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

Mar 18, 2026 - Introduction California operates the nation ’s largest public school system, comprising 937 school districts, 1,257 charter schools, and 58 county offices of education. This year, these local agencies will educate nearly 5.8  million students, employ around 700,000 teachers and staff, and spend nearly $150  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

A Review of the CalSTRS Funding Plan: State’s Future Responsibility for CalSTRS Uncertain

Feb 2, 2016 - Because theoretical assets that determine the state’s share of the unfunded liability fluctuate more than real world assets and because the state’s share of the unfunded liability ($15 billion) is much smaller than the district share ($58 billion), the state share will be relatively sensitive to changes in assets.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3336

A Review of the CalSTRS Funding Plan: Conclusion

Feb 2, 2016 - Meanwhile, that calculation, coupled with CalSTRS ’ treatment of the higher teacher contributions required by the funding law, have increased the school and community college district share from $47 billion to $58 billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3339

The 2022-23 Budget: Update on K-12 Student Attendance

May 11, 2022 - As Figure  4 shows, 55 of the 58 counties in California have experienced ADA declines during the pandemic. Of these 55  counties, 36 experienced two ‑year declines between 5  percent and 10  percent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4595

The 2019-20 Budget: California Spending Plan—Education

Oct 17, 2019 - Of this amount, $4.7  billion (58  percent) is state General Fund, $3.3  billion (41  percent) comes from student tuition and fee revenue, and $64  million (0.8  percent) is other state funding (primarily lottery revenue).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4096

The 2024-25 Budget: The Governor’s Proposition 98 Funding Maneuver

Feb 15, 2024 - We estimate the administration addressed a $58  billion budget problem in the Governor ’s budget. Despite this significant deficit, there is a good chance that the administration ’s revenue projections are too low and the state will face an even larger budget problem in May.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4840

K-12 Education in Context

Jan 26, 2018 - Compared to the student population, teachers are more likely to be white (66  percent of teachers compared to 24  percent of students) and less likely to be Hispanic (21  percent of teachers compared to 55  percent of students).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3736

The 2016-17 Budget: Local Government Mandates--Reasonable Reimbursement Methodology

Mar 17, 2016 - Currently, there are 58 active education mandates and 22 active local government mandates for which the CSM has adopted Parameters and Guidelines. Of these, six mandates —Habitual Truants, Graduation Requirements, Behavioral Intervention Plans, Immunization Records (Pertussis), Peace Officers Procedural Bill of Rights, and Municipal Stormwater and Urban Runoff Discharge —use an RRM.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3395

The 2025-26 Budget: California State University

Feb 25, 2025 - The monthly salary range for both positions is $5,384 to $8,406 ($64,608 to $100,872 per year) —66  percent to  2.5 times more than the Capital Fellows program. However, unlike these positions, the fellowship program has non ‑monetary benefits such as networking and experiential learning opportunities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4989

The 2017-18 Budget: County Offices of Education and The Minimum State Aid Provision

Feb 10, 2017 - Providing 18 COEs minimum state aid supplements cost an estimated $66 million in 2015-16. The Governor estimates these costs will continue at the same level in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Our analysis of local property tax growth, however, projects notably higher costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3554