February 16, 2023 - In this brief, we provide our analysis and recommendations regarding the administration’s proposals for using available 2021-22 Proposition 98 funds.
March 7, 2025 - In this brief, we assess the Governor’s 2025-26 educator workforce proposals and provide associated recommendations.
October 24, 2022 - This post summarizes overall Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2022-23 budget package. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.
February 26, 2025 - In this post, we provide background on the state’s English learner identification process, describe and assess the Governor’s proposal to provide $10 million for a multilingual learner screener in transitional kindergarten, and provide our recommendations to the Legislature.
November 28, 2023 - This post summarizes overall Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2023-24 budget package. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.
February 13, 2025 - This brief examines the estimates of the Proposition 98 guarantee in the Governor’s budget and assesses the overall structure of the Governor’s plan for K-12 funding. It also examines a few of the larger spending proposals and the proposal to delay a $1.6 billion settle-up payment.
Update (2/21/25): This brief has been updated to reflect our office’s estimate of the K-12 COLA (2.26 percent).
February 15, 2024 - In this report, we assess the architecture of the Governor’s overall Proposition 98 budget and analyze his major proposals for K-12 education.
September 16, 2024 - This post summarizes Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2024-25 budget package.
February 18, 2025 - This brief provides an overview and analysis of the Governor’s proposals for transitional kindergarten.
January 29, 2021 - In this post, we provide background on school closures and recent funding to address learning loss, describe the Governor’s proposal to allocate $4.6 billion to schools in spring 2021 to address student learning loss caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, assess the proposal, and describe our recommendations to the Legislature.
January 6, 2009 - California’s economically disadvantaged (ED) students are failing to meet federal and state academic standards and generally perform below their non-economically disadvantaged peers. This trend appears in all grade levels, with nearly two-thirds of second grade ED students and nearly three-fourths of eighth grade ED students performing at low levels. Given these shortcomings, we believe the state needs to be both more strategic and more flexible in its approach to supporting ED students. Specifically, we recommend: redefining the conversation to focus on the barriers impeding academic success; simplifying the system for all involved; refining funding formulas to reflect the pervasiveness and severity of students’ academic challenges; strengthening overall accountability by measuring year-to-year growth in student achievement; and, identifying and facilitating the sharing of best practices.
April 23, 2021 - On March 5, 2021, the Governor signed Chapter 10 (AB 86, Committee on Budget), which provides additional one-time Proposition 98 funding to schools for providing in-person instruction and addressing student learning loss due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This post describes the major components of the legislation.
January 26, 2018 - In this post, we answer many questions legislators and others commonly ask about K-12 education in California. We begin by providing information on the main components of California’s public school system. We then review the state’s K-12 accountability system. Lastly, we explain the basics of school finance in California.