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

Mar 18, 2026 - Considering Adding Legislative Appointees to the SBE. The Legislature could consider adding two legislative appointees to the SBE. These appointees could enable greater legislative oversight of the new governance system and ensure the SBE ’s policies are consistent with legislative intent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

The 2025-26 Budget: Transitional Kindergarten Multilingual Learner Screeners

Feb 26, 2025 - Chapter  15 of 2024 (AB  2268, Muratsuchi) eliminated the requirement for districts to assess English proficiency for all TK students beginning in 2024-25. This was intended to address concerns that the current ELPAC assessment was not developmentally appropriate for younger TK students.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4990

The 2018-19 Budget: Charter School Facility Grant Program

Apr 23, 2018 - Background Charter School Facility Funding Has an Ad Hoc Past. The 1992 legislation authorizing the creation of charter schools in California contained no provisions relating to facilities. Since that time, state policies relating to charter school facilities have developed in an ad hoc way (see Figure  1).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3812

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposition 98 Guarantee and K-12 Spending Plan

Feb 4, 2026 - The proposal effectively shifts that cost from this year to future budgets —helping address the current budget problem on a one ‑time basis, but adding to the large budget deficits the state is projecting over the next several years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5110

Analyzing Recent Changes to State Support for Fiscally Distressed Districts

Dec 20, 2018 - Recent legislation made several changes to the state’s system for intervening in fiscally distressed school districts. These changes could have significant implications for districts moving forward.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3914

Overview of Special Education in California

Nov 6, 2019 - Recent legislation directed the Legislature and administration to work collaboratively to consider changes in how the state organizes, delivers, and funds special education, with the overarching intent to improve outcomes. With this report, we aim to inform these fiscal and policy conversations by providing an overview of special education in California.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4110

The 2017-18 Budget: Proposition 98 Education Analysis

Feb 9, 2017 - In response to these concerns, the Legislature enacted Chapter  797 of 2014 (AB 1432, Gatto). This legislation built on the 1980 law by requiring districts to train virtually all staff in how to detect and report child abuse.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3549

The 2025-26 Budget: California State University

Feb 25, 2025 - Though the number of students shifted from self‑ to state‑supported courses is smaller in 2024‑25 compared to 2023‑24 (745 FTE students shifted in summer 2024 compared to 4,705 FTE students shifted the previous summer), the effect is still not adding new students but adding new state costs from shifting students formerly in self‑supported courses into state‑supported ones.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4989

Early Budget Actions to Support In-Person K-12 Instruction and Address Learning Loss

Apr 23, 2021 - Below, we describe the major components of AB  86. In-Person Instruction Provides $2  Billion, Conditional on Meeting In-Person Instruction Requirements. Funding is allocated to local education agencies (LEAs) —school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education —based on their share of total 2020 ‑21 Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) allotments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4417

The 2017-18 Budget: Analysis of Special Education “Disconnect”

Mar 1, 2017 - Before 2013 ‑14, the state automatically backfilled reductions in federal special education funding as part of AB 602 calculations. Because federal funding was reduced at the same time it was removed from AB 602 calculations in 2013 ‑14, the state had to decide whether the AB 602 funding levels would be calculated before or after backfilling these cuts.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3598