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Education Publications

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Handout

Special Education

April 4, 2005 - Presented to the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on April 4, 2005.

Handout

Governor’s Budget-Related Reforms

March 15, 2005 - Presented to the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on March 15, 2005.

Handout

Assessment of the 2005-06 Budget

March 10, 2005 - Presented to the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on March 7, 2005.

Other

What Happened to the Proposal to Redirect UC and CSU Applicants to Community Colleges?

March 4, 2005 - What Happened to the Proposal to Redirect UC and CSU Applicants to Community Colleges? This is one of a series of issue briefs examining important questions about higher education funding in California. For more information on this topic, or to request other briefs from this series, contact the Legislative Analyst’s Office Higher Education section at (916) 319-8339, or visit our website at www.lao.ca.gov.

Handout

Governor’s Budget-Related Reforms—Proposition 98

March 3, 2005 - Presented to the Assembly Budget Process Committee on March 2, 2005.

Report

Child Care Reforms Merit Serious Consideration

February 24, 2005 - The Governor proposes a number of significant reforms to California’s subsidized child care system including eligibility restrictions, a new waiting list system, and tiered reimbursement rates. With certain qualifications, we support proposed eligibility and waiting list changes. Although tying reimbursement rates to quality makes sense, the Legislature may wish to consider alternative approaches which increase reimbursement rates for higher quality care rather than simply reducing reimbursement rates (as the Governor proposes) for lower quality care.

Report

Proposition 49—Recommend Repeal

February 24, 2005 - We recommend the Legislature enact legislation placing before the voters a repeal of Proposition 49 because (1) it triggers an autopilot augmentation even though the state is facing a structural budget gap of billions of dollars, (2) the additional spending on after school programs is a lower budget priority than protecting districts’ base education program, and (3) existing state and federal after school funds are going unused.

Report

Charter Schools

February 24, 2005 - Ever since it was first implemented in 1999-00, we have had concerns with the calculation of the charter school categorical block grant funding level. We recommend the Legislature pursue a reform strategy based upon a new control section in the annual budget act that would provide charter schools a share of categorical funding that is equivalent to the proportion of K-12 students they serve. This alternative approach would be simple, workable, and consistent with the original intent of the block grant.

Report

Special Education

February 24, 2005 - We make several recommendations related to special education.

Report

Categorical Reform

February 24, 2005 - We make several recommendations related to categorical reform.

Report

School District Financial Condition

February 24, 2005 - Some school districts face huge fiscal liabilities to pay for retiree health benefits. It will be difficult for districts to deal with these obligations without a long-term strategy. We recommend the Legislature take various actions to start addressing this problem. Around 40 percent of school districts face declining enrollment. The state continues to have inequities in revenue limit (general purpose) funding across school districts. We recommend an approach to address both of the problems, allowing declining enrollment districts to increase their per pupil revenue limit until they reach the equalization target.

Report

Governor's Vocational Education Reform

February 24, 2005 - The 2005-06 budget proposes $20 million in support of a broad-based reform of vocational education in K-12 education. We believe the Governor's proposal addresses a significant problem, but lacks the level of detail necessary for the Legislature to fully evaluate it. We therefore recommend the Legislature direct the Department of Finance to provide to the budget subcommittees prior to budget hearings (1) the details of the proposed plan and (2) responses to our initial concerns about the proposal.

Report

Proposition 98 Budget Priorities

February 24, 2005 - The budget proposes to leave 2004-05 Proposition 98 appropriations at roughly the level provided in the 2004-05 Budget Act. This proposal would create $2.3 billion in General Fund savings over the two years. While the Governor’s 2005-06 spending plan for K-14 grows by $2.9 billion, it does not include funding to cover all K-14 operating expenses that districts would incur under the budget proposal. We recommend the Legislature build a base budget for 2005-06 that fully funds the current K-14 education program.

Report

Cost Shift to Teacher Retirement Costs Raises Short-Term and Long-Term Issues

February 24, 2005 - The Governor proposes shifting $469 million in General Fund teacher retirement costs to school districts and/or schools. Due to current law requirements, it is likely that the proposal would require a $469 million upward “rebenching” of Proposition 98’s minimum guarantee—nullifying the proposed General Fund savings. In addition, from a long-term perspective, the proposal on its own would not address the retirement system’s shortcomings—the lack of local control and responsibility.

Report

Enrollment Growth at Community Colleges

February 24, 2005 - We review recent trends in enrollment levels at the California Community Colleges. We also assess the impacts on enrollment from recent student fee increases, statutory changes, and other factors.

Education Staff

Jackie Barocio
(916) 319-8333
Child Care, Expanded Learning, School Facilities, and Teachers
 
Sara Cortez
(916) 319-8348
Special Education, Preschool, and Child Nutrition
 
Kenneth Kapphahn
(916) 319-8339
Proposition 98, School District Budgets, School Transportation
 
Lisa Qing
(916) 319-8306
California State University, Student Financial Aid
 
Paul Steenhausen
(916) 319-8303
California Community Colleges
 
Ian Klein
(916) 319-8336
University of California; College of the Law, San Francisco; California State Library
 
Michael Alferes
(916) 319-8338
Local Control Funding Formula, Charter Schools, Alternative Schools, High School Career Technical Education
 
Edgar Cabral
(916) 319-8343
Deputy Legislative Analyst: K-12 Education
 
Jennifer Pacella
(916) 319-8332
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Higher Education