AB 865 establishes the Dual Language Immersion Education Instructional Materials Grant Program and appropriates $5 million from the General Fund for the 2026–27 fiscal year to support local educational agencies (LEAs) in increasing instructional materials in partner languages used in dual language immersion programs. The statute creates two grant buckets: Instructional Materials Grant A ($3.5M) aimed at programs using partner languages among the five most commonly spoken by English learner pupils, and Instructional Materials Grant B ($1.5M) for programs using other partner languages.
Recipients must submit a plan for how funds will be used and, after spending the grant, provide a final report and a physical or digital copy of materials obtained. Funds are available for expenditure or encumbrance through June 30, 2029, and the Department of Education must compile data and report to the Legislature by December 31, 2029.
The measure focuses on short‑term expansion of partner‑language materials rather than ongoing curriculum funding.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill directs the California Department of Education to distribute one‑time $100,000 grants to LEAs: up to 35 awards from a $3.5M pool for programs in partner languages identified as the top five languages among English learners (based on the most recent U.S. Census), and up to 15 awards from a $1.5M pool for programs in other partner languages. Grants may be used to develop standards‑aligned materials (e.g., textbooks, workbooks) or purchase supplemental partner‑language resources.
Who It Affects
Public school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools operating dual language immersion programs; teachers and curriculum coordinators responsible for implementing partner‑language instruction; K–12 publishers and small language vendors who produce instructional content; and English learner populations who use those materials.
Why It Matters
The bill targets a persistent gap: many immersion programs lack sufficient partner‑language curricular resources, especially for less‑common languages. By carving separate pools for common and less‑common languages, the program attempts to expand materials supply and protect linguistic diversity, albeit on a one‑time basis.
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What This Bill Actually Does
AB 865 creates a narrowly tailored grant program to expand the supply of instructional materials in partner languages used by dual language immersion programs. Lawmakers appropriate $5 million for the 2026–27 fiscal year and instruct the California Department of Education to allocate that money into two distinct grant streams: a larger pool for programs using the state’s most common partner languages among English learners, and a smaller pool for programs using other languages.
Local educational agencies apply to the department for a one‑time $100,000 award to support one or more eligible schoolsites. The statute defines eligible schoolsites by tying eligibility to the partner language of the immersion program and the department’s determination—based on the most recent U.S. Census—of which languages rank among the top five most commonly spoken by English learner pupils.
The department must try to ensure that each of those top languages is represented among Grant A awards, but the bill stops short of prescribing exact selection criteria, scoring, or matching requirements.Grant funds can be used either to develop standards‑aligned partner‑language instructional materials, such as textbooks and workbooks, or to purchase supplemental materials in partner languages. Funds are available for encumbrance and expenditure through June 30, 2029.
Grantees must submit a spending plan to the department for approval and, once funds have been expended, provide a final report by June 29, 2029 that lists materials obtained or developed and supplies a physical or digital copy. Finally, the department must consolidate the data and report to the Legislature by December 31, 2029.
The bill also includes intent and contingency language tying implementation to an appropriation in the Budget Act or another statute.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Total appropriation: $5,000,000 for 2026–27, with funds split into $3.5M for Grant A and $1.5M for Grant B.
Award size and caps: the bill funds one‑time $100,000 grants to a maximum of 35 LEAs under Grant A and a maximum of 15 LEAs under Grant B.
Eligibility hinge: Grant A targets schoolsites whose partner language is among the five most commonly spoken languages by English learner pupils per the latest U.S. Census; Grant B covers partner languages outside that top five.
Use restrictions and timeline: grants may be used only to develop standards‑aligned partner‑language materials or purchase supplemental partner‑language materials; funds are available for expenditure or encumbrance through June 30, 2029.
Reporting obligations: grantees must submit an approved spending plan and a final report (including a list and copies of materials) by June 29, 2029; the Department must report aggregated data to the Legislature by December 31, 2029.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Appropriation and program creation
This subsection appropriates $5 million from the General Fund for the 2026–27 fiscal year and directs the California Department of Education to establish the Dual Language Immersion Education Instructional Materials Grant Program. Practically, the appropriation is the statute’s financial trigger: without the Budget Act or another statute enacting the appropriation, the program does not take effect (see contingency section).
