July 23, 2026
The 2026-27 California State Budget includes a $10 million investment to establish the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program, a significant step toward strengthening California’s bilingual educator workforce and expanding access to high-quality multilingual education. The investment originated through AB 2325, authored by Assemblymember David Alvarez and co-sponsored by Californians Together and Early Edge California, before being incorporated into the final state budget. This dedicated funding ensures the launch of a statewide initiative to build a stronger pipeline of bilingual teachers for California’s schools.
The Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program directs the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to award competitive grants (of up to $600,00) to local educational agency (LEA)-led consortia that partner with institutions of higher education to create or expand pathways from high school through college, teacher preparation, bilingual authorization, and employment as TK-12th grade bilingual teachers. The program prioritizes communities with high concentrations of English learners (ELs) and rural or geographically underserved regions experiencing bilingual teacher shortages, helping ensure that investments reach the students and communities with the greatest need.
This investment represents an important win for California’s 1.5 million Dual Language Learners (DLLs), ages birth to five.¹ Research consistently shows that young children benefit when they have access to educators who understand their linguistic and cultural assets and can provide instruction in their home language. By growing a sustainable pipeline of bilingual teachers, the state is laying the foundation to expand access to multilingual programs, improve instructional quality, and better meet the needs of California’s increasingly multilingual student population. The program also creates new career opportunities for bilingual students by building on existing assets, including the thousands of students who earn the State Seal of Biliteracy each year, and supporting them to become educators in their own communities.
Early Edge played a key role in advancing this achievement as a co-sponsor of AB 2325, helping secure a long-term investment in California’s bilingual educator workforce. The inclusion of $10 million in the final state budget reflects years of advocacy to expand multilingual learning opportunities and strengthen educator pathways. This investment moves California closer to achieving the goals of Global California 2030 by growing the pipeline of bilingual teachers needed to expand high-quality multilingual programs, ensuring that more young DLLs can learn, thrive, and succeed in classrooms where their home languages are recognized as assets from the very start.
Read Early Edge California’s final budget statement.