February 21, 2024 - In this brief, we analyze the Governor’s budget proposals relating to community college enrollment, apportionments, and nursing education. In addition, the brief provides a number of recommendations and options to help the Legislature address the large gap between current community college spending and available Proposition 98 funding.
February 11, 2022 - This brief analyzes the Governor's major budget proposals for the California Community Colleges, with a focus on apportionments increases, enrollment, modifications to the Student Centered Funding Formula, part-time faculty health insurance, and deferred maintenance.
January 31, 2023 - In this brief, we provide an overview and initial analysis of the Governor’s higher education budget plan.
July 1, 2024 - Due to legislation enacted a decade ago, the availability of postsecondary courses at state prisons has expanded significantly. In this report, we focus on California Community College programs at state prisons. After providing background on these programs, we cover trends in student outcomes and explain how these programs are funded. We then assess the strengths and weaknesses of these programs and make several recommendations aimed at improving them.
September 11, 2024 - The Supplemental Report of the 2024-25 Budget Act contains statements of legislative intent and requests for studies that were adopted by the Legislature during deliberations on the 2024-25 budget package.
November 20, 2024 - In this report, we provide our estimates of the guarantee and analyze the implications for school and community college budgeting.
March 23, 2017 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
October 16, 2020 - This post summarizes the state’s 2020-21 spending package for higher education. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget. In this post, we cover spending for the California Community Colleges, California State University, University of California, and student financial aid. The EdBudget part of our website contains dozens of tables providing more detail about the 2020-21 education budget package.
December 13, 2022 - In this brief, we provide background on adult education funding, assess the current funding model, and offer recommendations to improve it.
April 18, 2017 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
April 7, 2016 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
May 18, 2015 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
February 16, 2021 - This report analyzes the Governor’s major budget proposals for the community colleges, covering base apportionments, enrollment, students’ basic needs, online tools, apprenticeships and work-based learning, instructional materials, and faculty professional development.
November 16, 2022 - Each year, the state calculates a “minimum guarantee” for school and community college funding based upon a set of formulas established by Proposition 98 (1988). Based upon recent signs of weakness in the economy, we estimate the guarantee in 2023‑24 is $2.2 billion (2 percent) below the 2022‑23 enacted budget level. Despite this drop, $7.6 billion would be available to provide increases for school and community college programs. In 2023‑24, the available funding could cover a cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) of up to 8.38 percent, which is slightly below our estimate of the statutory rate (8.73 percent). Over the next several years, growth in the guarantee and required reserve withdrawals would be just enough to cover the statutory COLA. Given this relatively precarious balance, we outline a few ways the Legislature could create a larger cushion to protect against revenue declines in the future.