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

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Jan 6, 2026 - (The version of Proposition   98 approved by voters in 1988 might have allowed the Legislature to make this change, but an amendment in 1990 —Proposition   111 —tightened the attendance requirement.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5100

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 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Child Care and State Preschool

Sep 26, 2024 - The budget package includes $229  million ($117  million General Fund and $111  million federal funds) for 11,000 new General Child Care slots beginning October 1, 2024. (The full-year ongoing costs of the slots is $305  million.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4932

Climate Change Impacts Across California - Crosscutting Issues

Apr 5, 2022 - A  2018   report  by the State Coastal Conservancy and The Nature Conservancy found that 55 percent of California’s existing coastal habitats are highly vulnerable to five feet of sea‑level rise, including 60 percent of the state’s iconic beaches and 58 percent of its marshes. 
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4575

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

Feb 15, 2024 - In this report, we assess the architecture of the Governor’s overall Proposition 98 budget and analyze his major proposals for K-12 education.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4839

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