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While COVID-19 is capable of infecting anyone, the level of risk is far from equal. Data show that Black and Latino communities, already suffering from deep-rooted economic and health inequalities, have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Latinas, in particular, have suffered some of the most egregious economic and health disparities over the past year. Latinas were already saddled with significant disadvantages pre-pandemic; they had lower wages, higher levels of poverty and were the least likely to have access to health care compared to other demographic groups. COVID-19 compounded these inequities, and the outcomes for Latinas have been devastating. This report surveys the economic, health and social impact of COVID-19 on Latinas from data gathered through 41 interviews. Latinas interviewed lived in states with significant Latino populations, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Texas and Virginia.

As California policymakers start to chart a path forward beyond COVID-19, it is important to first understand and reckon with the pandemic's impact on child care programs and individual educators. This research paper presents findings from a survey of 953 California ECE programs and providers in June-July 2020. The results provide an in-depth view of the past year's devastation and highlight the unseen costs of operating a child care program throughout the pandemic with little-to-no support. Survey responses paint a grim picture of early educators fearing for their own health and the health of their families, of providers taking on personal credit card debt to cover program expenses, and a constant scramble to both find and afford essential cleaning supplies in order to meet new health and safety regulations. The key findings from this study should inform the strategic, equitable, and urgent allocation of American Rescue Plan Act stabilization funds in California over the coming months.

The most significant investment California made in the 1960s was the creation of, arguably, the best public higher education system in the world. The 1965 Master Plan for Higher Education created a three-tiered system of higher education that provided a place in college for any Californian seeking the opportunity. From research universities to accessible four-year public state universities and community colleges, the Master Plan for Higher Education catapulted California into world leadership in gross domestic product such that today, the state is the 5th largest economy in the world. While revolutionary for its time, the design of the Master Plan no longer reflects the economic and workforce demands of the state and has led to uneven degree attainment and income inequality across the state. Today, California needs additional college graduates and a more ambitious Master Plan to help us meet the economic imperatives of the next decade. If California is to remain competitive, maintain an economic standing as the fifth largest economy in the world, and meet workforce demand, the state must ensure that college preparation and opportunity are provided in a more equitable way, and we must close racial/ethnic gaps in college attainment while ensuring that 60 percent of residents in every racial/ethnic group hold a college credential by 2030. If we do not take action, by 2030, we estimate only 32.5 percent of the state's Latinx workforce will have a degree or high-value credential. This is barely half of the 60 percent goal articulated above. Ensuring that at least 60 percent of the state's workforce holds a college credential, and that at least 60 percent of the state's Latinx, Black, and American Indian/Alaska Native residents hold a college credential will generate an additional 2.5 million credentials over the coming decade. Moving from a 32.5 percent college attainment rate among Latinx Californians in the workforce to a 60 percent college attainment would result in 1.26 million additional Bachelor's degrees and 1.16 million additional Associate's degrees and certificates for the state's Latinx residents alone. [Written with contributions from Michele Siqueiros.]

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the most difficult semester in generations on college campuses across the United States. With that semester now wrapping up, public colleges and universities are facing costs that already dwarf the $7.6 billion in federal stimulus funds that are on their way to these institutions. Absent dramatic new action from Congress, many of the public colleges that support social mobility will confront an existential threat. As dramatic as colleges' losses already are, a much bigger threat is in the offing: the potential for multiple years of severe state budget cuts. Forty-six states and Washington, D.C., have constitutional or statutory requirements to balance their budgets. States are already reporting record deficits in revenue during the pandemic as lost wages, low sales, and people staying home translate into less tax revenue. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that states will face a $765 billion shortfall over the next three years. Therefore, Congress must act now to protect higher education by distributing the necessary additional funds for public colleges and universities. This includes investing at least $46 billion in states for higher education, including funding a strong a maintenance of effort (MOE) provision to ensure that state funding per student remains at levels comparable to before the pandemic, as well as requiring institutional reporting on factors such as enrollment and withdrawals by income and race to not deepen existing societal disparities.

In November 2020, Californians will vote on Proposition 20 ("Prop 20"), a ballot initiative that would roll back key elements of the state's recent justice reforms, including Public Safety Realignment, Proposition 47, and Proposition 57 (AB 109, 2011; Prop 47, 2014; Prop 57; 2016; SOS, 2018). In recent years, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) has analyzed the effects of other major reform initiatives, including the "Three Strikes" law reform, Proposition 47, and Proposition 57 (CJCJ, 2008; 2011; 2014; 2014a; 2014b; Ridolfi et al., 2016; 2016a). This report considers Prop 20's effects on budgets, jail and prison populations, and crime rates. The authors' analysis suggests that the initiative's passage could siphon scarce state resources and increase populations in jails and prisons to critical levels.

