California will require every public school district, charter school, county office of education, and community college district to provide up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave to employees beginning January 1, 2027. The mandate was enacted through an education omnibus trailer bill that Governor Gavin Newsom signed on July 9, 2026, for K-12 agencies, and on July 13 for community college districts. The legislation revises Education Code sections 44965 and 45193 for K-12, and 87766 and 88193 for community colleges, changing those provisions from permissive to mandatory paid leave.
What the law covers
All certificated and classified employees of public education agencies are eligible for the benefit, with no minimum hours or length-of-service requirements. Part-time employees receive proportional pay. Substitute and temporary employees are excluded. Full-time employees receive their regular rate of pay during the leave. The law requires paid leave for pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, miscarriage, and recovery from these conditions.
The 14-week leave does not run concurrently with other statutory leaves, including the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the California Family Rights Act, the Pregnancy Disability Leave Act, accrued sick leave, or extended illness leave. Those entitlements begin only after the employee is no longer disabled by pregnancy or has exhausted the 14 weeks. During the leave, employers must maintain group health coverage at the same level.
Why teachers were left out before
Most California teachers were previously excluded from the state's paid family leave system because public employees do not pay into State Disability Insurance, or SDI, under the Unemployment Insurance Code. Public employee unions must collectively bargain to opt into SDI, and individual employees cannot opt in on their own. Without SDI participation, teachers could not access the state's Paid Family Leave program, which provides up to 8 weeks of partially paid bonding leave, or pregnancy disability insurance benefits.
Under the prior system, teachers received 10 sick days per year, followed by up to 100 days of extended sick leave at partial pay. During extended sick leave, the cost of a substitute teacher was deducted from the employee's salary — a practice rooted in a 1976 education code provision — meaning teachers could lose up to half their paycheck during extended absences including pregnancy recovery.
Private-sector comparison
Most private-sector employees in California pay a 1 percent payroll tax into SDI and are eligible for up to 8 weeks of pregnancy disability benefits plus 8 weeks of Paid Family Leave for bonding, totaling up to 16 weeks of partially paid leave. SDI replaces 70 to 90 percent of wages depending on income, with a maximum weekly benefit of $1,765 for claims beginning in 2026. The new teacher leave provides 14 weeks at full pay, which is shorter in total duration but more generous in wage replacement than what most private-sector workers receive through SDI alone.
Funding: a 'super-COLA' mechanism
The estimated annual cost of the program is approximately $218 million. The state Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer stated that the state can now afford the program because of billions of dollars in unexpected tax revenue, largely from personal income taxes tied to tech workers' stock options, much of which is constitutionally guaranteed to schools under Proposition 98.
The cost is funded through what officials call a super-COLA — an additional discretionary Local Control Funding Formula cost-of-living adjustment beyond the statutory COLA. The statutory COLA for 2026-27 is 2.87 percent. The discretionary addition raises the total to 4.31 percent, which provides approximately $906 million in additional LCFF funding. The Department of Finance stated that the super-COLA funding must first be directed to cover costs associated with the pregnancy leave.
The enacted budget summary says the costs of the benefit are absorbable within the funding allocated to LEAs for the discretionary LCFF super-COLA, meaning districts receive no separate earmarked appropriation but must use a portion of their enhanced COLA to fund the leave.
Previous attempts and opposition
Prior standalone legislative attempts failed. AB 65, introduced by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in 2024, was approved by the Assembly in 2025 but did not progress to a Senate vote. An earlier bill, AB 2901 from the 2023-24 session, would have made similar provisions operative January 1, 2028, only if an appropriation was made in the budget act. Newsom had previously vetoed legislation that would have required school districts to offer paid leave for teachers, citing financial costs.
The California Association of School Business Officials had opposed earlier related legislation, calling it an unfunded mandate. The group now largely supports the new plan because the start date was pushed from July 1, 2026 to January 2027. CASBO's chief governmental relations officer Sara Pietrowski said concerns remain, but the group will work with the state to avoid additional fiscal challenges.
What the research says
The California Department of Finance's enacted budget summary asserts that comprehensive benefits including paid pregnancy disability leave can improve recruitment and retention of employees while prioritizing the health and well-being of workers and their families. This is a policy justification stated in an official budget document, not a citation to an empirical study, so the strength of that claim rests on the state's own framing rather than on independent research evidence.