As we celebrate the conclusion of another school year, it is important to recognize that our classrooms reflect the deep and growing challenges facing California families. Teachers are serving students who may be dealing with the loss of a home due to wildfires or instability at home — all while district budgets across the state are shrinking.

One of the most fundamental challenges California teachers face is a lack of consistent support and training across the state, especially when it comes to teaching essential skills like reading. Too often, teachers in California are expected to help students learn to read without being given the appropriate tools or professional development to teach this critical skill. This is a statewide problem, which Pasadena has been combating for a few years now.

I’ve been fortunate to spend my career helping students and teachers with reading here in Pasadena. At Pasadena USD, where I have worked for 20 years, we initially implemented Reading First, a federal initiative that emphasized phonics and research-based instruction in reading. But like most districts, we eventually began moving away from teaching students how to decode words systematically, and instead, using approaches that encouraged students to guess unfamiliar words based on pictures or context. These approaches are based on an assumption — rather than research — that students can expand their understanding of text and reading concepts naturally through repeated exposure.

Many of our teachers began raising concerns, as they saw firsthand that we weren’t helping young readers build the foundational skills they needed.

Reading isn’t something most kids simply pick up by seeing letters and pictures on a page — they need to be taught how to read letter by letter, sound by sound, word by word. There’s a whole body of research on how to effectively teach reading. Teachers, new and veteran, despite receiving credentials, were not being taught how to teach reading this way.

When our teachers returned to evidence-based instruction, just as they had years before — focusing on fundamentals like phonics, phonemic awareness and high-frequency words — they were delighted. The progress was steady and continues to be, because unlike many other districts, our district is equipping teachers with what they need: materials and professional development so they can effectively teach children how to read.

When we did this — we were at it alone. We didn’t receive state support, we had to find the capacity and the funding within our own district budget. But PUSD cares deeply about doing what is best for our students. Waiting on state support to move on evidence-based instruction was not an option for us. Our students and families deserved this and our teachers did too.

So we took matters into our own hands and moved forward — but that shouldn’t be the expectation for districts across the state. Budgets are lean, and as a result, districts are making cuts or halting investments in their teachers.

That’s why I believe AB 1454, jointly authored by Assembly Speaker Rivas, Assemblymember Muratsuchi and Assemblymember Rubio, is the missing piece — and it’s now up to the state Senate to get it across the finish line.

If enacted, AB 1454 would provide funding to schools to train TK-5 teachers, prioritizing those who have not received evidence-based training yet. The bill has had a strong start: it passed through the full Assembly with a resounding 78-0 vote, receiving bipartisan support from assemblymembers across the state.

As the bill goes to the Senate for consideration, it is my hope that our state senators hear our call of support.

Helping our teachers teach reading shouldn’t be dependent on an individual district’s budgets, but unfortunately, that’s the current status quo. AB 1454 would ensure that districts in California can access funds to pay for professional development to help their teachers teach reading, not just those who can find room in their district budget. Our teachers, statewide, need this policy change.

Carmela Calderon Ching is an elementary specialist in the PUSD.