This report on the funding of school education constitutes the first in a series of thematic comparative reports bringing together findings from the OECD School Resources Review. School systems have limited financial resources with which to pursue their objectives and the design of school funding policies plays a key role in ensuring that…

A case study of a Latinx parent-school engagement program is presented illustrating how immigrant parents became collective political actors providing input into their California school district's formulation of its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP was part of newly adopted statewide Local Control Funding Formula policy providing…

California policymakers have established the expectation that all public school students should have access to a broad course of study, in classes where instruction is consistent with the state's content standards. Further, the state holds schools and school districts accountable for their ability to ensure that all students achieve at a specified…

The probity of the Children's Bureau's National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) is examined with respect to the status of child welfare as well as the performance of social work education. By requiring that funding go only to accredited schools of social work, which is not authorized by relevant provisions of the Social Security Act,…

This report highlights significant investments made by both Republican and Democratic policymakers in state-funded pre-k programs for the fourth year in a row. In the 2015-16 budget year, 32 states and the District of Columbia raised funding levels of pre-k programs. This increased support for preschool funding came from both sides of the…

Research indicates that a high-quality, full-day kindergarten experience is a crucial component to setting students up for ongoing academic success, yet vast differences exist in the quality of kindergarten programs and how they are funded across the states. As states continue to develop strong pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programs, many are also…

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) reformed California's K-12 school finance system. It replaced a patchwork of formulas and specific (or "categorical") programs with a focus on local control, funding equity, and additional support for the large share of students (63%) who are "high needs"--that is, low-income, English…

Intended to accompany "Implementing California's School Funding Formula: Will High-Need Students Benefit?," this appendix examines the extent to which school shares of high-need students vary relative to their district concentrations by grouping approximately 950 school districts by their share of high-need students, arraying them into…

A skilled workforce is one essential component of a prosperous and inclusive state economy. Attaining a degree or other post-secondary credential has obvious benefits to graduates and their families. Higher education insulates against unemployment and can be a pathway out of the low-wage economy. Funding for higher education is correlated with…

There was a golden era, in the 1960s and 1970s, when beaming lawmakers smiled on community colleges. Public funds flowed like a river that nourished the nation's two-year institutions. Enrollments grew and everyone was happy, naturally. Over the past few decades, public funds have dried up, and formerly munificent politicians are now beleaguered…

To address lingering pressures in the aftermath of the pandemic, California public schools received record funding, largely bolstered by nearly $60 billion in federal and state one-time stimulus funds. This report takes a comprehensive look at the allocation and uses of these federal and state educational recovery funds in California.

In the rapid development of Chinese higher vocational education, large gaps have appeared in the scale of development and resource generation among the provinces, among regions in the provinces, and among higher education institutions in the provinces. Balanced regional development and provincial-level coordination have become policy focal points,…

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) designed the portfolio model based on the idea that we should move away from a "school system" to, instead, "a system of schools." In essence: school boards should focus on overseeing a "portfolio" of distinctive schools rather than directly running a set of…

The second year of California's statewide administration of the Smarter Balanced assessment allows parents, educators, and policymakers a second look at achievement and a first look at growth for K-12 students as measured by this standardized test. This report describes how California's students performed on the second year of the assessment…

In 2013 California adopted a new watershed state finance policy, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to drive more resources to students with higher needs, create more spending flexibility, and let districts decide how to spend substantial new dollars. Our analysis examines financial data from nearly all California school systems to clarify…