On July 17th, 2020, Governor Newsom announced that all K-12 schools in California counties with rising COVID-19 infections would be required to teach remotely. Without a strong focus on improving the quality of remote education at scale, students could lose up to a year's worth of learning, and as many as 1.1 million students could fail to graduate high school. That academic impact would be felt most acutely by low-income, Black, and Latinx students. California's leaders must act now to prioritize equity and ensure quality across all of the state's districts. New policies do establish baseline statewide teaching and learning requirements, but these expectations can be strengthened. State leaders must ensure adequate monitoring, support, and resources, all with deep attention to equity. Absent these things, we can expect to see even more troubling differences in opportunity and achievement arise among districts, schools, and groups of students.