Gavin Newsom has reversed his position on a long-sought benefit for California educators, signing legislation that will provide up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave for public school and community college staff. The new policy marks a significant shift for the governor, who vetoed a similar proposal in 2019 and did not publicly support an Assembly bill that died on the Senate floor earlier this year. The provision is included in the education bill accompanying the state’s new budget, which Newsom approved this year.
Most of California’s roughly 300,000 teachers do not have access to the state-funded paid leave program that most new parents in the private sector enjoy. Instead of receiving paid leave, many local school districts deduct the cost of a substitute teacher from educators’ pay during parental leave. This creates a financial burden that often forces women to return to work sooner than they would like. One elementary school teacher, Mollie Blustein, used 10 of her accrued sick days after a premature delivery, a loss she wanted to save for later bonding or sick days.
Related: Health Gains Slowing Under Trump Policies
The state was one of the first to offer paid family leave, but most California teachers are shut out of the system. Under the current program, eligible workers get up to 90% of their pay for up to 20 weeks of combined leave and disability benefits. However, the program is funded through a payroll deduction for state disability insurance, and public agencies are exempt from it. Because of this, many educators must use up their accrued sick days before receiving a fraction of their pay for the remainder of their leave, a provision that discourages teachers from taking the full time off they need.
Elizabeth Gedmark, a vice president at the nonprofit A Better Balance, said paid leave polls incredibly well across all political lines. “Everyone agrees that you shouldn’t have to go back to work a day after you had a baby,” she said. This bipartisan appeal has led to policies in conservative-led states like Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia, as well as blue states such as New Jersey, Washington, and Oregon. The shift in California appears to be driven by a mix of political calculation and fiscal availability.
The reversal comes as analysts suggest the issue appeals to voters on both sides of the aisle, ahead of Newsom’s potential 2028 presidential run. The state can now afford the roughly $218 million leave program because of billions of dollars in unexpected tax revenue, largely from personal income taxes tied to tech workers’ stock options. State Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer said the funding was not previously available.
Related: Good Vibrations and a Healthy Body
Paid leave policies for educators have garnered bipartisan support in recent years. Many conservative lawmakers in states that banned abortion adopted paid leave for public employees to signal support for babies after they are born. Some limited the benefit to state employees and framed it as a tool to recruit and retain them. The California Association of School Business Officials had opposed previous related legislation, saying it would create an “unfunded mandate,” but the group largely supports the new plan now that the start date has been pushed from July 1 to January 2027.
The math still isn’t great for some schools, according to David Roth, superintendent of Buckeye Union School District in El Dorado County. He said the real value reaching the classroom is smaller than the headline number suggests. While the state’s plan calls for districts to pay for the leave out of their annual cost-of-living raise—which is bigger than the law requires—it remains a contentious topic for administrators who must balance budgets.
