Education Publications

The 2023-24 Budget: Transitional Kindergarten and State Preschool Proposals

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

February 14, 2023 - This brief provides an overview and analysis of the Governor’s proposals for transitional kindergarten and State Preschool.

Overview of Child Care and Preschool Programs

• Format:
• PDF

February 13, 2023 - Presented to: Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review

The 2023-24 Budget: Child Care Proposals

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

February 9, 2023 - This brief provides an overview and initial analysis of the Governor’s key child care budget proposals for 2023-24, estimates of child care program costs, and the effects of allowing some temporary policies to expire.

The 2023-24 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

January 13, 2023 - On January 10, 2023, Governor Newsom presented his proposed state budget to the Legislature. In this report, we provide a brief summary of the proposed budget based on our initial review. In the coming weeks, we will analyze the plan in more detail and release several additional budget analyses.

The 2022-23 California Spending Plan: Child Care and Preschool

• Format:
• HTML

October 27, 2022 - This post summarizes the state’s 2022-23 spending package for child care and preschool. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.

The 2022-23 Budget: California Spending Plan Series

• Format:
• HTML

September 29, 2022 - Each year, our office publishes California Spending Plan, a series of publications that summarize the annual state budget. The Overview of the California Spending Plan is presented here along with short online posts that focus on major areas and features of the 2022-23 budget package. As more of these posts become available, we will add them below.

The 2022-23 Budget: State Preschool

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

February 22, 2022 - The Governor’s budget includes several proposals related to State Preschool, with the primary goal of increasing the number of children with disabilities enrolled in the programs. In this post, we provide background on State Preschool, describe the Governor’s proposals, and provide our comments associated with these proposals.

A Review of Child Care and Preschool Program Flexibilities in Certain Counties

• Format:
• HTML

May 13, 2021 - In this post we provide background on child care and preschool program flexibilities that have been granted to certain counties. We then assess these flexibilities and provide issues for the Legislature to consider in deciding whether to maintain flexibilities.

Overview of Federal Relief for K-12 Education and Child Care

• Format:
• HTML

April 29, 2021 - Since March 2020, the federal government has passed three relief packages that assist K-12 schools and child care providers in their response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This post provides a brief summary of how the three federal relief packages affect K-12 education and child care and describes how the state has used these federal funds, as of April 2021.

The 2021-22 Budget: Child Care Proposals

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

February 11, 2021 - This post analyzes the Governor’s proposal to transition state administration of child care programs. We further provide options the Legislature could consider to support child care programs during the pandemic.

Correction (2/18/2021): A previous version of this post stated DSS released a draft of the transition plan. This version is corrected to state DSS released a transition plan guide.

The 2021-22 Budget: Transitional Kindergarten Expansion Package

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

February 5, 2021 - This post analyzes the Governor’s Transitional Kindergarten expansion proposals and offers comments for the Legislature to consider.

Overview of May Revision K-12 and Early Eduction Proposals

• Format:
• PDF

May 18, 2020 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 On Education Finance Hon. Kevin McCarty, Chair

COVID-19: Federal and State Actions Affecting K-12 Education and Child Care

• Format:
• HTML

May 14, 2020 - In this post, we discuss actions the federal and state governments have taken to assist K-12 schools and child care providers in responding to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The 2020-21 Budget: Early Education Analysis

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

February 21, 2020 - In this report, we provide an overview of the Governor’s early education proposals, then analyze his three major early education proposals. Specifically, we analyze his proposals to (1) expand the number of full‑day preschool slots, (2) create a new department to administer child care programs, and (3) fund facilities for more preschool programs.

The 2020-21 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

• Format:
• PDF
• HTML

January 13, 2020 - This report presents our office’s initial assessment of the Governor’s budget. We estimate the Governor had a $6 billion surplus to allocate to discretionary purposes in 2020-21. The Governor allocates most of the surplus toward one-time purposes, including maintaining a positive year-end balance in the state’s discretionary reserve. Under the administration’s estimates, total reserves would reach $20.5 billion at the end of 2020-21—this represents a $1.7 billion increase from the 2019-20 enacted level. California continues to enjoy a healthy fiscal situation. Despite its positive near-term picture, the budget’s multiyear outlook is subject to considerable uncertainty. In addition to describing the condition of the budget under the Governor’s proposal, this report discusses tools the Legislature can use to mitigate against these heightened risks.

January 20, 2020: Upon further review, one item included in the original version of Appendix Figure 3 on discretionary on health spending should not have been included (specfically, use of the Medi-Cal drug rebate fund to offset General Fund costs). Removing this item—which reduces General Fund spending—from the list of discretionary choices made in the Governor’s budget increases our calculation of the surplus to $6 billion. The document is updated to reflect these changes.

Update 1/24/20: Adjusted Judicial Branch items in Appendix Figure 1 to reflect ongoing spending.