Youth Authority wards and prison inmates have the highest cost, but are the least numerous. For example, the cost to maintain a ward is about $31,000, while spending per K-12 student in the public schools is about $4,500. However, prison inmates and Youth Authority wards number less than 160,000, while there are 5.3 million K-12 students.
The costs shown are averages. The range of individual costs is especially large in the Medi-Cal program. On average, each Medi-Cal beneficiary costs $2,599, but nursing home patients cost about $27,600 annually.
Health and welfare caseloads grew rapidly from 1989-90 through 1993-94. The economic recession, federal Medi-Cal eligibility expansions, and additional immigrant-related caseloads (such as increased AFDC participation by citizen-children of immigrants who were newly legalized under the 1986 federal IRCA law) contributed to this rapid growth, which has leveled off recently.
The number of prison inmates has grown much more rapidly than any other group, in part due to mandatory and longer sentences.
Enrollment at UC and CSU declined in the early 1990s and now is less than 5 percent above what enrollment was ten years ago.
K-12 enrollment in the current year is estimated to increase between 2 percent to 2.5 percent, in contrast to the 1995 Budget Act estimate of 1.5 percent. A 2 percent increase would bring total K-12 enrollment to 5.3 million in 1995-96.
Growth rates in each of the next two years are expected to remain above 2 percent, in contrast to the last three years experience of rates significantly less than 2 percent.
Each one percent increase in K-12 enrollment requires an increase of approximately $235 million to maintain K-12 expenditures per pupil.
The costs of services delivered in the classroom account for about two-thirds of K-12 costs. The cost of teachers comprise half of the average cost of a school. Instructional aides, pupil support personnel (counselors, psychologists, nurses) and books, supplies, and equipment account for an additional 14 percent of school costs.
School site costs comprise 29 percent of school spending. These costs consist of school site leadership (principals, vice principals, and clerical support), building maintenance, instructional support, and other expenses.
Administration, which consists of district administration and county and state oversight, accounts for 6 percent of the cost of an average school.
The state provided half of all school revenues in 1993-94, while local government sources contributed 38 percent. The remaining revenues came from the federal government (9 percent) and the state lottery (2 percent).
School revenue limits -- supported by both state funds and local property taxes -- provide the resources for basic school programs. These funds account for almost two-thirds of all revenues.
The state also provides funds for specific educational needs -- such as special education and transportation. These "categorical" funds constituted 16 percent of all school revenues.
California's expenditures per pupil in 1993-94 was the lowest among the ten largest states. Ten years ago, California ranked seventh, spending more than Ohio, Texas, and North Carolina.
Among all states, California ranked 40th in 1993-94 in current expenditures per pupil. Ten years ago California ranked 26th among all states.
From 1991-92 through 1994-95, higher education enrollments declined on average each year by 3 percent for CSU, 2.4 percent for the community colleges, and 0.9 percent for UC. The total decline of 94,000 students is the equivalent of about five large campuses.
The declines were probably due to several factors, including course section reductions, fee increases, declines in the economy, institutional actions to limit enrollment, and a reduction in the college-age population.
Preliminary information for 1995-96 indicates that student enrollments may be stabilizing. This, too, is probably due to several factors, including moderate state funding increases, stable undergraduate fee levels, improvements in the economy, and (for the CSU) legislative direction to increase enrollment.
For the first time in almost a decade, there were no undergraduate fee increases at UC and CSU in 1995-96. Community college fees also remained stable for most students and actually declined (beginning January 1996) for students who have already earned a Bachelor's degree.
Fees for UC professional school students have increased significantly since 1993-94, in line with legislative intent to increase these fees over the next several years to the average of fees charged at comparable public universities.
California's crime rate, as measured by the California Crime Index (CCI), has increased about 250 percent since 1952. The state's population increased about 176 percent over the same period.
The crime rate reached its peak in 1980, declined for four years, and increased slightly in the late 1980s. The rate has declined each year since 1991. Although there are probably many reasons for the decline since the 1980 peak, many researchers consider the aging of the population (particularly the aging of "baby-boomers") as the principal reason.
California's incarceration rate has increased almost 350 percent since 1972 while the crime rate has remained relatively flat (the rate in 1994 is essentially the same as 1972).
Some researchers argue that this situation should be expected because they believe that incarcerating more people for a longer period of time has no impact on the crime rate. Others disagree and argue that the crime rate would have increased significantly if the rate of imprisonment had not increased so significantly.
Felony arrest rates for juveniles are consistently higher than those for adults.
The felony arrest rate peaks at age 16 for property crime and age 18 for violent crime.
Although juveniles have a higher arrest rate than adults, juveniles account for a smaller proportion of total arrests than do adults (16 percent versus 84 percent). (Data not shown in figure.)
While juveniles (age 11 to 17) account for 16 percent of the arrests in California in 1993, they made up only 9.3 percent of the state's total population.
Based on juvenile arrest rates for the past five years and projected increases in the juvenile population as a whole, we project that the number of juvenile arrests in California will increase by more than 29 percent by 2004, even if arrest rates stay the same.
This assumes that California's population of 11 through 17 year olds grows from 2.9 million in 1993 to 3.9 million in 2004.
Our estimate projects the number of arrests there will be over time. If the arrest rate increases in the future, as it has in recent years, there would be even more arrests.
California's 1993 crime rate is higher than the nation's rate and is the second highest among the large states.
Florida's 1993 rate was the highest among the large states and was about 17 percent higher than California's rate. California's rate was about 39 percent higher than the rate for the other 49 states and the District of Columbia.
California's crime rate rose about 4 percent from 1983 to 1993, as compared to an 11 percent increase for the rest of the country. The greatest increase over the period occurred in Florida (an increase of about 30 percent) while the greatest decline occurred in New York (a drop of about 5 percent).
Table
of Contents 
Part
V, State Spending 
Part
VI, Program Trends -- Part B