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

Mar 18, 2026 - Specifically, they identified three main issues: Unclear Lines of Accountability. One consistent criticism was that no one entity could be held accountable for educational quality and results. The studies concluded that none of the main actors could establish clear policy goals and align state administration with those goals.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - As a condition of receiving CCDF, the state must comply with a number of requirements, such as providing some matching funding as well as spending at least 12 percent of CCDF funds on quality improvement activities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

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

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Jan 6, 2026 - This approach would be well ‑aligned with the existing accountability system, but would require the state to revise its ESSA plan and potentially make other changes to its accountability system to remain in compliance with federal government.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5100

The 2026-27 Budget: K-12 Proposals

Feb 19, 2026 - Receiving a status update would give the Legislature an opportunity to determine whether the proposed guidelines provide sufficient accountability for schools and whether existing funding is sufficient to support accreditation costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5131