EducatingcaLiFORniacHOicESFOR tHEFutuRE

SHORtcHangingEducatiOn?

Supported by funding fromThe William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The Public Policy Institute of California isdedicated to informing and improving publicpolicy in California through independent,objective, nonpartisan research.

1Spending on education is the biggest-ticketitem in the Caliornia state budget. Conse-quently, education unding is an obvioustarget when that budget must be cut. Thecurrent scal crisis has been no exception.School districts around the state are cutting jobs and programs. Recent proposed cutsin higher education unding have led boththe Caliornia State University (CSU) systemand the University o Caliornia (UC) to re-duce admissions. Although increased invest-ment alone will not solve all our educationalchallenges, cuts in education unding work against the state’s long-term interests. Calior-nia is already acing a “skills gap” that threat-ens its uture economy. We need more—notless—support or education to narrow thatgap, and more inormation about how tobest target that support. Unless decisions andactions are taken soon to improve educa-tional outcomes or Caliornians, the state’suture economy and the prosperity o its resi-dents will be compromised. The good newsis that modest improvements could lead tosubstantial long-term gains.