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

Mar 18, 2026 - Introduction California operates the nation ’s largest public school system, comprising 937 school districts, 1,257 charter schools, and 58 county offices of education. This year, these local agencies will educate nearly 5.8  million students, employ around 700,000 teachers and staff, and spend nearly $150  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - The latter reductions are primarily due to lower Proposition  64 revenues and the use of one ‑time federal carryover funds in 2025 ‑26 ( Figure  5 ). Figure 4
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

The 2026-27 Budget: K-12 Proposals

Feb 19, 2026 - This program now represents the vast majority of funding schools receive for expanded learning ( Figure  5 ). ELOP Funds Allocated Through a Two ‑Tiered Funding Structure. As Figure  6 shows, the ELOP implementing legislation established two funding rates that account for TK ‑6 attendance and vary based on the proportion of a school district or charter school ’s students who are English learners or from low ‑income families (EL/LI).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5131

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

Feb 4, 2026 - For example, the ratio of stock prices to corporate earnings (a measure of how expensive stocks are) is near historically high levels ( Figure  5 ). Investors are borrowing large sums to buy stocks, and households are more invested in the stock market than at any time in at least 70 years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5110