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The state’s 2015-16 budget plan—approved by the Legislature and the Governor in June 2015—was premised upon the administration’s May 2015 (“May Revision”) revenue projections. As shown below, for the state’s key taxes, the administration has lowered the budget act revenue assumptions slightly by $124 million for 2014-15 (the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2015), while increasing key tax projections by $3.6 billion for 2015-16 and $2.2 billion for 2016-17.

The school finance analysis examines school spending patterns and the distribution of funding across districts within each state. The finance indicators in Quality Counts 2016 are based on the most recent available data, which is from 2013.

A new study published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks each state’s readiness for an economic downturn based on the size of its rainy day savings fund and budget surplus.

Now, three years after implementing the changes, California has reduced its prison population by some 30,000 inmates, and the state is in the vanguard of a prison reform movement spreading across the country, with support from both the right and the left. But the promise of savings – a chief goal of prison reform nationwide – has not been realized. Instead, costs have risen.

In an opening to this year’s budget negotiations at the Capitol, Senate Democrats on Monday proposed a $2 billion bond to build homes for homeless people with mental illnesses.
The measure would be funded by Proposition 63, the existing, 1 percent income tax on Californians earning $1 million or more per year to pay for mental health services.

California has a powerful economy, with 14 million private-sector jobs. It also has burdens: welfare recipients (12.6 million), generously paid government employees (2.1 million) and people collecting government pensions (1.3 million). . . There are 114 clients drawing from the government for every 100 people chipping in by working outside the government and paying taxes. We’re calling this the Feedme Ratio. Six states have a number over 100.

The latest result from the bureau’s annual survey of state and local government employees confirms a long-standing trend – that California has a below-average number of people on its public payrolls but above-average costs.

The pension reform measure that San Francisco voters passed in 2011 isn’t yielding the savings that city leaders expected, and for several reasons — one of which should worry all pension-paying institutions. That reason: Retirees are living significantly longer than old assumptions.

“Even with a booming economy and millions of dollars in new money coming in, San Francisco is facing a projected $99 million budget deficit next fiscal year. And nearly half of it can be chalked up to the city’s skyrocketing pension costs.”

For years, the state has conducted something of a shell game to help finance Medi-Cal, its health insurance system for the poor that now covers nearly a third of Californians.

The state budget is better prepared for an economic downturn than it has been at any point in decades. In 2015–16, we project that the state’s “Big Three” General Fund revenues—principally the personal income tax—will exceed June 2015 budget assumptions by $3.6 billion, with most of that gain to be deposited into the Proposition 2 rainy day fund. In 2016–17, we project that revenues will exceed spending under current policies, resulting in even further improvement in the state’s fiscal situation. Assuming no new budget commitments are made, we estimate 2016–17 would end with reserves of $11.5 billion.

The minimum funding guarantee for K-12 schools and community colleges is expected to surge to $77.5 billion by the 2019-20 school year – marking a five-year cycle of increases that will total more than $14 billion, according to a forecast released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst.

The state will end the current fiscal year in June with $3.5 billion more in revenue than lawmakers expected when they approved the budget for the current year last June. And the state would have reserves of $11.5 billion in June 2017, the end of the 2016-17 budget year, barring any new budget commitments.

Billions of dollars for schools will likely be at stake on the 2016 ballot as well as pivotal campaigns for state Legislature and a question about union pensions. Meanwhile, the Capitol is expecting a robust debate about how schools are evaluated and courts will hear two lawsuits challenging the teachers union.

According to the most recent available information, California’s K-12 education spending lags the nation by almost any measure.