Overall, 2016–17 scores changed little from 2015–16. This is quite different than in the previous year, when students made large gains. This pattern is consistent across the seven racial and ethnic groups reported by the CDE. The previous higher growth rate may have resulted in part from systemic factors, such as better understanding of the […]
Statewide, only a few majors are gender balanced—meaning that half the bachelor’s degrees are awarded to women and half to men. In 2016, according to federal data, among the 22 most popular majors in California’s public and private nonprofit colleges, more than 60% of the bachelor’s degrees in 10 majors and fewer than 45% of […]
Last week’s primary election garnered considerable statewide and national attention, with much of the focus on the governor’s race and contested congressional seats. Further down the ballot, however, voters were asked to decide on millions of dollars of local tax, bond, and fee initiatives. On the whole, these measures enjoyed considerable success across the state. […]
A record-high number of adults (72%) say that California ranks above average or near the top in per capita state and local tax burden compared to other states. This perception is close to the fiscal facts: a Tax Foundation report ranked California’s 2014 state and local tax collections per capita as 13th-highest in the nation. […]
Despite the recovery, California is still experiencing the aftereffects of the most recent housing bust, and the long-term challenges of housing California’s population haven’t gone away. The housing bubble, which popped in 2008, left the state with a foreclosure problem and large losses of construction jobs. About 652,000 California homeowners remain “underwater”—their mortgages are higher than the market value of their homes (CoreLogic, 2014 second quarter). Paradoxically, a housing recovery for some is a housing problem for others, as high rents and increasing prices place housing out of reach for many Californians.