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

Mar 18, 2026 - The SBE consists of ten  members, serving staggered four ‑year terms, and one student member, serving a one ‑year term. The Governor appoints all 11 members with the approval of two ‑thirds of the State Senate.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

The 2026-27 Budget: K-12 Proposals

Feb 19, 2026 - The administration estimates the cost of providing grants to new community schools would be $800  million initially, assuming every eligible school receives funding in the budget year. During the first few years of implementation, the cost would be less than $1  billion because many of the current grantees still have one ‑time implementation funds available from prior ‑year allocations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5131

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - In 2021, the state increased rates and shifted most providers to the RMR, then began the process of developing a new child care reimbursement rate structure for all child care and State Preschool providers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

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

Feb 4, 2026 - In 2019 ‑20, however, the state adopted a new law prohibiting spending reductions after the fiscal year ends. This law allows the state to reduce spending during its first recalculation of the guarantee, but prevents reductions during the second recalculation at the end of the next fiscal year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5110

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Jan 6, 2026 - The  Legislature also could consider maintaining the existing reporting time lines, where districts must submit data three times a year. Consistent with current practices related to ADA, we recommend any new enrollment count be subject to annual  audits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5100

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