On July 9, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 126, the education trailer bill for the California state budget that allocated an additional $2.4 billion for special education funding.

This increase in special education funding — a 43 percent increase from the 2025 Budget Act — ensures all local educational agencies in the state can receive special education funding at the same rate and will increase the per-student rate to $1,340, according to the governor’s office.

“I’ve heard directly from parents across California: Their kids need more, and they deserve better. These actions answer that call,” Newsom said, in a news release. “Today, we are making record investments in special education, to build a stronger system that gives every child the opportunity to succeed and leaves California’s schools better than we found them.”

The bill signing took place at Willett Elementary School in the Davis Joint USD, where Newsom spoke with students and toured the campus. Students were present during the official bill signing and had their own versions of the bill to sign — with crayons, of course.

The next day, Newsom announced that he had signed legislation to implement long-standing recommendations to strengthen California’s education governance system. The legislation — Assembly Bill 181 by Assemblymembers David Alvarez (D-San Diego) and Darshana Patel (D-Poway) — enacts the proposal made by Newsom in his “State of the State” address to improve support and oversight of schools by unifying the policy-making State Board of Education with the Department of Education that implements those policies by establishing an appointed education commissioner under the board to assume management of the CDE, while further empowering the state superintendent of public instruction to serve as an independent statewide voice for students, families, and educators across public education from TK through higher education.

“California’s students deserve an education system where leadership is aligned in support of the educators who serve them every day,” said Dr. Edgar Zazueta, ACSA executive director, in the governor’s news release. “The state education governance reforms put forward by the governor and approved by the Legislature create a more coordinated approach to educational leadership that will help state agencies work more effectively with educators in support of schools. School leaders across this state are proud to support this important step toward strengthening public education and improving outcomes for California’s nearly six million students.”