As discussed in the previous lesson, California's funding for public education is ordinary, compared to other states. Not the best, not the worst.

Unfortunately, this is bad news for California students, because money is only good for what it can buy, and California is a very expensive place.

Money is only good for what it can buy

Most of the costs of a school are people costs such as salaries, benefits and pensions, which cost more in California than they do in other states. California school districts can afford less of everything that matters most — such as teachers, school leaders, counselors, aides, and support staff.

Because California is state with high wages and a high cost of living, education dollars don’t go as far here as they do elsewhere.

For example, the cost of living in Texas and Florida is much lower than in California, which enables teacher salaries to be lower in those states. There are other states with high costs, like New York and New Jersey. As discussed in Lesson 8.1, those states compensate by investing considerably more economic effort per student to fund education than California does.

The student-teacher ratio in California is much higher than in the rest of the US

There are different ways of ranking the states in terms of their investment in education, but the rankings that matter most are those that compare purchasing power.

Fewer Adults

The math is unavoidable. Higher salaries and less money to pay for them means California children have a lot fewer teachers involved in their education. It's a big gap.

Comparing is hard.

Nationally comparable education data routinely take three years or more to be compiled and published by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Each year's latest education data is like a time capsule from the past, a challenge we discuss in Ed100 Lesson 9.5. In a 2019 blog post we argued for a more streamlined approach to national education data.

It's not just about teacher ratios, either. California compares unfavorably with other states in terms of the presence of adults, period. For example, in 2022-23 California’s student-to-school-counselor ratio was 464-to-1, ranked 43rd in the US.

Too much bureaucracy? No. California has significantly fewer administrators per student than average.

Skeptics sometimes assume that California schools and districts are administration-heavy, but they are mistaken. California laws restrict the number of administrators a district may employ. Overall, California's schools and districts are supported by significantly fewer administrators per student than the national average. Too little administrative oversight and lack of leadership has been harmful to California students, according to research conducted as part of a set of high-profile studies known as Getting Down to Facts II.

Comparing resources in schools, 2022-23

* Includes both school and district administrators

What is an adequate education?

In many states, education advocates have turned to the judicial branch of government to make the case for more funding for education. Some state constitutions explicitly or implicitly require their school system to provide students with at least an adequate education. Litigation, or the threat of it, has compelled some states to increase spending on education. California's courts declined to follow their lead.

The question is meaningful, anyway. What resources do schools actually need in order to provide students with an adequate basic level of education?

The 2018 report What Does It Cost to Educate California’s Students? took a bottom-up approach to the question, following the example of litigation in other states. The study, part of the "Getting Down to Facts II" project, consulted multiple expert panels to estimate the necessary staff and services required for an effective California middle school.

The panel advised that schools serving students with higher needs require additional resources. How much? After itemizing headcount requirements and costs, the report recommended an overall boost of about a third in order for a well-run middle school to take on the goals set by the State Board of Education.

The expert panel recommended the resources and ratios below as a minimum definition of adequate staff and services for a middle school:

Parent groups, local education foundations, and philanthropists in California try valiantly to support their schools with fundraising of many types. But you can't bake-sale your way out of an ongoing operating gap of this magnitude.

The next two lessons explain the sources of school funding in California and the role played by Prop. 13, which thoroughly upended the state’s education system.

Updated July 2024.