Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill aiming to speed up the reopening of public schools.
It provides $2 billion for campuses that offer in-person instruction by March 31 to the youngest students.
State lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the plan on Thursday, which aims to push schools to reopen by offering them financial incentives.
The bill also set aside more than $4 billion in additional funds for school districts to help students catch up.
Critics including many parents groups say the bill doesn't go far enough because it doesn't require schools to resume in-class instruction.
Newsom said the bill signing was a "great day for women," who have taken on most of the burden of facilitating distance learning.
The parents group Open Schools California slammed the bill as a "sham."
"The bill signed today is yet another failed attempt to return a majority of California's 6 million public school students to their classrooms," the group wrote in a statement.
In some districts, students have been taking classes from home for nearly a year.