The 2025-26 Budget: Proposition 98 Guarantee and K-12 Spending Plan

Feb 13, 2025 - a Governor ’s settle ‑up proposal Yes
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4963

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

Jan 13, 2025 - The reason for the reduction is the recent voter approval of Proposition  35 (2024), which requires the state to spend less MCO tax money on offsetting General Fund spending and more money on provider rate increases.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

The 2025-26 Budget: Proposition 98 Guarantee and K-12 Spending Plan [Publication Details]

Feb 13, 2025 - This brief examines the estimates of the Proposition 98 guarantee in the Governor’s budget and assesses the overall structure of the Governor’s plan for K-12 funding. It also examines a few of the larger spending proposals and the proposal to delay a $1.6 billion settle-up payment. Update (2/21/25): This brief has been updated to reflect our office’s estimate of the K-12 COLA (2.26 percent).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4963

Overview of K-12 Career Technical Education

Mar 25, 2025 - The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) was signed into law in July 2018, reauthorizing the federal Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. To receive funding, a state must submit a plan to the Secretary of Education that outlines the state ’s approach to CTE and confirms that the state complies with certain federal regulations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5021

The 2025-26 Budget: School Nutrition

Mar 4, 2025 - In 2024 ‑25, the federal government reimburses schools up to $4.54 for lunches served at the free rate and up to 53 cents for lunches served at the paid rate. Federal meal reimbursement rates receive an annual cost ‑of ‑living adjustment (COLA) based on a federal price index that reflects changes in the costs of meals purchased away from home.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5001

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Developmental Services

Mar 5, 2025 - The spending plan provided $1  million General Fund and authorized up to $5  million in provisional authority for continued IT project planning, pending the potential approval of federal funding. We note that the department also canceled its Reimbursement System Project, a separate IT project that first received funding in 2019 ‑20.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5008

The 2025-26 Budget: Educator Workforce

Mar 7, 2025 - The proposed program would repay up to $20,000 in educational debt for staff working in priority schools. Grantees would receive up to $5,000 for each year they worked in a priority school, for up to four years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5012

The 2025-26 Budget: Expanded Learning Opportunities Program

Feb 20, 2025 - This would mean districts have less ELOP  funding for programming beyond the minimum requirements, but free up several hundreds of millions of dollars that could be redirected to other education priorities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4977

The 2025-26 Budget: California State University

Feb 25, 2025 - In 2022 ‑23, the Center raised Fellows salaries by 9.75  percent, up to the current level of $3,253 per month. If adjusted annually based on the California Consumer Price Index (CA CPI), that monthly salary rate would be $3,447 in 2024 ‑25.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4989

The 2025-26 Budget: Transitional Kindergarten

Feb 18, 2025 - The Governor ’s estimated TK growth of 60,000  ADA is about twice the amount we project when considering current take ‑up trends and estimates of the number of four ‑year olds in California. The state could plausibly see this higher level of ADA through a combination of higher rates of enrollment in TK and better attendance of those students.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4968