The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Child Care and State Preschool

Nov 14, 2025 - The budget modifies this requirement so that when families already receiving child care services add a child to the family size and request services for the child, eligibility is not recertified until the new chil d has received at least 12 months of services.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5088

The 2023-24 Budget: Child Care Proposals

Feb 9, 2023 - We  are working with the administration to confirm that our estimate is correct and, if so, when and how the $232  million federal funds will be used. Additionally, we estimate that the administration has shifted hundreds of millions of federal relief funds initially allocated in 2021 ‑22 to 2022 ‑23.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4672

The 2023-24 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2023 - The Legislature can choose to set the SFEU balance at any level above zero and so our Fiscal Outlook did not assume a specific balance. (Recent budgets have enacted SFEU balances around $2  billion to $4  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4662

The 2021-22 Budget: Child Care Proposals

Feb 11, 2021 - We further recommend amending the proposed budget bill so that funds are appropriated to child care in a similar structure as the 2020 ‑ 21 b udget act. Specifically, we recommend that funding for each child care program be scheduled out in separate budget items instead of being consolidated together as proposed.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4363

A Review of Child Care and Preschool Program Flexibilities in Certain Counties

May 13, 2021 - Providing flexibilities so certain providers can fully earn their contracts removes the state ’s ability to reallocate funds to areas with the greatest unmet need. While CDE in recent years has attempted to redistribute slots from areas with lower demand to areas with the highest level of unmet need, funding within pilot counties has largely been excluded from these efforts.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4431