K-12 Education in Context

Jan 26, 2018 - California ’s Public School System Below, we describe California ’s students, teachers and staff, local education agencies (LEAs), and state education agencies. Students California Has More Than 6  Million Public K-12 Students.  
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3736

The 2026-27 Budget: Re-Envisioning State Education Governance

Mar 18, 2026 - Many Other Agencies Have Responsibilities in Specific Areas. The SBE, SPI, Governor, and Legislature are the four main actors in state governance, but the law establishes more than a dozen other agencies with specialized responsibilities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - Under the Governor’s proposal, the state would calculate the increases separately for child care programs administered by the Department of Social Services (DSS), State Preschool programs operated by local education agencies (LEAs), and State Preschool programs operated by non‑LEAs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

The 2018-19 Budget: Proposition 98 Education Analysis

Feb 7, 2018 - California Per ‑Pupil Spending Ranks in the Middle Among the States.  Based on spending data from 2014 ‑15 (the most recent year for which national data are available), California ranked 29 th in per ‑pupil spending among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3741

The 2026-27 Budget: K-12 Proposals

Feb 19, 2026 - R ‑TACs also support LEAs in building capacity in a variety of areas that support implementation of the community schools model, such as making governance changes, developing external partnerships, collaborating with other public agencies, and identifying ongoing funding streams to sustain the model.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5131

The 2026-27 Budget: Fiscal Outlook for Schools and Community Colleges

Nov 19, 2025 - This year, the sixth quarter was unavailable due to the lapse in appropriations for the federal agency providing the data (the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis). As of this writing, the agency has reopened but not yet determined when the data will be available.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5093

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Jan 6, 2026 - As part of their annual Local Control and Accountability Plans, local education agencies (LEAs) are required to specify actions they will take to meet goals they set for several indicators, including their chronic absenteeism rates.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5100

Evaluation of the School District of Choice Program

Jan 27, 2016 - The current list of low –performing schools is based on student tests taken in 2012 –13 , the last year the state ranked schools under its former accountability system. The state ’s new accountability system, by contrast, currently has no mechanism for ranking schools.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3331

COVID-19: Federal and State Actions Affecting K-12 Education and Child Care

May 14, 2020 - Federal Waivers and Flexibility In addition to providing funding relief, ED and other federal agencies have issued several waivers to expand the allowable uses of existing federal funding and provide greater program flexibility to state and local agencies.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4231

The 2022-23 Budget: Green School Bus Grants

Feb 10, 2022 - Assigning the new program to CDE would result in different agencies administering two similar programs. Many districts likely would submit funding applications with each agency, and both agencies likely would incur additional workload to coordinate their grant awards and ensure districts receive one grant per bus.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4525