press release As Budget Angst Grows, Californians Take Stock of Fiscal Options and Take Aim at Elected Leaders Mar 26, 2008
Report Financing California’s Community Colleges By Patrick Murphy Jan 14, 2004 This report describes funding trends for the CCC system and assesses its ability to meet its future challenges. It finds that CCC revenue growth has fallen behind that of other systems in both California and the rest of the nation, and that CCC’s complicated allocation system is ripe for reform. The author identifies two ways to improve the system’s resource picture. The first is to fund CCC at the level the legislature guaranteed following the passage of Proposition 98 in 1988. The second is to raise community college tuition and fees, currently the lowest in the nation, while maintaining broad access to the system through the increased use of grants, tax credits, and financial aid programs.
Report High Expectations, Modest Means: The Challenge Facing California’s Public Schools By Jon Sonstelie, Sharmaine Heng, Ray Reinhard, Heather Rose Oct 29, 2003 This report provides background information on the state's academic standards, resources, and funding mechanisms. Its findings point to relatively low levels of school spending in California, a large gap between academic standards and school resources, a finance system based on previous funding levels rather than actual school resources and their costs, and questions about the most efficient uses of the state’s already modest school funds. In addition, the report provides a clear, authoritative discussion of Proposition 98 and its origins. The report concludes that the upcoming work of the Quality Education Commission, which is charged with developing school prototypes and estimating their costs, may provide a useful bridge between the State Board of Education, which sets academic and content standards, and the legislature, which allocates school funds.
press release Public Schools Serving Poor Students Are Being Shortchanged In California, Study Finds Feb 25, 2000