Grant A: funding, eligibility, and permitted uses for top‑five languages
This provision dedicates $3.5 million to provide up to 35 one‑time $100,000 grants to LEAs whose eligible schoolsites run dual language immersion programs in a partner language that the department determines—using the most recent U.S. Census data—belongs to the five most commonly spoken languages among English learner pupils. The statute requires the department to make its best effort to award at least one grant per each of those partner languages. The grants may be used to develop standards‑aligned curricular materials or to purchase supplemental partner‑language instructional resources. Funds must be expended or encumbered by June 30, 2029.
Grant B: funding, eligibility, and permitted uses for other partner languages
This subsection sets aside $1.5 million for up to 15 one‑time $100,000 grants for LEAs whose schoolsites operate immersion programs in partner languages not in the department’s top‑five list. The allowable uses mirror Grant A—development of standards‑aligned materials and purchase of supplemental materials—preserving parity in permitted activities while allocating a smaller pool to foster materials for less common languages.
Planning, reporting, and legislative oversight
Grantees must submit a plan describing intended use of funds for department review and approval; after expenditure they must file a final report by June 29, 2029 that lists materials obtained or developed and provides a physical or digital copy of those materials. The department must compile the data and submit a report to the Legislature’s appropriate policy and fiscal committees by December 31, 2029. The statute therefore builds in accountability and creates a documented inventory of materials acquired with state funds.
Legislative intent and contingency
Section 52102 states legislative intent to appropriate the $5 million. Section 52103 conditions the article’s implementation on an actual appropriation in the Budget Act or another statute. That contingency means the program’s legal existence hinges on the budgetary process and the line‑item appropriation, not merely the authoring of the bill.
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Explore Education in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- English learner students enrolled in dual language immersion programs — will gain access to more partner‑language textbooks and supplemental materials, potentially improving instructional fidelity and student outcomes in the partner language.
- Local educational agencies (districts, county offices, charters) operating immersion programs — receive one‑time funding to fill curricular gaps without requiring local General Fund contributions.
- Smaller publishers and language‑specialty vendors — stand to win contracts to produce or supply partner‑language materials, particularly for less‑common languages where the market is thin.
- Teachers and curriculum coordinators in immersion programs — get additional resources to align classroom instruction with state standards in the partner language, reducing time spent adapting or translating materials.
Who Bears the Cost
- California Department of Education — must administer the competitive or discretionary grant process, review plans and final reports, ensure compliance with expenditure deadlines, and produce the legislative report, all within existing agency capacity unless additional resources are provided.
- State General Fund/taxpayers — $5 million is an appropriation that competes with other budget priorities; this one‑time allocation is an opportunity cost in the state budget.
- LEAs that apply but do not receive grants — will have incurred application costs and may face equity concerns if local programs lack the staff or grant‑writing capacity to compete.
- Local curriculum adoption timelines and district procurement teams — may face compressed schedules to develop, procure, and implement newly funded materials before the June 30, 2029 encumbrance deadline.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill tries to balance scale and equity: it directs most funding toward commonly spoken partner languages to reach many English learners while carving a separate pool for less‑common languages to protect linguistic diversity. With only $5 million and one‑time awards, the program forces a choice between concentrating impact in high‑need, high‑population language programs and spreading thin support across many small programs—there is no mechanism in the text that cleanly resolves that trade‑off.
The bill leaves several implementation levers to the Department of Education without specifying application scoring, priority factors, or match requirements, which creates administrative discretion but also uncertainty for applicants planning budgets and timelines. The requirement that the department use the most recent U.S. Census to determine the top five partner languages ties eligibility to a specific data source, but the statute does not define the precise metric (e.g., county v. statewide counts, year of the Census) or how often the list will be updated.
The program is explicitly time‑limited and one‑time: it funds material acquisition and development but does not create ongoing maintenance or replenishment support. That raises sustainability questions—districts may adopt new materials but later lack funding for updates, teacher training, or replacement copies.
The bill also lacks clarity about intellectual property, ownership, and licensing for materials developed with grant funds, which matters for reuse, statewide dissemination, and costs if districts want to adapt materials later. Finally, 'best effort' language to ensure representation of each top partner language leaves open how the department balances geographic distribution, program size, and demonstrated need when awards exceed available funding.
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