A bill that could reshape literacy education in California elementary schools cleared a major hurdle in the Legislature in April after dueling sides reached a compromise that provides funding for phonics-based instruction but stops short of requiring it.

The compromise between English learner advocates and those who back the so-called "science of reading" approach provides funding and support for phonics-based instruction, but does not require schools or teachers to participate.

Still, the bill represents an important milestone in the fight over how schools teach children to read.

The bill requires the state to provide training for teachers and instructional materials centered on phonics-focused literacy instruction, which includes vocabulary, comprehension, the ability to sound words out, and other literacy basics.

The materials and training must also address the specific needs of English learners, who make up about 18% of the state's 5.8 million K-12 students.

Previous bills to require a phonics-based approach have died, in part because not everyone agrees that phonics is the best way to teach students whose first language is not English.

The California Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers union, has fought reading instruction mandates in the past, saying that teachers, not legislators, are in the best position to assess the needs of individual students, and they need maximum flexibility in the classroom.

The union has so far been neutral on this bill.

Some districts in California, including Los Angeles Unified, already use curricula that's focused on phonics, but about 80% of districts don't, according to research by the California Reading Coalition, a literacy advocacy group.

California's reading scores were steadily climbing before the pandemic, but fell during remote learning and have stalled since then.

Almost 60% of third graders weren't reading at grade level last year, with some student groups, including Black and low-income students, lagging even further behind.

For CalMatters, I'm Carolyn Jones.