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.
California’s Fiscal Outlook: Proposition 98 Briefing
- Format:
November 15, 2007 - Presented to Legislative staff and education community.
2007-08 State Budget Update
- Format:
- PowerPoint
October 15, 2007 - 2007-08 state budget update presented to Los Angeles County Office of Education, October 4, 2007.
Teacher Reform: Rethinking Teacher Accreditation, Credentialing, and Tenure Policies
- Format:
- PowerPoint
August 1, 2007 - Presented to the EdVoice symposium in Squaw Valley.
Reforming California’s Instructional Material Adoption Process
May 24, 2007 - The Supplemental Report of the 2006 Budget Act directed our office to examine instructional material costs and assess California’s process for adopting kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8) instructional materials. This report details our findings. Most importantly, we identify several shortcomings with California’s K-8 adoption process. To address these shortcomings, we recommend the Legislature adopt a package of six reforms designed to lower instructional material costs, expand school district choice, and enhance program effectiveness.
May Revision: Proposition 98 Proposals
- Format:
May 17, 2007 - Presented to the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance.
California’s Fiscal Outlook
- Format:
- PowerPoint
April 15, 2007 - Presented to the California Association of School Business Officials in San Jose, California.
English Learners and Economic Impact Aid
- Format:
April 10, 2007 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance.
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.