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: 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 2026-27 Budget: K-12 Proposals

Feb 19, 2026 - 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: Child Care and State Preschool

Mar 19, 2026 - On January 6, 2026, the federal administration announced that it would freeze $10  billion in grant funding going to five states due to concerns about improper use of federal funds. The freeze affected Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), CCDF, and the Social Services Block grant.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5168

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: Proposition 98 Guarantee and K-12 Spending Plan

Feb 4, 2026 - Figure  6 summarizes the usual schedule for these revisions and settle ‑up payments. From an accounting perspective, settle ‑up payments are always scored to the year in which the guarantee increased, rather than to the year the state disburses the payment to schools.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5110

The 2025-26 Budget: School Nutrition

Mar 4, 2025 - We estimate the state will serve 967 million meals in 2025‑26, or 46 million (5 percent) above the administration’s estimate. Based on our higher estimates, we recommend providing $32 million more than the Governor proposes for school nutrition programs in 2025‑26.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5001

The 2024-25 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education

Feb 15, 2024 - (The school ’s ISP of 29  percent would be multiplied by 1.6 to determine the share of meals reimbursed at the free rate [46  percent]. The  remainder would be reimbursed at the paid rate.) If this school had been required to participate in CEP in 2022 ‑23, it would have received less federal funding due to the increase in lunches reimbursed at the paid rate.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4839

Overview of K-12 Career Technical Education

Mar 25, 2025 - As of February 2025, CDE has awarded 185 grants for middle college and early college high schools, totaling $46  million, and awarded 877 grants for CCAP agreements totaling $88  million. The grant program requires CDE to provide two programmatic reports, one by June 30,  2024 and the other by June 30, 2027.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5021

The 2025-26 Budget: Expanded Learning Opportunities Program

Feb 20, 2025 - Specifically, these programs must offer the program to all TK through grade 6 students in classroom ‑based settings and provide access to  all students whose parent or guardian requests their placement in a program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4977