AB 2325 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Teachers: bilingual teachers: Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program.

Summary

Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law establishes various programs for the recruitment of teachers. Existing law establishes the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program, administered by the State Department of Education in consultation with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, for teachers seeking to provide instruction in bilingual and multilingual settings. This bill, which would be operative upon appropriation by the Legislature, would establish the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program and would require the commission to develop and implement a program to award, on a competitive basis, grants of up to $600,000 to local educational agencies to form consortia with 4-year institutions of higher education, or 4-year institutions of higher education and community colleges, to establish or expand pathways to bilingual teaching to enable bilingual pupils to earn a multiple subject, single subject, PK-3 early childhood education specialist, or education specialist teaching credential, with a bilingual authorization, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on any grants funded until funds are fully expended, as specified.

Issues: ✓ Education ✓ Immigration

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Aug 2026

Assembly Passage

May 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 19, 2026 Last action Aug 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

04/20/26 - Amended Assembly → 06/15/26 - Amended Senate · 11 edits · Jun 15, 2026

MAJOR

The Senate amendment significantly narrowed the bill by removing the entire Bilingual Clinical Placement Registry database requirement (former Chapter 3.3, Sections 44700-44702) and instead focused solely on strengthening the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching grant program. The remaining changes make the grant program more flexible in consortium structure, extend the grant period from five to six years, add priority criteria for high-need districts, expand eligible credentials to include PK-3 early childhood education specialist, and broaden recruitment sources.

SCOPE

The entire Bilingual Clinical Placement Registry (Chapter 3.3, Sections 44700-44702) was removed. This had required the Department of Education to establish an online database to track LEAs capable of employing bilingual teachers, map teacher supply pipelines against workforce needs, and use data from existing grant programs and the California Longitudinal Teacher Education System.

New provision clarifying that nothing in the section precludes a consortium from including multiple local educational agencies.

FISCAL

Grant expenditure period extended from five years to six years, with the first year designated for planning and the subsequent five years for implementation.

ELIGIBILITY

Consortium structure made more flexible. Previously required all three types of partners (LEAs, community colleges, and four-year institutions). Now allows LEAs to form consortia with four-year institutions alone, or four-year institutions with community colleges, making community college participation optional.

New priority criteria for grants: LEAs with a high concentration of English language learners, or LEAs in rural areas or geographic regions experiencing an acute systemic shortage of bilingual teachers characterized by a significant gap between available teacher preparation programs and local needs.

DEFINITION

Added PK-3 early childhood education specialist credential as an eligible credential type alongside multiple subject, single subject, and education specialist credentials with bilingual authorization.

REQUIREMENT

Recruitment criteria expanded to include high school pupils with experience working in after-school programs and participation in future teacher clubs, in addition to CTE pathways and State Seal of Biliteracy eligibility.

Partnership structure reorganized from requiring both a community college dual enrollment partnership AND a four-year institution transfer partnership, to allowing candidates to partner with at least one of: (A) a community college or four-year institution for dual enrollment, or (B) a four-year institution for transfer and credential earning.

Recruitment and retention plan requirement narrowed from a general plan to specifically address 'open positions.'

ENFORCEMENT

New reporting requirements: grantees must now report the number of candidates enrolled in the program, commitments made by LEAs with intent to offer employment, home languages spoken by graduates, racial and ethnic backgrounds of graduates, and whether graduates are or have ever been English language learners.

Annual legislative report now includes the number of teachers enrolled in pathways (not just those who completed them), and employment data is specified as 'as reported by local educational agencies.'

03/19/26 - Amended Assembly → 04/20/26 - Amended Assembly · 6 edits · Apr 20, 2026

MODERATE

The April 20 amendment adds an entirely new Section 44259.4 establishing the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program, a competitive grant program of up to $600,000 per consortium (with $10 million in intended one-time funding) to build articulated pipelines from secondary school through community college to four-year institutions for bilingual teacher credentials. This replaces a prior intent-only provision that merely expressed the Legislature's desire to enact future legislation on this topic. The bill now has an actual funded mechanism rather than just a placeholder, and the fiscal committee answer changed from 'no' to 'yes' to reflect the new appropriation component.

