February 16, 2022 - In his January budget, the Governor proposes an additional $3.6 billion for the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program and $149 million for the state’s longstanding expanded learning programs. In this post, we provide background on the state’s expanded learning programs, describe and assess the Governor’s proposal, and provide our recommendations to the Legislature.
March 2, 2022 - Presented to: Senate Education Committee
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).
September 16, 2024 - This post summarizes Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2024-25 budget package.
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 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.
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 5, 2021 - This post analyzes the Governor’s Transitional Kindergarten expansion proposals and offers comments for the Legislature to consider.
February 22, 2022 - The Governor’s budget includes several proposals related to State Preschool, with the primary goal of increasing the number of children with disabilities enrolled in the programs. In this post, we provide background on State Preschool, describe the Governor’s proposals, and provide our comments associated with these proposals.
February 6, 2018 - The Governor’s budget proposes $3.6 million in one-time General Fund in 2018‑19 and $3.3 million in ongoing General Fund to provide California Military Department (CMD) support to two public charter schools, the California Military Institute (CMI) and Porterville Military Institute (PMI). We recommend rejecting the proposed General Fund appropriation, but approving position and associated reimbursement authority for CMD. This should enable CMD to provide support to CMI and PMI if these schools choose to allocate some of their Proposition 98 funds to supplement their staffing with CMD personnel.
February 22, 2013 - The Governor proposes to restructure the way the state allocates funding to school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education. We believe the Governor’s proposed new formulas would address many problems inherent in the state’s existing K-12 funding approach, and we recommend the Legislature adopt most components of the proposal. Unlike the current system, the proposed formulas would be simple and transparent, fund similar students similarly, and link funding to the cost of educating students. We believe the proposed approach could be improved, however, with some notable modifications. We suggest a number of specific changes to better align funding levels with anticipated costs, eliminate irrational funding differences across districts, simplify the formulas, and ensure important state priorities are addressed.
October 25, 2021 - This post summarizes overall Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2021-22 budget package. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.
February 7, 2023 - In this brief, we analyze the estimates of the Proposition 98 guarantee in the Governor’s budget and assess the overall structure of the Governor’s plan for K-12 funding.