Dear County Superintendents:

Request for Applications: Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists Educator Training Grant

The California Department of Education (CDE) Professional Learning Support Division is pleased to announce that the Request for Applications (RFA) for the Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists Educator Training (LCRSET) grant is now available.

Assembly Bill 121, Section 51 (Chapter 8, Statutes of 2025) authorizes this second competition for the LCRSET program. The CDE, subject to the approval of the State Board of Education, will award $15 million to a County Office of Education or consortium of county offices of education with expertise in both literacy instruction and multilingual education and demonstrated success in improving literacy instruction and outcomes through dual language immersion and other programs for multilingual learners through professional development based on the English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework, the English Learner Roadmap, and the Literacy Roadmap, especially for English Learners and other high-need pupil groups. Additionally, priority will be given to county offices of education that are partnering with institutions of higher education with demonstrated success in providing statewide professional development for expert literacy practice for multilingual learners.

The goal of this grant will be to develop and provide training for educators to become literacy coaches and provide credentialing opportunities for educators to become reading and literacy specialists as well as provide support for the local educational agencies that receive the allocation in Assembly Bill 121, Section 51 (Chapter 8, 2025).

The CDE and the State Board of Education shall select the grantee during or before June 2026. The grant period ends June 30, 2029. The RFA is available on the CDE Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists (LCRS) RFA funding web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r12/lcrs26rfa.asp.

All applicants must submit a complete application, including all required components, to the CDE by the date and time listed on the LCRS web page. Incomplete, late, or incorrectly formatted applications will not be scored or considered for approval. This timeline is subject to change. Please refer to the CDE LCRS 2022–29 web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/pl/lcrsprogram.asp and view the fourth tab, “LCRSET Grant” for a link to the application and additional information.

A technical assistance webinar to review all parts of the RFA will take place on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 1 p.m. via Zoom. Webinar registration is available on the LCRS web page https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/pl/lcrsprogram.asp under the “LCRSET Grant” tab.

If you have questions regarding this RFA, please contact Jennifer Howerter, Education Programs Consultant, Professional Learning Innovations Office, at JHowerter@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

William McGee

Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction

Building Educational Success Together Branch

WM:jh