To browse all LAO publications, visit our Publications page.
February 28, 2024 - In this brief, we analyze the Governor’s budget proposals for the University of California (UC). We have sections focusing on UC’s core operations and enrollment. We also revisit recent UC one-time initiatives and capital projects the state had funded.
February 21, 2024 - In this brief, we analyze the Governor’s budget proposals relating to community college enrollment, apportionments, and nursing education. In addition, the brief provides a number of recommendations and options to help the Legislature address the large gap between current community college spending and available Proposition 98 funding.
January 23, 2024 - This brief is the first of a six-part series covering higher education trends in California. The first brief focuses on student access. It covers changes in student demographics, admissions, and enrollment levels, among other trends, over the past few decades.
October 19, 2023 - This post summarizes the state’s 2023‑24 spending package for higher education. It is part of our Spending Plan series. In this post, we provide a short overview of the state’s higher education spending package, then cover spending for the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU), University of California (UC), student financial aid, student housing, and California State Library. The EdBudget part of our website contains many tables providing more detail about the 2023‑24 education budget package.
October 2, 2023 - Each year, our office publishes California Spending Plan, a series of publications that summarize the annual state budget. The final version of Overview of the California Spending Plan is presented here along with short online posts that focus on major areas and features of the 2023-24 budget package. As these posts become available, we will add them below.
April 19, 2023 - This brief analyzes the Governor’s budget proposals for the California State Library. Specifically, it covers the Governor’s proposals relating to the California History Room, Witkin State Law Library, and State Library audit program.
March 29, 2023 - This statutorily required brief evaluates the California Community College Teacher Credentialing Partnership Pilot Program, which the Legislature authorized in 2018 and funded in the 2019-20 budget. The brief provides background on teacher credentialing requirements and programs, describes the authorizing legislation’s requirements, provides our findings on implementation of the pilot, assesses the pilot, and makes an associated recommendation.
March 14, 2023 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
March 14, 2023 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
March 8, 2023 - The Governor’s budget proposes to increase base General Fund support for the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (UC Law SF) by $2.2 million (12 percent) in 2023‑24. After accounting for other revenue increases (primarily from student tuition revenue), UC Law SF’s total ongoing core budget would increase by $5.8 million (7.7 percent). We recommend the Legislature consider the base General Fund augmentation of 12 percent an upper bound. The proposed percentage increase is the largest among the education segments. Additionally, we recommend the Legislature reject the Governor’s proposal to provide one‑time funding for the school’s Urban Alchemy program. Given campus safety is part of the school’s core operations, we recommend program costs be covered using the school’s core ongoing funding.
March 7, 2023 - In this post, we analyze the Governor’s budget proposals for the California Kids Investment and Development Savings (CalKIDS) program administered by the Scholarshare Investment Board. We cover proposals relating to CalKIDS seed deposits and marketing.
February 23, 2023 - In this brief, we analyze the Governor’s budget proposals relating to the California Student Aid Commission. We cover Cal Grants, Middle Class Scholarships, Golden State Education and Training Grants, Golden State Teacher Grants, and state operations.