The 2025-26 Budget: Educator Workforce

Mar 7, 2025 - As Figure  2 shows, the gap between California and the national average steadily closed from 2005 to 2019, but has remained relatively flat since 2019. The gap between the state and the national average is driven by the outcomes for economically disadvantaged students, which NAEP defines as students with family incomes below 130  percent of the federal poverty level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5012

Overview of K-12 Career Technical Education

Mar 25, 2025 - The remaining funds were provided to postsecondary CTE programs and for state ‑level activities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5021

The 2025-26 Budget: California Military Department—STARBASE Classroom Building

Feb 20, 2025 - Department of Defense-authorized educational program designed to provide elementary- and secondary-aged students with supplemental education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art and design, and mathematics (STEAM).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4976

Improving Legislative Oversight of Emergency Authorities

Apr 10, 2025 - Figure  3 shows the distribution of the 36 states by the amount of time in which their Governors or Legislatures must act. At the federal level, the National Emergencies Act (NEA) was enacted in 1976 to rein in presidential emergency powers and provides that a national emergency will end automatically after one year unless the President publishes a notice of renewal in the Federal Register.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5029

The 2025-26 Budget: Update on Implementation of New Firearm and Ammunition Tax

Feb 19, 2025 - Specifically, lowering the amounts provided to particular programs could increase the likelihood that more of the programs listed in Chapter  231 receive some level of funding. For example, the 2024-25 budget eliminated $9  million in General Fund support for CalVIP beginning in 2025-26 due to the anticipation of GVPSS Fund monies being available to support the program instead.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4970

This measure requires public schools to provide each student with 30 hours of education on environmental sustainability and sustainable best practices every two years. [Ballot]

Mar 25, 2025 - The state adopted the current science standards in 2013. The standards cover a broad range of science concepts in each grade level, including the use of natural resources, the impact of human activity on the environment, and global climate change.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-001

Building California’s Behavioral Health Infrastructure: Progress Update and Opportunities for the Proposition 1 Bond

Feb 5, 2025 - RAND used three approaches for estimating the shortage of beds: (1) surveying psychiatric facilities to gather data on bed occupancy, wait list volume, and other information; (2) convening an expert panel to estimate bed need based on available research; and (3) assessing national and state survey data concerning the prevalence of SMI to determine the regional variation in the need for beds.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4954

Frequently Asked Questions About Wildfires in California

Jan 28, 2025 -  $25  million annually beginning in 2017 ‑18 to pre ‑position mutual aid fire engines and other related equipment in order to decrease local response times to potentially destructive wildfires and other disasters.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4952

The 2025-26 Budget: Educator Workforce [Publication Details]

Mar 7, 2025 - In this brief, we assess the Governor’s 2025-26 educator workforce proposals and provide associated recommendations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5012

The 2025-26 Budget: Update on Implementation of New Firearm and Ammunition Tax [Publication Details]

Feb 19, 2025 - In this post, we provide an update and comments on the implementation of a new firearm and ammunition tax that went into effect beginning July 2024.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4970