Governor Newsom Signs AB 1454, Declaring that Literacy is a Right, Not a Privilege!

Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1454 (Rivas, Muratsuchi, Rubio), the Evidence-Based Early Literacy Bill, marking a historic step toward ensuring that every child in California can learn to read. The bill, championed by Families In Schools (FIS), won unanimous, bipartisan support, passing 78-0 in the Assembly and 38-0 in the Senate, an extraordinary achievement in California education policy.

“Learning to read is one of the most fundamental and essential skills that children have a right to and that they need in order to succeed in school and in life,” said Yolie Flores, President and CEO of FIS. “With AB 1454 now law, California is declaring that literacy is a right, not a privilege. While there is more to do, this is a victory for children, families, and educators across the state.”

The new law requires California schools to adopt evidence-based instructional materials for kindergarten through fifth grade, an effort to equip teachers with the knowledge and tools that align with the science of how children learn to read. Governor Newsom also allocated $200 million in the ’25-’26 final state budget to fund evidence-based professional development in literacy instruction for educators. This investment makes California the largest state in the country to have both updated instructional materials and professional development in evidence-based literacy instruction.

AB 1454 aims to lift reading achievement by:

• Requiring the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt a new English language arts/English language development instructional materials list that aligns with evidence-based means of teaching literacy.
• Updating standards for administrator and reading specialist preparation programs to include training on effective means of teaching literacy.

The urgency is clear. Only 4 in 10 California third graders read at grade level. Among low-income Latino students, just 3 in 10 meet that benchmark, with even lower rates for English learners, students with disabilities, and low-income Black students. Children who are not proficient readers by the end of third grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school, and eight times less likely if they are from a low-income community.

FIS, community partners, and families across California have long championed early literacy as the foundation for all learning. FIS proudly joined more than 90 organizations, including EdVoice, Decoding Dyslexia CA, the NAACP California-Hawaii State Conference, and others, to advocate for this landmark reform.

This milestone is critical to achieving FIS’s Read LA! goal of ensuring that 70% of Los Angeles third-graders read at grade level by 2030. For more information on FIS’s efforts on AB 1454, visit our website.