FISCAL

New Section 44259.4 establishes the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program with competitive grants of up to $600,000 per consortium, expendable over five years. The Legislature expresses intent to appropriate $10 million in one-time funding. Up to $250,000 may be used for program administration.

SCOPE

The bill now creates a concrete grant program administered by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, rather than merely stating legislative intent to enact future legislation. The program is contingent on appropriation in the Budget Act or another statute.

The prior Section 1, which stated the Legislature's intent to enact subsequent legislation fostering partnerships between school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the three segments of postsecondary education, was removed and effectively replaced by the new funded program in Section 44259.4.

ELIGIBILITY

Grants are awarded to consortia of local educational agencies, community colleges, and four-year institutions of higher education. Applicants must provide assurances including a sustainability plan for after grant funding expires, coordination with existing support programs like the Golden State Teacher Grant Program, and demonstrated commitment to expand enrollment.

REQUIREMENT

Grant recipients must implement a specific sequence: recruitment by local educational agencies (including candidates likely eligible for the State Seal of Biliteracy), dual enrollment with community colleges, transfer to four-year institutions for credentials with bilingual authorization, and hiring agreements with local educational agencies. Recipients must report program and outcome data for at least five years.

TECHNICAL

The Bilingual Clinical Placement Registry provisions (former Sections 44700-44702) are retained with no substantive changes but are renumbered as Section 2 of the bill. Coauthors Patel and Bonta were added to the bill's authorship line.

02/19/26 - Introduced → 03/19/26 - Amended Assembly · 7 edits · Mar 19, 2026

MODERATE

AB 2325 was substantially expanded from a purely aspirational intent statement into a bill that creates a new statutory requirement. The amended version adds an entirely new Chapter 3.3 to the Education Code, mandating that the California Department of Education establish an online database (the Bilingual Clinical Placement Registry) to track bilingual teacher supply and demand, and states legislative intent to build a statewide bilingual teacher pipeline. The original partnership intent language was retained but demoted to a secondary section.

Scope change

The bill expanded from a non-binding legislative intent statement (calling for future legislation on partnerships) into an operative statute that creates a mandatory database requirement and adds a new chapter to the Education Code. It now directly imposes duties on the Department of Education rather than merely expressing hope for future action.

REQUIREMENT

The Department of Education must, in consultation with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, establish an online database called the Bilingual Clinical Placement Registry to connect preparation, credentialing, and long-term retention of bilingual and multilingual teachers.

The database must track local educational agencies capable of employing bilingual/multilingual teachers, use data from the Golden State Education and Training Grant Program and the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System, and map teacher supply pipelines against anticipated state workforce needs.

SCOPE

New Chapter 3.3 (Sections 44700-44702) is added to Part 25 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code, creating a new 'Bilingual Clinical Placement Registry and Bilingual Teacher Pipeline' chapter.

Section 44702 states legislative intent to build a statewide bilingual teacher pipeline for recruiting students who received the State Seal of Biliteracy, strengthening partnerships between local educational agencies and community colleges/universities, and using eligible grant programs to address the bilingual teacher shortage.

DEFINITION

Section 44700 defines 'local educational agency' as a school district, county office of education, or charter school.

ENFORCEMENT

Information in the registry must be provided in a manner consistent with state and federal privacy laws.

FISCAL

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating a fiscal analysis is now required for this bill.

Floor votes · Assembly May 26, 2026

How they voted

77–0

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 79

May 26, 2026

D Democratic59

57 Yea 2

96% Yea

R Republican20

20 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

In committee: Held under submission.

upper

Aug 3, 2026

Committee

In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

upper

Jun 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Jun 15, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on ED.

upper

Jun 10, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on ED.

upper

May 26, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0.)

lower

May 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 14).

lower

May 6, 2026

Committee

In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

lower

Apr 21, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Apr 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

Apr 16, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 15).

lower

Apr 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

lower

Mar 23, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on ED.

lower

Mar 19, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 19, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on ED.

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.

lower

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors