August 3, 2016 - Presented to Senate Education Committee
March 12, 2019 - Presented to: Charter Task Force
March 21, 2013 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
January 20, 2004 - We recommend that the Legislature (1) remove the cap on the number of charter schools that may operate in the state, (2) restructure the charter school categorical block grant, (3) strengthen charter school oversight by permitting school districts to opt out of charter authorizing, allowing for multiple authorizers, and creating safeguards to promote stronger accountability and (4) modify fee policies by delineating more clearly between facility fees and oversight fees, capping these fees, and eliminating the mandate-claims process for oversight costs.
April 16, 2013 - Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
October 23, 2017 - Presented to: Senate Education Committee
February 16, 2005 - Chapter 892, Statutes of 2001, (SB 740, O’Connell), directed our office to extend our contract with the RAND Corporation to include an assessment of the state’s process for funding nonclassroom-based charter schools. RAND found that the state’s funding determination process had reduced nonclass-room-based charter schools’ possible misuse of funds. The process also resulted in non-classroom-based schools increasing spending on instruction and teacher compensation. It did not, however, result in an increase in students’ exposure to teachers. Compared to the state’s existing “threshold” funding approach, RAND suggests the state use a more holistic funding determination process that still could detect possible financial wrong-doing without triggering automatic funding cuts for schools that might have reasonable justifications for their different expenditure patterns. Report Summary
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.
July 29, 2013 - The LCFF, enacted as part of the 2013-14 budget package, establishes a new uniform funding formula and a new system of academic accountability. The formula replaces revenue limits and most categorical programs with uniform base rates for all pupils and provides significantly more funding for English learner and low-income students. The new system of academic accountability requires school districts and charter schools to publicly report how they will use the funds provided under the formula, as well as establishes a new system of support and intervention support for underperforming school districts and charter schools. While the transition to the LCFF begins in 2013-14, it will take several years before all provisions are fully implemented and districts and charter schools are fully funded to formula targets. Moreover, a number of key decisions have yet to be made regarding the implementation of the new fiscal and academic accountability provisions.
August 7, 2006 - Presented to Senate Select Committee on California's Master Plan for Education, Informational Hearing on Charter Schools.
March 19, 2013 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
May 9, 2013 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
February 26, 2014 - Traditionally, the state has reimbursed local educational agencies (LEAs) for performing mandated activities by requiring them to submit detailed documentation of their costs. In recent years, the state has tried to simplify this process by creating two alternative reimbursement structures. The reasonable reimbursement methodology (RRM) provides reimbursement for a particular mandate using a formula developed in a quasi-judicial forum. The education mandates block grants (one for schools and one for community colleges) provide reimbursement for all active education mandates using a per-student rate established in the budget. Whereas the rarely used RRM process has been very adversarial (once involving litigation) and resulted in long reimbursement delays, nearly all LEAs have chosen to participate in the block grants. Given their overlapping purposes and the comparative advantages of the block grants, we recommend the Legislature repeal the RRM for education mandates.