For years, Maria, a second-grade teacher in Fresno, had to choose between burning through her sick days or losing pay when she had her daughter. Like most of California's roughly 300,000 public school teachers, she fell into a gap in the state's family leave system. That finally changes next year.
California will now give public school and community college employees up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave, starting in January 2027. The $218 million program reverses a 2019 veto by Governor Gavin Newsom, who blocked a similar bill that would have granted teachers at least six weeks of paid leave.
"Educator workforce recruitment and retention has been a priority for the administration since the governor's first day in office," said H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for the state Department of Finance, adding that funding simply wasn't available until now. The money comes from billions in unexpected tax revenue, largely from personal income taxes tied to tech workers' stock options.
Most California workers get paid family leave through a state disability insurance program funded by payroll deductions. But public agencies are exempt from this system. Until now, many school districts simply deducted the cost of a substitute teacher from educators' pay during parental leave.
The disparity disproportionately affects women, who make up 72 percent of California's public school teachers. Some educators have planned pregnancy leaves around summer breaks just to avoid losing pay, though that strategy often falls apart for those with pregnancy complications or early deliveries.
Vicki Shabo, a paid leave expert at the think tank New America, noted that paid leave policies for public employees have won bipartisan support across the country, including in conservative states like Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. "Many limited the benefit to state employees and framed it as a tool to recruit and retain them," she said.
Elizabeth Gedmark, a vice president at the nonprofit A Better Balance, which advocates for workplace equality, said the policy shift reflects broad agreement. "Paid leave polls incredibly well across all political lines, because everyone agrees that you shouldn't have to go back to work a day after you had a baby."
Not everyone is completely satisfied. David Roth, superintendent of Buckeye Union School District in El Dorado County, said some schools still face financial strain. And the California Association of School Business Officials, which opposed earlier versions of the bill, still has concerns, though the group says it will work with the state to address them.
Starting January 2027, thousands of California teachers like Maria will no longer have to choose between their paychecks and their new babies.