Julien Lafortune

Julien Lafortune
Julien Lafortune
Senior Fellow,
Public Policy Institute of California

Julien Lafortune is a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). He is also a member of the PPIC Economic Policy Center, where he specializes in education and economics. His primary areas of focus include K–12 education finance, school infrastructure, human capital, and labor market policy. He has authored policy reports, briefs, presentations, and blogs on a variety of policy topics, including K–12 education, labor market issues, demographics, and housing markets. He has published research papers on school finance reforms and school capital investments in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings. Lafortune received his PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

updated 2025

Contributing topics
Access, quality & alignment in early childhood education
Education finance
Educational governance & policy
Supporting students’ social-emotional, mental & physical health
Understanding, measuring & improving student outcomes
Contributing initiatives
CORE-PACE Research Partnership
COVID-19 Recovery
LCFF Research Collaborative
Commentary by Julien Lafortune
: Unlocking the Potential of Transitional Kindergarten Requires Better Data on Early Education
Julien Lafortune in the Media
: Bay Area School Enrollment Plunges as Families Flee High-Cost Region
: California Schools Gained Billions During COVID-19. Now the Money Is Running Out
: Transitional Kindergarten’s Impact on Elementary School Trajectories
: Two Dozen Views on LCFF: Is California’s Funding Law Working and What Could Improve It?
: Bay Area School Enrollment Plummets for the Sixth Year in a Row
Publications by Julien Lafortune
Assessing Transitional Kindergarten’s Impact on Elementary School Trajectories
Assessing Transitional Kindergarten’s Impact on Elementary School Trajectories
California’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program provides an additional year of schooling within the K–12 system that aims to prepare children for kindergarten. Launched a decade ago with limited eligibility, the program will be expanded to all…