Staff
- Sara Cortez
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(916) 319-8348
Special Education, Preschool, Child Nutrition, and Facilities - Kenneth Kapphahn
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(916) 319-8339
Proposition 98, School District Budgets, School Transportation - Lisa Qing
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(916) 319-8306
California Community Colleges - Michael Alferes
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(916) 319-8338
Local Control Funding Formula, Charter Schools, Alternative Schools, High School Career Technical Education - Natalie Gonzalez
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(916) 319-8320
California State University, Student Financial Aid - Dylan Hawksworth-Lutzow
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(916) 319-8308
Child Care, Expanded Learning, Teachers, and Education Technology - Edgar Cabral
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(916) 319-8343
Deputy Legislative Analyst: K-12 Education - Jennifer Pacella
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(916) 319-8332
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Higher Education - Florence Bouvet
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(916) 319-8310
University of California; College of the Law, San Francisco; California State Library
Publications
Education
To browse all LAO publications, visit our Publications page.
The 2026-27 Budget: K-12 Mandates
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May 1, 2026 - The Commission on State Mandates (the Commission) recently found two new requirements to be reimbursable state mandates: (1) offering menstrual products in public school restrooms and (2) confirming that public high school students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or California Dream Act Application. In this post, we provide background on school mandates, then describe our assessment and recommendations for each of the new mandates. This post fulfills a requirement for our office to analyze new mandates, as specified in Section 17562 of the Government Code.
The 2026-27 Budget: Update on Local Control Funding Formula Costs
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May 1, 2026 - In February 2026, CDE certified P-1 data for 2025-26 and annual data for 2024-25. In addition to preliminary ADA, the P-1 data also includes preliminary estimates of total LCFF costs and other associated data. In this post, we describe our findings from the updated data and the fiscal implications of this data on the Governor’s January budget LCFF estimates for 2025-26 and 2026-27.
The 2026-27 Budget: California Education Learning Lab
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March 25, 2026 - This post assesses the Governor’s budget proposal to retain the California Education Learning Lab.
The 2026-27 Budget: Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
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March 25, 2026 - This post assesses the Governor’s proposal to provide a General Fund appropriation for the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, a regulatory agency within the Department of Consumer Affairs.
The 2026-27 Budget: Re-Envisioning State Education Governance
March 18, 2026 - In this brief, we examine the Governor’s proposal to restructure state governance. The first section explains how the current system evolved and describes the main entities and their responsibilities. The second section reviews previous governance studies and explains how governance works in other contexts. The third section describes the Governor’s proposal, including its core feature: transferring management of the California Department of Education from the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to a new education commissioner. The fourth section assesses the merits of this proposal and outlines some principles for re-envisioning the SPI's role. The fifth section provides our recommendations.
The 2026-27 Budget: Community College Facilities
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March 17, 2026 - This post assesses the Governor’s proposals to fund the second batch of community college capital outlay projects under Proposition 2, an education facilities bond.
The 2026-27 Budget: Computer Science Supplementary Authorization
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March 6, 2026 - This post analyzes the Governor’s budget proposal to increase the size of grants and extend the Computer Science Supplementary Authorization Incentive program.
The 2026-27 Budget: University of California
February 26, 2026 - In this brief, we review core funding and spending trends at the University of California (UC), then analyze the Governor’s budget proposals relating to UC’s core operations and enrollment. We also provide an overview of federal funding for UC and discuss the implications of recent federal developments.
The 2026-27 Budget: California Student Aid Commission
February 17, 2026 - In this brief, we provide an update on Cal Grant cost estimates and discuss recent program trends leading to higher Cal Grant spending. We then analyze the Governor’s budget proposal to reduce Middle Class Scholarship award coverage and provide associated recommendations.
Overview of Proposition 28 Arts Funding for Schools
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February 12, 2026 - Assembly Committee on Education and Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism