February 27, 2025 - Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
May 20, 2025 - The 2025-26 Budget: Analysis of the May Revision K-14 Education Plan
March 5, 2025 - Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Education Finance
November 28, 2023 - This post summarizes overall Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2023-24 budget package. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.
September 16, 2024 - This post summarizes Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2024-25 budget package.
October 24, 2022 - This post summarizes overall Proposition 98 funding and K-12 education spending in the 2022-23 budget package. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.
February 18, 2025 - This brief provides an overview and analysis of the Governor’s proposals for transitional kindergarten.
January 13, 2025 - Update (1/16/25): A set of tables detailing various solutions and proposals has been appended to the online version of this report. They are available using the HTML link above.
On January 10, 2025, Governor Newsom’s administration presented its proposed state budget to the California Legislature. In this report, we provide a brief summary of the Governor’s budget based on our initial review as of January 12. In the coming weeks, we will analyze the plan in more detail and release many additional issue-specific budget analyses. For those additional analyses, please see our budget page.
February 20, 2025 - In this brief, we assess the Governor’s 2025-26 proposal for the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program and provide associated recommendations.
February 26, 2025 - In this post, we provide background on the state’s English learner identification process, describe and assess the Governor’s proposal to provide $10 million for a multilingual learner screener in transitional kindergarten, and provide our recommendations to the Legislature.
February 16, 2023 - In this brief, we provide our analysis and recommendations regarding the administration’s proposals for using available 2021-22 Proposition 98 funds.
September 6, 2024 - Each year, our office publishes the California Spending Plan to summarize the annual state budget. This publication provides an overview of the 2024‑25 Budget Act, gives a brief description of how the budget process unfolded, and then highlights major features of the budget approved by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. All figures in this publication reflect actions taken through early July 2024, but we have updated the narrative to reflect actions taken later in the legislative session.
February 6, 2025 - In this brief, we provide an overview and initial analysis of the Governor’s higher education budget plan.
December 17, 2021 - This post summarizes the state’s 2021-22 spending package for child care and preschool. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.
November 16, 2022 - Each year, the state calculates a “minimum guarantee” for school and community college funding based upon a set of formulas established by Proposition 98 (1988). Based upon recent signs of weakness in the economy, we estimate the guarantee in 2023‑24 is $2.2 billion (2 percent) below the 2022‑23 enacted budget level. Despite this drop, $7.6 billion would be available to provide increases for school and community college programs. In 2023‑24, the available funding could cover a cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) of up to 8.38 percent, which is slightly below our estimate of the statutory rate (8.73 percent). Over the next several years, growth in the guarantee and required reserve withdrawals would be just enough to cover the statutory COLA. Given this relatively precarious balance, we outline a few ways the Legislature could create a larger cushion to protect against revenue declines in the future.
February 7, 2023 - In this brief, we analyze the estimates of the Proposition 98 guarantee in the Governor’s budget and assess the overall structure of the Governor’s plan for K-12 funding.
March 7, 2025 - In this brief, we assess the Governor’s 2025-26 educator workforce proposals and provide associated recommendations.