Nearly one million California students in English learning programs will no longer have to go through a lengthy testing process to move into the regular school system, according to a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday.
Assembly Bill 2555 restructures the former disorganized system schools used to reclassify English learners. Before the bill’s passing, schools used a combination of factors to determine if a student could bypass the programs, often including a language assessment, teacher evaluations, parental input and a comparison of their skills with the English-proficient students.
The new law only requires students to pass a single state-approved English test to prove they are proficient. Advocates say the change was a long time coming.
“This bill is long overdue,” said Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together, an education advocacy group, and a cosponsor of the bill. “I have seen students reclassified too late, denied learning opportunities, and separated, segregated from their peers, and underestimated.”
In California, there are around a million students designated as English learners. The designation placed them in English language instruction programs throughout the school day, but many critics said the programs are too difficult to pass out of.
Around 37,000 California students earned top marks on the standardized English Language Proficiency Assessments for California, or ELPAC, yet still stayed classified as English learners when they returned to school in the fall.
“I was stuck relearning material I had already mastered. My English continued to improve, but I could not move into regular classes,” said former classified English learner Maryana Khames before legislators. She said she was only reclassified after presenting in public comment in eighth grade. “No student should have to beg to be reclassified. When English learners work hard to become proficient, they deserve the opportunity to move forward.”
Advocacy groups deliberated over the system due to the risk it posed to future English language learners. Some feared pulling students out of learning programs would strip them of their language support too early, though keeping them could hold them back from more advanced opportunities.
Still, the former programs were not standardized. A 2026 Public Policy Institute of California survey saw 24 different types of assessments used for students, with many schools using more than 2 types.
The way teachers evaluated students varied by school as well. Some districts valued attendance, while others took homework scores and participation into consideration as well.
“One of the largest barriers in improving student outcomes is the fragmented governance approach,” said Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom. She said California often “lacks a coherent and unifying state level plan to help school districts and county offices of education close achievement gaps.”
Now, advocates of the law are celebrating it as an important step toward shrinking those achievement gaps: “We have to be clear that reclassification is not the finish line, but a milestone on a student’s journey toward full biliteracy,” said Hernandez.
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