The 2026-27 Budget: Fiscal Outlook for Schools and Community Colleges

Nov 19, 2025 - When the state faced significant revenue drops in 2022 ‑23 and 2023 ‑24, it used several tools to sustain ongoing school and community college programs. Most  notably, it withdrew $9.5  billion from the Proposition  98 Reserve.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5093

The 2022-23 Budget: Update on K-12 Student Attendance

May 11, 2022 - As Figure  4 shows, 55 of the 58 counties in California have experienced ADA declines during the pandemic. Of these 55  counties, 36 experienced two ‑year declines between 5  percent and 10  percent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4595

The 2024-25 Budget: The Governor’s Proposition 98 Funding Maneuver

Feb 15, 2024 - We estimate the administration addressed a $58  billion budget problem in the Governor ’s budget. Despite this significant deficit, there is a good chance that the administration ’s revenue projections are too low and the state will face an even larger budget problem in May.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4840

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - The state also used roughly $2.3  billion in federal funding to partially cover program costs. In addition, the state partially covered program costs with $195  million from the Proposition  64 Youth Account, which is funded by the cannabis retail excise tax established in 2016.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

The 2025-26 Budget: Transitional Kindergarten

Feb 18, 2025 - We estimate the state will provide $2.3  billion Proposition  98 General Fund for TK through LCFF base (including base grant adjustment), supplemental, and concentration grant funding in  2024 ‑25. State Has TK Adult ‑to ‑Student Ratio Requirements and Provides Associated “Add ‑On ” Funding.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4968

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 2022-23 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2022 - The remaining $200  million would be allocated to the state ’s 61 local health jurisdictions (LHJs) (58 counties and 3 cities), with funding allocated based in part on each LHJ ’s population share, level of poverty, and racial/ethnic make ‑up.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4492

The 2022-23 California Spending Plan: Proposition 98

Oct 24, 2022 - For COEs that are funded a bove their LCFF targets (33 of 58 COEs in 2021-22), the budget package establishes an ongoing add-on equal to the annual statutory COLA that COEs funded at their target receive.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4641

The 2021-22 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 10, 2021 - The supplemental payments were intended to accelerate the recovery from this drop, with payments growing from $2.3  billion in 2021 ‑22 to more than $6  billion by 2024 ‑25. Due to the strong rebound in the minimum guarantee, the Governor proposes to eliminate these payments after 2021 ‑22 —effectively making the $2.3  billion included in the 2021 ‑22 budget a one-time payment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4309

The 2022-23 Budget: Special Education Proposals

Jan 25, 2022 - The 2022-23 Budget: Special Education Proposals The 2022‑23 Budget Special Education Proposals Summary. This post provides background on various special education programs, describes the Governor ’s proposals related to these topics, and offers associated recommendations and issues for the Legislature to consider.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4494