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

Mar 18, 2026 - Recommend Adopting Proposal With Refinements. We recommend improving oversight by making the commissioner receive Senate confirmation. Regarding fiscal issues, we recommend directing the administration to submit a fiscal plan to make the shift cost ‑neutral and identify efficiencies.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool Summary In this brief, we analyze the Governor ’s child care and State Preschool budget proposals and provide associated recommendations. Below, we provide a summary of our major recommendations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

The 2026-27 Budget: Computer Science Supplementary Authorization

Mar 6, 2026 - Recommendation Reject Proposal. We recommend the Legislature reject this proposal. By allowing these funds to revert, the Legislature could redirect them to a higher priority education purpose. Subscribe | California State Legislature | Online Voter Registration | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Legislative Analyst's Office | The California Legislature's Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor 925 L Street, Suite 1000 Sacramento, CA 95814 | (916) 445-4656
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5153

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

Feb 4, 2026 - Whereas we recommend setting aside additional funding to meet the guarantee, we do not recommend a corresponding increase in school and community college spending this year. Instead, we recommend (1)  making a larger deposit into the Proposition  98 Reserve, and (2)  adopting trailer legislation that automatically reduces the deposit if the 2025 ‑26 guarantee declines relative to May estimates.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5110

The 2026-27 Budget: K-12 Proposals

Feb 19, 2026 - We recommend requiring unallocated funding from community schools grants to revert back to the state at the end of each fiscal year. We also recommend reverting the $485  million currently set aside for extension grants.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5131

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Jan 6, 2026 - Recommendations Recommend Continuing With ADA ‑Based Funding. Overall, our analysis finds that shifting to enrollment ‑based funding would be somewhat more predictable and reduce some administrative burdens for LEAs, but likely would have a negative effect on student attendance over the long run.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5100

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool [Publication Details]

Mar 19, 2026 - In this brief, we assess the Governor’s 2026-27 proposals for child care and State Preschool and provide associated recommendations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5168

CalSTRS Funding: An Update

May 5, 2017 - An analogy could be credit card debt. Each month, an individual with credit card debt incurs an interest charge. The cardholder ’s monthly payment typically must exceed the interest charge in order for the principal —or in the case of CalSTRS, the unfunded liability —to decrease.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3662

The 2026-27 Budget: Re-Envisioning State Education Governance [Publication Details]

Mar 18, 2026 - In this brief, we examine the Governor’s proposal to restructure state governance. The first section explains how the current system evolved and describes the main entities and their responsibilities. The second section reviews previous governance studies and explains how governance works in other contexts.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5165

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Developmental Services

Mar 5, 2025 - How will the administration differentiate recommendations that could be implemented in the near term compared to recommendations that will take longer to implement? How will the administration reconcile the community ’s recommendations with its own  priorities?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5008