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
Publications
Education
To browse all LAO publications, visit our Publications page.
The Master Plan at 50: Connecting Financing With Statewide Goals for Higher Education
- Format:
April 7, 2010 - Testimony of Higher Education Director, Steve Boilard, to the Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education.
Overview of the K-14 Mandate System and Recommendations for Reform
- Format:
April 7, 2010 - Presented to Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
Overview of Recent School Finance and Flexibility Actions
- Format:
April 6, 2010 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
Overview of 2010-11 Higher Education Budget
- Format:
March 24, 2010 - Presented to Assembly Budget Committee Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
Overview of 2010-11 Higher Education Budget
- Format:
March 18, 2010 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education.
LAO Recommendations for 2010-11 K-12 Education Budget
- Format:
March 15, 2010 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
Eligibility and Admissions in California Public Higher Education
- Format:
March 10, 2010 - Presented to Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education
Webcast: The 2010-11 Budget: Higher Education
- Format:
- Video
February 25, 2010 - Section director Steve Boilard discusses the LAO report "The 2010-11 Budget: Higher Education."
Webcast: The 2010-11 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education
- Format:
- Video
February 25, 2010 - Section director Jennifer Kuhn discusses the LAO report "The 2010-11 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education."
The 2010-11 Budget: Higher Education
February 25, 2010 -
Though the Governor portrays his 2010-11 budget proposal as protecting education, his plan would affect areas of education quite differently—significantly reducing funding for child care and K-12 education while augmenting funding for most higher education programs. We recommend the Legislature build a more balanced education budget. For higher education, we recommend providing new funding for community colleges through a $14 per unit fee increase; reducing the proposed augmentations for the state’s universities while still restoring their per-student funding rates to 2007-08 levels; and rejecting the Governor's proposed cuts to financial aid programs. Our recommendations on other parts of the education budget are contained in a companion publication: The 2010-11 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education.
(Short video introducing this report)
The 2010-11 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education
February 25, 2010 -
Though the Governor portrays his 2010-11 budget proposal as protecting education, his plan would affect areas of education quite differently—significantly reducing funding for child care and K-12 education while augmenting funding for most higher education programs. We recommend the Legislature build a more balanced education budget. Detailed in this report, our Proposition 98 alternative budget plan cuts child care about $100 million less than the Governor; makes approximately $800 million in targeted cuts to K-12 education, with additional K-12 cuts, as needed, coming from general purpose and/or categorical funding; and provides new funding for community colleges through a $14 per unit fee increase. In a companion publication, The 2010-11 Budget: Higher Education, we provide additional detail on our community college recommendations, as well as cover various other postsecondary education areas, including the state's universities and financial aid programs.
(Video introducing this report)
Promise of California's Master Plan: Access Through Affordability
- Format:
February 17, 2010 - Presented to the Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Education. Hon. Ira Ruskin, Chair, and Hon. Gloria Negrete McLeod, Chair.
Proposed Cal Grant Reductions
- Format:
February 17, 2010 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
Overview of Special Session Proposals: Proposition 98 Budget
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February 9, 2010 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 On Education Finance
Education Mandates: Overhauling a Broken System
February 2, 2010 - Currently, the state requires K-12 and community college districts to perform hundreds of mandated activities, the majority of which provide little benefit to students or teachers. Since the state does not pay for K-14 mandates on a regular basis, the result is billions in outstanding costs the state must eventually pay. In this report, we recommend comprehensively reforming K–14 mandates. If a mandate serves a purpose fundamental to the education system, such as protecting student health or providing essential assessment and oversight data, it should be funded. If not, the mandate should be eliminated. Taken as a whole, our reform package would relieve school districts and community colleges of performing hundreds of activities that provide little value to students while providing them with adequate and timely compensation for the activities still required of them. In addition, comprehensively reforming mandates would reduce the state’s annual obligations by more than $350 million—funds that could be saved or allocated to districts for higher priorities.