At the bottom of any deep discussion about school finance, 1978’s Prop. 13 is always lurking. A measure on the 2020 ballot, Prop. 15, wouldn’t overturn Prop. 13, but it would change it dramatically.

California’s Proposition 15, which would increase funding for public schools and local governments by changing tax rules for commercial and industrial property owners, is shaping up to be a close race and one of the most expensive on the ballot...

How do education stakeholders, political leaders and policy experts view California’s school funding system and what would it take to come together around a comprehensive, coordinated effort to increase funding in California? In this new episode, we explore these and...

The 1978 passage of Proposition 13 was part of a nationwide anti-tax wave, spurred by residents’ frustration with high inflation and soaring property taxes. It was a pivotal moment in California history when, critics say, individual needs overruled those of...

With K-12 revenue having cratered, school administrators, policymakers, and school funding advocates are now devising strategies to help school districts survive the coronavirus-sparked recession.

Learning in the pandemic has its challenges, but for a lot of students the problem is more fundamental: They are missing out on school altogether this fall, or showing up sporadically. Schools that have opted for virtual learning are struggling...

The massive, expensive fight over Proposition 15 is decades in the making. The so-called split roll initiative would be a partial but major reversal of Proposition 13, which in 1978 changed the way commercial property taxes are calculated—and reshaped all...

When Sacramento City schools started back up again just before Labor Day this year, parents were scrambling to figure out their kids’ online learning schedule for the fall. The teachers union and the Sacramento City Unified School District still hadn’t...

Headaches, anxiety and exhaustion caused by never-ending video meetings are no longer exclusively for adults trying to work from home during the pandemic. Some schools have started the fall semester with remote-learning setups that mimic what a full day of...