The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Child Care and State Preschool

Nov 14, 2025 - The budget provides $21.8  million in one-time federal funding to reform and automate state and local data systems to allow for the implementation of new child care provider rates based on an alternative methodology.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5088

The 2019-20 Budget: Analysis of Governor’s Preschool Slot Estimate

May 6, 2019 - The administration proposes to add 10,000 State Preschool slots each year for the next three years, for a total of 30,000 added slots. The administration estimates the 30,000 additional slots would be sufficient to serve all income-eligible four-year olds.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4027

The 2023-24 California Spending Plan: Child Care and State Preschool

Nov 17, 2023 - Since 2021 ‑22, the state has added about 146,000 new slots, which more than doubled the number of subsidized child care slots in the state. As of April 2023, about 30  percent of the recently added slots have been filled.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4817

A Review of Child Care and Preschool Program Flexibilities in Certain Counties

May 13, 2021 - At this stage, CDE may request additional data to validate the county ’s rationale for wanting specific flexibilities. Based on our conversations with CDE and LPCs, counties often must submit multiple iterations of their plan before CDE determines it has the appropriate data to approve the plan.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4431

The 2019-20 Budget: Governor's Proposals for Infants and Toddlers With Special Needs

Feb 28, 2019 - Since publishing our evaluation, we received updated data for California which indicate the state has improved somewhat on meeting these deadlines but still does notably worse than most states were doing in their most recent data.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3954

The 2022-23 Budget: State Preschool

Feb 22, 2022 - Grant recipients also must commit to provide program data and participate in an evaluation. Funding is available for expenditure though December 31, 2024. Governor ’s Proposals Requires State Preschool Providers Serve Students With Disabilities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4555

The 2024-25 Budget: State Preschool

Apr 16, 2024 - Preliminary enrollment data for 2023 ‑24 indicate growth of less than one-half of 1  percent in 2023 ‑24 compared to 2022 ‑23. Given these trends, State Preschool enrollment is likely to increase in 2024 ‑25.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4894

The 2016-17 Budget: Analysis of Child Care and Preschool Proposals

Feb 24, 2016 - We believe either option would be an improvement over the existing ad hoc service levels across counties. Update Eligibility Criteria to Be More Transparent. To create more transparency in terms of who is being served, we recommend the state link the income eligibility cap with recent SMI data.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3367

The 2023-24 Budget: Transitional Kindergarten and State Preschool Proposals

Feb 14, 2023 - LAO Comments TK Estimates Will Be Updated as Current ‑Year Data Become Available. The state will have a better sense of TK attendance for 2022 ‑23 when CDE releases preliminary attendance data in the coming weeks (based on attendance data through December).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4682

The 2023-24 Budget: Child Care Proposals

Feb 9, 2023 - The Governor’s proposal to delay the slot expansion plan by not adding additional child care slots in 2023‑24 would save $134 million General Fund. The proposed delay in the slot expansion plan seems reasonable given state’s budget problem.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4672