With Approval of 2026-2027 Budget, All Public Education Agencies Now Required to Provide Fourteen Weeks of Paid Pregnancy Leave to Employees Starting January 1, 2027; K-12 Trailer Bill Passed While Higher Education Trailer Bill Remains Pending

07.13.2026

Following Governor Newsom’s approval of the budget agreement for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, which took effect on July 1, 2026, and allocated funding for new paid pregnancy leave entitlement for employees of California K-12 school districts and community college districts (“CCDs”), the education omnibus budget trailer bills for K-12 school districts and CCDs remained subject to the Governor’s approval. On July 9, 2026, Governor Newsom approved the trailer bill for K-12 school districts, effectuating changes to the Education Code providing a new paid pregnancy leave entitlement for employees of K-12 school district. The CCD trailer bill reflects the same paid pregnancy leave entitlement for CCD employees, amending parallel provisions of the Education Code; however, the CCD trailer bill remains subject to approval by the State Legislature and Governor Newsom.

Under the new K-12 trailer bill, beginning January 1, 2027, public education employees will be entitled to up to fourteen weeks of paid leave when absent from duty because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or recovery from any of these conditions. Employees may use the paid leave when they are actually disabled by one or more of these conditions as determined by the employee and the employee’s medical provider. The bill expressly authorizes employees to begin taking leave before childbirth and continue the leave after childbirth, provided the employee is actually disabled by one or more of the qualifying conditions during the entire leave period. Employers must maintain group health coverage for the duration of the leave at the same level and under the same conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.

The K-12 budget trailer bill revises Education Code sections 44965 and 45193 to require school district employers to provide this new benefit. Under prior law, these sections authorized the governing board of a school district to provide for a paid or unpaid leave of absence to an employee absent from duty because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, or recovery therefrom. The trailer bill not only requires a school district employer to provide paid leave, but expands the scope of conditions covered by this entitlement to include termination of pregnancy and recovery therefrom.

Under the K-12 trailer bill, all certificated and classified employees of public school districts, as well as charter school and county office of education employees, are eligible to receive up to fourteen weeks of paid leave under this section. There are no eligibility requirements such as minimum hours worked or length of service. Part-time employees are also entitled to paid leave under the trailer bill’s provisions, which specify the amount of compensation a part-time employee is entitled to depending on the amount regularly worked.

Significantly, the leave provided under the trailer bill does not run concurrently with any other leave provided by statute. Thus, other leaves to which an employee may be entitled, including, but not limited to, leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”), Pregnancy Disability Leave Act (“PDLA”), accrued sick leave, or extended illness leave, do not run during the employee’s paid pregnancy disability leave under the trailer bill. Applicable statutory leaves will not begin to run until after the employee is no longer “disabled” under the trailer bill as determined by the employee’s medical provider or the employee has exhausted the fourteen weeks of paid leave.

The state budget provides an additional cost-of-living adjustment, referred to as a “discretionary cost-of-living adjustment,” to reimburse school district employers for costs associated with providing paid leave under this new entitlement.

The trailer bill’s provisions are a direct reflection of the pregnancy leave entitlement proposed in 2024 by Assembly Bill (“AB”) 65, which was approved by the State Assembly in 2025, but did not progress to a vote in the State Senate. In June of 2026, while budget negotiations were pending, AB 65 was revived in the State Senate, where it remains pending.

In sum, the approval of the K-12 budget trailer bill significantly expands California public education employees’ rights to paid leave for pregnancy and related conditions. K-12 school districts will be required to update their leave policies and practices to account for the new entitlement, which is in effect as of January 1, 2027. Districts should also be prepared to bargain impacts and effects of the budget trailer bill.

AALRR attorneys will continue to monitor the status of the separate bill proposing to provide this same entitlement to employees of community college districts, which is pending in the State Legislature.

If you have questions about this new requirement, or its impact on existing leave policies, please contact the authors of this Alert or your usual AALRR counsel.

AALRR is hosting a three-part webinar series designed to help K-12 districts and CCDs understand and navigate their obligations when it comes to supporting pregnant employees. For more information, or to register for the series, please visit: https://www.aalrr.com/newsroom-events-4686 or contact Keesha Clark.