Staff
Sara Cortez
(916) 319-8348
Special Education, Preschool, Child Nutrition, and Facilities
Kenneth Kapphahn
(916) 319-8339
Proposition 98, School District Budgets, School Transportation
Lisa Qing
(916) 319-8306
California Community Colleges
Michael Alferes
(916) 319-8338
Local Control Funding Formula, Charter Schools, Alternative Schools, High School Career Technical Education
Natalie Gonzalez
(916) 319-8320
California State University, Student Financial Aid
Dylan Hawksworth-Lutzow
(916) 319-8308
Child Care, Expanded Learning, Teachers, and Education Technology
Edgar Cabral
(916) 319-8343
Deputy Legislative Analyst: K-12 Education
Jennifer Pacella
(916) 319-8332
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Higher Education


Publications

Education

To browse all LAO publications, visit our Publications page.



Handout

Funding for UC's Research Programs

March 28, 2007 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education


Handout

Overview of Major Budget Issues for UC and CSU

March 28, 2007 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education


Handout

Child Care and Development: Major Issues

March 13, 2007 - Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee Subcommittee No. 1 on Education.


Handout

Major Budget Issues: K-12 Education

March 13, 2007 - Presented to Assembly Budget Committee Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance.


Handout

Major Budget Issues: K-12 Education

March 6, 2007 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education.


Handout

Improving Effectiveness and Efficiency of Outreach Services

February 21, 2007 - Presented to the Senate Education Committee.


Report

English Learners

February 21, 2007 - Data from several statewide assessments show a significant gap between the academic achievement of English learner (EL) students and their English-speaking peers. We recommend the Legislature fund the evaluation of the EL best practices pilot program established by Chapter 561, Statutes of 2006 (AB 2117, Coto). We also recommend the Legislature fund an evaluation of best practices in preparing teachers of EL students. In addition, we recommend improving the state’s assessment system so EL student progress can be measured and tracked.


Report

Child Development

February 21, 2007 - Our five-year forecast shows Proposition 98 funding is to increase much more than needed to cover baseline costs. Thus, we think this is an opportune time to develop an education roadmap that lays out funding priorities, coordinates investments, and implements accompanying policy improvements. Given the significant achievement gap between low-income children and their higher income peers, our suggested roadmap includes expanding early child development and preschool programs for low-income children. To help ensure success of any program expansion, we also make various recommendations relating to wrap around child care, facilities, and program quality.


Report

Quality Education Investment Act

February 21, 2007 - In response to a recent settlement, the state agreed to pay an additional $2.5 billion over a seven-year period for a new K-12 education reform program. We have concerns with the structure of the new program and recommend small changes that could yield big payoffs. Specifically, we recommend (1) converting the program to a pilot project in which schools could self-select one of three teacher-oriented reform options and (2) funding an independent evaluator to assess the performance of the groups over the seven-year life of the program.


Report

Home-to-School Transportation

February 21, 2007 - We have serious legal and policy concerns with the Governor’s transportation and Proposition 98 rebenching proposals. Specifically, we are concerned the proposal is unconstitutional and sets bad policy precedent. We also are concerned that the Public Transportation Account might not have sufficient funds to support the program in the future. For these reasons, we recommend rejecting the proposals. Instead, we recommend a series of other actions that would generate about the same level of savings but without the risk and with minimal programmatic impact.


Report

Soledad Enrichment Action Charter School

February 21, 2007 - Current law requires our office to evaluate Soledad’s educational program and make a recommendation to the Legislature about whether to extend the statutory authorization that permits the school to operate as a community day school. We recommend extending the school’s statutory authorization by two years. This extension is designed to give Soledad time to transition to a new funding system that we propose in our recent report, Improving Alternative Education in California.


Report

California Education Network

February 21, 2007 - We review recent actions taken to increase transparency of the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), which serves the higher education segments as well as K-12 education, and the High Speed Network (HSN), which serves K-12 education. Most importantly, Chapter 552, Statutes of 2006 (AB 1228, Daucher), increased transparency and strengthened accountability of HSN. We recommend the Legislature further protect the state’s interests by enacting legislation that extends these transparency and accountability measures to CalREN and the higher education segments.


Report

Career Technical Education

February 21, 2007 - Our review raises significant questions about the state’s approach to implementing the program and the proposed $52 million budget-year expenditure plan. We think the Legislature could strengthen local implementation of the program by using these funds to establish a seven-year grant program to improve CTE at the county or regional level.


Report

Proposition 98 Roadmap

February 21, 2007 - Our five-year forecast shows Proposition 98 funding is to increase much more than needed to cover baseline costs. Thus, we think this is an opportune time to develop a long-term roadmap for K-14 education. Such a roadmap could help the Legislature establish long-term funding priorities, coordinate investments, and maximize potential benefits by linking new monies with policy improvements.


Report

Proposition 98 Priorities

February 21, 2007 - Although K-14 obligations have increased in 2007-08, they have dropped by slightly more than $600 million in 2006-07. We recommend the Legislature reduce current-year spending by a like amount. This would generate major one-time and ongoing savings while still providing enough funding to support a K-14 baseline budget in 2007-08.