Education

Charter School Authorization in California

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October 23, 2017 - Presented to: Senate Education Committee

Overview of High School Career Technical Education

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October 2, 2017 - Presented to Assembly Committee on Education; Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance; Assembly Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Building a 21st Century Workforce; and Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy

Update on School District Retiree Health Benefits

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September 25, 2017 - School districts face growing cost pressure related to the health benefits they provide for their retired employees. The first section of this post explains how districts structure their retiree health benefits, and the second section analyzes historical spending levels and future liabilities. We find that the unfunded liability—the total future cost of providing the retiree health benefits that employees have already earned, after subtracting the funds already set aside to cover those benefits—is about $24 billion across all districts. Some districts have taken steps to reduce their future costs, such as requiring employees to work longer before qualifying for these benefits. A few districts also are beginning to set aside additional funds now to cover future retiree health benefits, a practice that could yield significant long-term savings.

Teacher Workforce Proposals

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June 2, 2017 - Presented to Budget Conference Committee

Overview of Proposition 98 and K-12 Conference Issues

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June 2, 2017 - Presented to Budget Conference Committee

The 2017-18 Budget: Analysis of the May Revision Education Proposals

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May 15, 2017 - In this brief, we analyze the Governor’s May Revision education proposals. First, we review changes in the overall Proposition 98 funding level. Subsequently, we describe and assess the Governor’s major proposals for K‑12 education, child care and preschool, the California Community Colleges, the California State University, the University of California, and student financial aid.

5/16/17: Correction to LAO CalWORKs Stage 2 cost estimates.

The 2017-18 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor’s May Revision

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May 13, 2017 - On May 11, 2017 the Governor presented his 2017-18 May Revision budget proposal to the Legislature. We are releasing our assessment of the May Revision in various online products. This post describes the major features of the Governor’s May Revision and our office’s initial comments on it. Other posts in this series discuss our office’s independent assessments of the state’s economy, revenues, and spending proposals in the May Revision.

CalSTRS Funding: An Update

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May 5, 2017 - The CalSTRS board recently acted to change assumptions used to estimate its unfunded liabilities, including the key assumption about future investment returns--sometimes referred to as the "discount rate." These and other recent developments have eroded CalSTRS' funding situation. This brief details these changes and describes how they will affect the state, school and community college districts, and teachers

Overview of Adult Education

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May 2, 2017 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance

Update on COLA for K-14 Education Programs

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April 28, 2017 - On April 28, 2017, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis released updated information that affects the cost-of-living adjustment for certain school and community college programs. In this post, we describe the new information and its implications for school funding.

Local Control Funding Formula

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April 20, 2017 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education

The 2017-18 Budget: Update on Per Capita Personal Income

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March 30, 2017 - On March 28, 2017, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis released updated data on personal income. In this post, we describe the new data and the implications for school funding.

The 2017-18 Budget: Update on K-12 Student Attendance

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March 30, 2017 - In early March of 2017, the California Department of Education certified initial average daily attendance data for 2016-17. In this post, we describe how the state tracks attendance and discuss the implications for Proposition 98 and school funding.

Teacher Workforce

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March 30, 2017 - Presented to Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Education Finance

School Facilities

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March 30, 2017 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education Finance