California Governor Gavin Newsom has released a 2026-27 budget proposal that makes targeted investments in education—specifically to improve literacy, fund Pre-K for all, and expand Community Schools—objectives that should benefit multilingual learners particularly. The proposal is based upon “stronger-than-expected revenues and disciplined spending.”
Education remains the cornerstone of the budget which proposes to continue funding for:
- Improving Literacy for All Students: Proposes fulling funding the continued implementation of the Golden State Literacy Plan, reaching 2.6 million TK–5 students statewide and supporting more than 800 high-need elementary schools with literacy coaches and specialists. The proposal also maintains annual statewide screening for all K–2nd grade students to identify reading challenges, including dyslexia, and deliver early, evidence-based supports.
- Pre-K for All: Proposes fully funding the whole new school grade—universal access to free transitional kindergarten for more than 400,000 four-year-olds, with increased access to the California State Preschool Program for two-, three-, and four-year-olds.
- Community Schools: Proposes a $1 billion expansion of the community schools model, a whole-child approach that focuses on school engagement with families and community organizations, shared decision making, and coordination of services. The first cohort of schools that benefited from this investment are showing significant reductions in chronic absenteeism, reduced suspensions, and improved test scores and academic achievement, with the largest gains for historically underserved students.
- Before, After, and Summer School Programs: Proposes fully funding free before, after, and summer school for families.
- Universal School Meals: Proposes funding access to two high-quality, free school meals per school day for every TK-12th grade student.
- Expanding college and career pathways: Proposes new funding to help high school students earn college credit and explore career pathways earlier — including expanding dual enrollment and dual credit programs — while prioritizing these opportunities through existing student support funding.
- Strengthening higher education and affordability: Proposes historic investments across higher education, $5.3 billion for the University of California, $5.6 billion for the California State University, and $15.4 billion for the California Community Colleges — each representing nearly 50% growth or more since 2018–19. These supports are paying off: 65% of UC and CSU students graduated without student loan debt in 2023-24; significantly more than in 2018-19.
- L.A. County school fire recovery: Proposes new funding to support LEAs that are continuing to recover from the January 2025 Los Angeles County fires.
In response to budget proposal, Dr. Christopher J. Nellum, EdTrust-West executive director, remarked, “Governor Newsom’s proposal shows bold leadership, but California can’t claim progress if these investments are watered down… EdTrust-West urges the governor and legislature to approve significant expansion of the community school model to more school sites serving large concentrations of multilingual learners and students from low-income families, a recommendation made in our most recent Black Minds Matter report.”
The budget also proposes continued programs and measures intended “to strengthen oversight, enforcement, and safeguards to protect taxpayers,” including the creation of a new education governance structure by moving the California Department of Education under the Executive Branch and strengthening the State Superintendent’s ability to align policy from early childhood through higher education.
The full text of the Governor’s Budget summary document is available at ebudget.ca.gov.