The 2026-27 Budget: California Education Learning Lab

Mar 25, 2026 - This creates a fundamental barrier to scaling specific course curricula or implementing redesigned pedagogies, as faculty are not required to adopt them. There Are Opportunities to Achieve Same Objectives Within Each Segment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5171

The 2026-27 Budget: California Community Colleges

Mar 5, 2026 - Although the state is not statutorily required to provide a COLA for apportionments, it has a long ‑standing practice of doing so when Proposition  98 funds are available. (In contrast, the state is statutorily required to provide a COLA for the LCFF for school districts.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5150

The 2026-27 Budget: California State University

Feb 24, 2026 - Although CSU ’s 2026 ‑27 Operating Budget Plan provides some transparency by providing a spending plan, there is no statutory language that requires CSU to allocate the base increase consistent with this plan.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5142

The 2026-27 Budget: California Student Aid Commission

Feb 17, 2026 - Original MCS Program Did Not Require Students to Demonstrate Financial Need. Whereas most federal and state financial aid programs require undergraduates to demonstrate financial need, the original MCS program did not.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5127

The 2026-27 Budget: Community College Facilities

Mar 17, 2026 - Projects in both categories also receive points based on the amount of the local contribution, with districts generally required to cover at least 25  percent of total project costs and receiving more points for covering a larger share.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5159

Assessment of the Strong Workforce Program

Dec 10, 2025 - Certain CTE disciplines, such as business and nursing, required a master ’s degree. The Strong Workforce Task Force believed these requirements might be limiting the pool of industry professionals who could serve as CTE  instructors.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5098

Assessment of CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025

Dec 10, 2025 - Require an Annual Program Report. Another  best practice in state program design is to require reporting on whether the program is achieving its statutory objectives in a cost ‑effective manner. To this end, we recommend the Legislature adopt an annual reporting requirement to track the use of current, and any new, GI funds.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5099

The 2026-27 Budget: University of California

Feb 26, 2026 - Moreover, no statutory language requires UC to allocate the base increase consistent with this plan. Furthermore, the Legislature could have different priorities —for example, prioritizing compensation increases, enrollment growth, or the building up of UC ’s reserves for economic uncertainties differently than the Board of Regents.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5143

The 2026-27 Budget: Higher Education Overview

Feb 5, 2026 - In contrast to the Cal Grant program, MCS does not require students to meet financial need criteria. MCS does have an income cap, but it is very high ($250,000 in 2026 ‑27) and not based on family size.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5112

California Community Colleges—Managing Cash in a Time of State Payment Deferrals

Dec 18, 2020 - The state began using payment deferrals during the dot ‑com bust but relied much more heavily on them during the Great Recession. The practice of deferring college payments peaked in 2011 ‑12, when the state deferred a total of $ 961  m illion in CCC payments —accounting for nearly 30  p ercent of CCC Proposition  98 General Fund support.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4307