This letter to the editor is in response to Is California’s investment in needy students paying off? Few signs yet that achievement gap is closing CALmatters reporter Jessica Calefati relies on faulty research, narrow metrics and insufficient data to make sweeping generalizations and unsubstantiated conclusions about the effectiveness of California’s landmark Local Control Funding Formula. Calefati’s […]

Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law today a new gun control measure that restricts firearms access for Californians accused of crimes—countermanding recent Trump administration rules expanding who can and cannot own a gun.

Proponents of single payer healthcare in California are strategizing about what do next after the speaker of the Assembly shelved the bill, saying it lacked critical details such as how it would be funded.

Andy de Leon thought he was the only one. Deported to Mexico, the Vietnam-era Army cook struggled to find a way to live in Tijuana—landing in the sprawling border city after serving time for a drug conviction. At age 65 he lost his home in Madera, his car and his family. It’s been years since […]

“Trailer bills,” said Sen. Richard Roth—referring to pieces of legislation tied to the budget but often bearing little connection to it—“are a box of chocolates. And you never know what you’re going to get.” Surprises abound each year as lawmakers craft the annual budget that keeps the state running. While most of the budget involves big-ticket items such as how much to spend on public education ($74.5 billion) or health care for the poor ($105.6 billion), a few extra nuggets are always thrown in that don’t involve much money but make significant policy changes.

More than half of Californians worry they will lose health insurance if the Republican Congress and President Donald Trump repeal what's commonly known as Obamacare, according to a poll released today.

It's looking like the Trump administration has decided to sidestep a pollution fight with California over the state's power to set more stringent vehicle emission standards than the federal government. EPA chief Scott Pruitt said late last week that the Trump administration was not reviewing the California waiver, and hailed the state's "leadership" on clean air.

Researchers studying California’s new school funding system wish they could track the huge sums of money the state has sent to struggling students, and analyze what districts spent it on. They can’t because the financial data needed to do so isn’t available. Given that limitation, they’ve tried to figure out whether the four-year-old Local Control […]

California’s new system for funding public education has pumped tens of billions of extra dollars into struggling schools, but there’s little evidence yet that the investment is helping the most disadvantaged students. A CALmatters analysis of the biggest districts with the greatest clusters of needy children found limited success with the policy’s goal: to close the […]

State lawmakers just approved more than $180 billion in spending. Where is that money going?