early and loved learning about the world. So when school began, I expected he would do well. But the moment he started kindergarten, it became clear that something wasn’t right.

Sebastian was one of the only children in his kindergarten class who couldn’t write his name. His teacher encouraged me to work on letter sounds at home because he was struggling to remember them. He was only six years old, but the joy he had once shown for learning quickly began to fade. He became withdrawn, anxious, and didn’t want to go to school.

I tried to help him at home. But instead of reading, he memorized the stories. When he didn’t know a word, he guessed — just as thousands of children are currently taught to do in classrooms across California. No one told me this approach wasn’t working for him. And no one told me that there was another way to teach reading: an approach informed by the science of how the brain learns to read.

When his school finally recommended placing him in a special day class in the third grade, I agreed — because nothing else had worked. But nothing changed. He still couldn’t read. His writing was illegible. He started falling behind in other subjects, as well. This was the darkest year of our lives. I feared we were going to lose him entirely.

Eventually, we learned that Sebastian was one of the nearly one million students in California with dyslexia. I discovered through my volunteer efforts with Decoding Dyslexia CA that students with dyslexia are uniquely susceptible to poor instruction and experience the effects of poor instruction the most profoundly.

My son ultimately learned how to read, but he still sees those early childhood years as wasted time. Now, years later, Sebastian still hasn’t found his footing as a young adult. He graduated from high school in 2024 and went on to community college. Sadly, he dropped out of community college after a few weeks, and has had a few short-term jobs since. His self-esteem issues from elementary school have followed him into his adult life.

Sebastian’s story is heartbreaking, but it’s not rare. There are thousands of students across California right now preparing to graduate high school without being strong readers, which will trickle into their adult life as they navigate a literate world. How do we expect our children to become productive members of society if they can’t read a job description, a prescription label, or a ballot?

Teachers are working diligently to provide our children with the skills they need to become productive, successful adults. Unfortunately, California’s schools continue to miss the mark on the most foundational skill: reading. This is not the fault of the teachers or the students, but of the state’s public education system that still allows outdated and often harmful reading instruction and materials in classrooms.

I often wonder how Sebastian’s life would have been different if he’d received the evidence-based reading instruction needed for him to become a skilled reader. Instead of graduating high school with little confidence or direction, he might be thriving in college or at a job he loves. Instead of saying “they wasted my time” when asked about elementary school, he might be telling a story of being seen, supported, and successful.

I don’t want another family to go through what we have. That’s why I’m supporting Assembly Bill 1121, which will ensure that California teachers are trained in evidence-based methods of teaching reading.