Schools, services and criminal justice are failing for lack of funds. It is a warning for America.

Desperate about a decline in the quality of public education, California voters on Tuesday will be faced with a proposal for a dramatic change that would plunge them into the unknown and offer them little chance of retreat. The proposal...

The financial impact of Proposition 174 has been debated by both sides in the contest, each trumpeting multimillion-dollar figures. Two independent think tanks -- the Rand Corp. is one -- have disputed those predictions, saying the price tag is unknown...

Public education in the nation's largest state is facing its toughest multiple-choice test in decades: grow, adapt, change, or bust. Against a backdrop of national and state budget deficits with little relief in sight, dozens of K-12 school districts across...

Nearly two-thirds of Californians believe the way to improve their public schools is through wiser--not more--spending, but a bare majority is willing to pay higher taxes to restore state cuts in education funding, a Los Angeles Times Poll has found...

It has become a political football in recent years, used alternately by union leaders to bolster claims of hidden district assets and school officials pleading poverty in Sacramento. State guidelines require that 55% of a district’s budget be spent in...

None of the three major candidates has come up so far with a detailed, comprehensive approach to fixing the state’s struggling system of public schools. Nor has any of them added much to their initial offerings. Yet just their interest...