Recruitment Hub

Local Education Agency Fellows 2026 - 2028

Welcome to the DIAL EE Local Education Agency (LEA) Fellows Recruitment Hub! We are excited that you’re considering joining cohort 4 of the LEA Fellows (2026-2028). This page is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know to apply.

Please note that this cohort is intended for those working in local education agencies in Northern California. We are prioritizing the following counties, but all are welcome to apply:

- - Alameda
  - Contra Costa
  - Marin
  - Napa
  - Sacramento
  - Santa Clara
  - San Francisco
  - San Joaquin
  - San Mateo
  - Solano
  - Sonoma
  - Stanislaus
  - Yolo

Applications open Monday, August 3, 2026, at 12:00am PST.

Applications close on Friday, September 25, 2026, at 11:59pm PST.

Apply Here!

Quick Links

Frequently Asked Questions

Fellows' Testimonials

Application

About

Local education agencies (LEAs) operate in an increasingly complex environment shaped by overlapping state, federal, and local priorities. The expansion of Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) has added a new layer of complexity by bringing together historically separate early childhood and K-12 systems, exposing longstanding gaps and misalignments in funding, philosophy, and practice. Realizing UTK’s promise requires intentional coordination, shared leadership, and stronger alignment across ECE and TK-12 systems to create a more coherent and effective early learning continuum.

The LEA fellowship supports early education leaders from LEAs through cohort-based learning, mentorship, and applied leadership development to build the skills needed to align initiatives, integrate resources, and lead systems redesignd across ECE and TK-12 contexts within their LEAs, culminating in a capstone project.

Fellows will receive:

A supportive and tight-knit community of peers;
Mentorship and coaching;
Access to a network of LEA fellow alumni, early learning leaders, and stakeholders;
Increased capacity and knowledge on
- Early learning funding through budget sessions covering various rules and regulation of different fund sources, and how to blend, braid, and layer them;
- How to align assessments from various grade levels;
- How policy impacts practice;
Opportunities to pilot and test innovative strategies and practices gleaned through a learning cycle;
Support to build strategic partnerships to increase alignment of early education with other initiatives to impact student outcomes.

Fellows will commit to:

2 years of programming
8 in-person quarterly meetings, with each meeting being 1.5 days on a Thursday evening and full Friday
16 online learning sessions or webinars from 2026 – 2028
Implementation of one or more LEA specific projects, culminating in a final capstone showcase at the last cohort meeting in June 2028
Participation in the Northern California DIAL EE Institute in October 2027
Cultivation of community partnership (e.g., child care, expanded learning, community based organizations, etc.) and aligninment of district systems and initiatives for a comprehensive and coherent early education strategy

Interested individuals or teams of two should be:

- Responsible for the early education strategy, participate in budgetary decisions, and are one to two degrees from decision-making at the cabinet-level;
- Highly motivated to increase their capacity and knowledge to influence early learning funding, policy and practice;
- Committed to deepening own capacity and knowledge to lead systems-change
- Currently employed in a California local education agency (e.g., district, charter, etc.);
- Supported by their superintendent or leadership to participate in the program.

Application Process

Required: Submit an application by Friday, September 25, 2026 (11:59 pm PST).

Note: For those applying as a team, each person on the team must submit an application.