Public Advocates

Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Press Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications, 917-647-1952, sbal@publicadvocates.org

San Francisco—Governor Newsom just made it legal for California’s most vulnerable students—those with special needs—to spend nearly 40% of the school year with a barely-trained substitute standing in for a real teacher. This is not a compromise. Less than a year ago, his own veto message promised to protect these students. Today, he abandoned them.

In vetoing AB 1224 last October, the governor warned that the bill would “allow individuals to serve our highest-need students for as much as a third of a school year without minimally required training or mentorship.”  He urged the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC ) or the bill’s author to address the problem. The CTC did exactly that, engaging stakeholders for months to build a new substitute pathway with 15 hours of preservice training and 45 hours in the first year plus 2 hours per week of support and mentoring. AB 2490 guts that work before it even takes effect, replacing it with just FIVE hours of training, no weekly support or oversight and a permit good for 70 days—roughly 40% of the school year.

“Last year, the governor told us that substitutes couldn’t be trusted with our highest-need students without real training. This year, he signed a bill that provides no meaningful protections for those students,” said John Affeldt, Managing Attorney at Public Advocates. “Worse, he has signed a law that puts districts on a collision course with federal law, and puts students’ legally guaranteed services on the line. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a certified special education teacher in that classroom—full stop. This bill runs headlong into minimum federal standards.”

The harm will fall hardest on students with disabilities. Unlike the CTC’s proposed regulations, AB 2490 reaches directly into special education classrooms, where federal law leaves no room for shortcuts.

“The CTC spent the last year doing exactly what the governor asked, building a real training pathway through a full regulatory process, with input from the people who’d be affected,” said Rachel Murphy, Senior Legislative Counsel at Public Advocates. “The legislature and the governor just undercut that process before it could even take effect. It’s a shortcut that leaves special education students paying the price.” 

An equitable education system does not respond to educator shortages by lowering expectations for the students who have historically been least well served. It invests more deeply in them. Students with disabilities deserve educators who are prepared, supported, and equipped to recognize their strengths and meet their needs. What they got was a system that normalizes unequal access to qualified teachers. 

“Placing insufficiently trained substitutes in classrooms for extended periods doesn’t create stability—it creates wider learning gaps that harm our most vulnerable students,” wrote Christine Case-Lo, a parent of a child with special needs, in a written testimony to the governor. “Districts should feel urgency to hire qualified teachers—not be given a legislative off-ramp that lets them settle for less.”

Public Advocates has spent over three decades fighting for qualified educators in every California classroom, from suing the state over a discriminatory teacher test in  AMAE v. California, to challenging the lack of a system to ensure qualified educators in Williams v. California, to recently overturning the unlawful use of substitutes to fill teacher vacancies in Cleare v. West Contra Costa Unified School District. We will not stand by while the state walks back hard-won protections for the students who need them most.

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About Public Advocates Inc.
Public Advocates Inc. is a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing, transportation equity, and climate justice.

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The post Press Statement: Public Advocates Condemns Governor Newsom’s Reversal on Substitute Teacher Training, Signing AB 2490 appeared first on Public Advocates.

September 15, 2026—Sacramento Bee reporter Chaewon Chung covers the California Teachers Association’s lawsuit against the state over $3.9 billion in delayed Proposition 98 funding—money guaranteed to K-12 schools and community colleges under the state constitution for nearly 40 years. Districts across California are already feeling the squeeze: Sacramento City Unified is confronting a $222 million structural deficit while banking on withheld Prop. 98 dollars just to stay solvent, and Los Angeles Unified has laid off hundreds of employees amid the shortfall. Public Advocates Managing Attorney John Affeldt helped unpack the legal ambiguity at the heart of the dispute and whether the state has flexibility to wait for final revenue numbers before setting school funding, or must budget off projections when the budget is adopted. As Affeldt put it: “Does the governor have the flexibility to wait and see what the final number is, or do they need to set the amount based on best projections at the time the budget’s adopted?—it’s a bit of a gray area.” With CTA’s suit now headed to court, that gray area is about to get tested.

Read the story to learn more.

The post The Sacramento Bee: California teachers union to sue state over $3.9 billion in Prop. 98 funds appeared first on Public Advocates.

September 10, 2026—The Mad River Union has a rundown of North Coast activities for California Transit Month, including tonight’s talk by Public Advocates’ Senior Transportation Policy Advocate Laurel Paget-Seekins. Paget-Seekins will present “Protecting Transit’s Role in Multi-Racial Inclusive Democracy” at the McKinleyville Family Resource Center, examining public transit’s historic role in civil rights struggles and the creation of integrated public spaces—AND how the Trump administration’s policies are threatening transit access today. The piece also covers a coalition open letter to Gov. Newsom and gubernatorial candidates on state transit funding, a rider ride-logging contest, and rider ride-alongs with local decision-makers throughout the month.

Read the story to learn more.

The post Mad River Union: Humboldt marks california transit month with advocacy, ride contests and a talk on transit and democracy appeared first on Public Advocates.

September 9, 2026—Richmondside reporter Jana Kadah covered the appointment of Carl Cohn, a former superintendent and state Board of Education member, to ensure West Contra Costa Unified complies with a requirement to staff its classrooms with qualified teachers. The appointment follows a March ruling from the California First District Court of Appeal in Cleare v. West Contra Costa Unified School District — a two-year legal battle brought by a Public Advocates representing WCCUSD parents and teachers—requiring the district to stop using 30- and 60-day substitutes beyond state time limits and to fill all teacher vacancies at Stege Elementary, Helms Middle, and Kennedy High School. Cohn, appointed by a Superior Court judge on August 27, will recommend compliance steps and mediate disputes going forward. The piece notes Cleare was the first lawsuit filed under the Williams Settlement Legislation, the 2004 agreement guaranteeing California students access to qualified teachers, adequate textbooks, and safe facilities—setting a statewide precedent that teacher shortages can’t justify long-term reliance on substitutes. The article also reports WCCUSD has cut teaching vacancies significantly this year, from over 100 two years ago to 34 at the start of this school year.

Read the story to learn more.

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