The 2025-26 Budget: California State University

Feb 25, 2025 - On the one hand, the administration projects that the number of high school graduates will decrease by 3 percent, leading potentially to a decrease in the incoming freshman class for fall 2025. On the other hand, recent upward trends in new transfer students and continuing students could persist into the budget year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4989

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Jan 6, 2026 - Alternative 3, on the other hand, provides about one ‑third of the funding increase through base funding. This approach would provide some level of flexible base funding to all districts, while being more targeted to high UPP  districts than switching to an enrollment student count methodology.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5100

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

Nov 19, 2025 - On the other hand, the state’s school‑age population is declining due to a decrease in births that began nearly two decades ago and accelerated between 2017 and 2020. This decline is likely to be the main factor affecting school attendance over the next several years, and we estimate corresponding attendance decreases of about 1 percent per year (Figure 9).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5093

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - There are a handful of differences in our estimates, but these changes are small enough on net that they do not substantively change our assessment of the budget condition. Specifically, the administration has higher revenue estimates than our office, but these are mostly offset by their higher spending estimates.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

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

Mar 18, 2026 - On the other hand, the proposal would require funding a new office for the SPI. Given these factors, we think the state could implement the shift while keeping overall costs roughly neutral. The Governor ’s budget, however, does not propose any specific fiscal changes to implement the proposal or identify the new funding levels for CDE, SBE, and the Office of the SPI.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

Evaluation of Cal Grant C Program

Apr 30, 2019 - On the one hand, shortening the minimum program length would expand access to Cal Grant awards for some CTE students. On the other hand, some research suggests students completing shorter CTE programs tend to experience lower wage increases than students completing longer CTE programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4020

The 2025-26 Budget: Expanded Learning Opportunities Program

Feb 20, 2025 - On the other hand, in subsequent years, the rate may increase as the state continues to experience projected declines in overall student enrollment. Districts Likely Need Time to Scale Programs and Notify Families.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4977

The 2025-26 Budget: Educator Workforce

Mar 7, 2025 - On the other hand, directing more funding for math coaches would help the state begin to establish additional support for math instruction, similar to what the state has done in literacy over the past several years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5012

A Review of the CalSTRS Funding Plan: Conclusion

Feb 2, 2016 - On the other hand, the plan also potentially exposes the state to larger unfunded liabilities than we thought possible when the Legislature passed the law. Over the long term, if investments consistently underperform assumptions —or if CalSTRS reduces its investment return assumption —the state ’s share of the unfunded liability could increase substantially and state contributions could be several billion dollars higher by the 2040s.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3339

The 2022-23 Budget: Green School Bus Grants

Feb 10, 2022 - We  spoke with a handful of districts that purchased electric buses and asked them about their experiences. Districts indicated the buses provided smooth, clean, and quiet transportation for their students.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4525