Staff
- Jackie Barocio
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(916) 319-8333
Child Care, Expanded Learning, School Facilities, and Teachers - Sara Cortez
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(916) 319-8348
Special Education, Preschool, and Child Nutrition - 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 State University, Student Financial Aid - Paul Steenhausen
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(916) 319-8303
California Community Colleges - Ian Klein
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(916) 319-8336
University of California; College of the Law, San Francisco; California State Library - Michael Alferes
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(916) 319-8338
Local Control Funding Formula, Charter Schools, Alternative Schools, High School Career Technical Education - 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.
Major Budget Issues: K-12 Education
- Format:
March 13, 2007 - Presented to Assembly Budget Committee Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance.
Major Budget Issues: K-12 Education
- Format:
March 6, 2007 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Proposition 98 Update
February 21, 2007 - Compared to the Governor’s budget, we estimate less General fund revenue in both the current and budget years. Given the particular formulas that drive Proposition 98, our revenue estimates result in a higher minimum guarantee in 2007-08. This counterintuitive result means the Legislature is likely to face more challenging trade-offs in its budget deliberations. In this section, we also (1) provide an update on outstanding Proposition 98 “settle-up” obligations, (2) describe the effect of a declining K-12 student population on the Proposition 98 minimum guarantee, and (3) discuss factors that might lead to the Proposition 98 Test 1 factor becoming operative in the near future.
Overview of Proposition 1D: K-12 School Facilities
- Format:
February 7, 2007 - Presented to the Senate Education Committee. review infrastructure
Improving Alternative Education in California
February 7, 2007 - Between 10 percent to 15 percent of high school students enroll in one of the state’s four alternative programs each year. These programs serve many of the state’s at-risk students. We recommend fixing the state and federal accountability programs so that schools and districts are held responsible for the success of students in alternative programs. We also recommend funding reforms that reinforce the district’s responsibility for creating effective options for students.
Proposition 88
- Format:
September 29, 2006 - Presented to the Joint Hearing of Senate and Assembly Education committees and Revenue and Taxation Committees.