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Policy Brief

Policy Brief: Factors and Future Projections for K–12 Declining Enrollment

By Julien Lafortune, Emmanuel Prunty, Stephanie Barton

California counties serving higher shares of low-income, English Learner (EL), and Asian, Black, and Latino students expect greater enrollment losses in coming years. In the past, schools that closed due to falling enrollment had more low-income and EL students as well as lower test scores than the rest of the district.

blog post

Video: Health Conditions and Health Care among California’s Undocumented Immigrants

By Stephanie Barton

As the state prepares to expand Medi-Cal to all low-income Californians regardless of immigration status, a new PPIC report looks at how undocumented patients use community clinic services. Researcher Shalini Mustala discusses this report’s key findings, and researcher Paulette Cha moderates a panel discussion on lessons learned from recent Medi-Cal expansions.

Report

Priorities for California’s Water

By Jeffrey Mount, Letitia Grenier, Ellen Hanak, Caitlin Peterson ...

California has made great strides in preparing for a drier, hotter future, but it remains a challenge to harness the bounty of wet years while also reducing flood risk. How did California’s water sector manage the unusually wet 2023 water year—and what lessons can we glean for the future?

Report

Assessing Transitional Kindergarten’s Impact on Elementary School Trajectories

By Julien Lafortune, Laura Hill

California’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program provides an early year of schooling within the K–12 system. Launched a decade ago with limited eligibility, TK will soon be open to all four-year-olds. Taking stock of the program’s impact so far—especially among multilingual and special education students—can help TK expansion succeed.

Fact Sheet

Public Health Insurance in California

By Shalini Mustala, Paulette Cha

More than half of Californians are covered by public health insurance—mainly Medi-Cal, which covers low-income residents, and Medicare, which covers most adults aged 65 and older. The state is preparing to expand Medi-Cal to all low-income Californians, regardless of age or immigration status.

Report

Are Younger Generations Committing Less Crime?

By Magnus Lofstrom, Brandon Martin, Deepak Premkumar

Among Californians born in 1993 and later, criminal offending has fallen 20 to 25 percent compared to previous generations. This shift in longstanding trends is a driving factor behind the overall decline in crime over the last decades and has several broader implications for the criminal justice system.

Report

Managing Water and Farmland Transitions in the San Joaquin Valley

By Ellen Hanak, Andrew Ayres, Caitlin Peterson, Alvar Escriva-Bou ...

How can the San Joaquin Valley adapt to a future with less water? We’ve been researching this issue for the past seven years, and our new report presents highlights from we’ve learned, including a robust list of policy suggestions to help the valley weather—and make the most of—the coming changes.

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Private Schooling Played a Small Role in Declining Public School Enrollment

By Emmanuel Prunty, Julien Lafortune

Private schooling in California increased substantially during the pandemic. Still, it accounts for a small share of total K–12 enrollment and is not a major factor in public school declines, which are driven largely by broader demographic shifts.

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