This report provides the rationale for a strategic framework to guide California's approach to teacher workforce planning and action. The guidance has emerged from the sustained effort of California's State Educator Workforce Collaborative (the Collaborative). The Collaborative proposes a set of three measurable statewide teacher workforce goals to anchor statewide planning and action focused on reducing shortages, improving equitable access to fully prepared teachers, and increasing teacher diversity. To achieve these goals, the Collaborative proposes an ongoing process of strategic planning and implementation, a set of guiding principles for state and regional planning, and roles for participating agencies and institutions, including identification of a lead agency. As the philanthropic support that enabled the Collaborative's progress comes to an end, state agencies are seeking to institutionalize the proposed strategic framework to systematically support statewide efforts to recruit and retain a well-prepared teacher workforce.