College plays a critical role in providing opportunities for economic mobility, yet degree attainment by race is inequitable. Currently, more than half of young white adults hold at least a two-year college degree, compared to 37 percent of Black young adults. Less than a third of Hispanic, American Indian, and Hawaiian or Pacific Islander young adults have at least a two-year college degree. Underrepresented students of color disproportionately attend public colleges and universities that have less money to spend supporting them, and where success rates are low. Community colleges serve the highest shares of underrepresented students of color and have just a fraction of the state support and tuition revenue available to other colleges. This report examines how changes in core education revenue (state and local appropriations, and tuition) between 2006 and 2016 -- the years during and following the Great Recession -- impact disparities in resources across public colleges and universities and the underrepresented students of color who enroll in them. [This report received key project support from Debbie Cochrane and Veronica Gonzalez.]

California's public colleges and universities are among the best, from the talent evident in the students to the groundbreaking research conducted by world-renowned faculty. They are also some of the most diverse in the nation. Left out from serving in vital positions of leadership, however, is a proportional representation of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI), African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), and Latinx. Students from these groups are the new majority attending our colleges and universities but experienced and credentialed professionals from these same groups are distinctly underrepresented when it comes to holding faculty and leadership positions in California's public colleges and universities. "Left Out: How Exclusion in California's Colleges and Universities Hurts Our Values, Our Students, and Our Economy" recognizes that a more culturally competent workforce is essential to meet the needs of California's future economy. The University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU), and the California Community Colleges (CCC) will be required to educate and produce the workforce of tomorrow. The challenge for higher education is having the capacity, the internal competence, and the commitment to produce a college-educated workforce that is representative of the state's population diversity when their own leadership and faculty ranks are far from diverse. [This report was written with extensive contributions by Abigail Bates.]

This report is the result of a year-long exploration of the effects of charter schools and the issues that surround them. Each of its eleven issues-based stories tells what the Network for Public Education (NPE) has learned not only from research, but also from talking with parents, community members, teachers, and school leaders around the nation who have observed the effects of charters on their communities and neighborhood schools. While stories of individual charter successes are well covered by the media, substantive issues surrounding the explosion of charter school growth are too often brushed aside. The purpose of this report is to bring those issues to light.

Two recent reports contend that the introduction of school choice can promote economic development in economically distressed urban areas. The first report, published by EdChoice, presents a case study of a charter school that has, according to the report, contributed to the economic development of the city of Santa Ana, California. The second report, published by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), presents a proposal for a hypothetical voucher-like program that, if implemented, would purportedly spur economic development in high-poverty neighborhoods by luring higher income families into those neighborhoods. This review explains that both reports overlook significant bodies of relevant research literature and make unsupported claims that rely on flawed logic and data. The EdChoice report fails to collect and analyze data related to the report's causal assertion that economic development in Santa Ana resulted from the establishment of the charter school. The American Enterprise Institute report's claims about the benefits of the proposed program to publicly fund private schooling are unsupported by existing research. We conclude that these reports offer little useful guidance for policy or practice. [For "Renewing Our Cities: A Case Study on School Choice's Role in Urban Renewal" (EdChoice), see ED583114. For "CPR Scholarships: Using Private School Choice to Attack Concentrated Poverty, Crime, and Unemployment" (AEI), see ED583107.]

This California study focuses on the economic impact of school suspensions at the district level. Every 10th grade student in California was tracked for three years to determine the degree to which suspensions predicted lower graduation rates at the state and district level. This estimated impact on graduation was then used to calculate the economic costs of suspension for the state, and for every district. These California findings are consistent with other studies that found that even accounting for demographic differences, the factors that educators can control are strong predictors of whether suspension rates are high or low (Fabelo et al., 2011; Skiba, 2014, 2015). In other words, because school and district-controlled factors do predict suspension rates, they can also determine whether or not economic benefits from reducing suspensions are realized. The report describes the data sources, methods, limitations, with additional analyses in the appendix. First provided are statewide findings, and then findings for the state's 15 largest districts. In the discussion section, explored is how this report could help inform the development of school climate indicators, and make recommendations for Local Control and Accountabilty Plan (LCAP) budgets as well as encourage the use of a school discipline indicator as part of California's school accountability system this year and for many years to come. Descriptive statistics and model estimates are appended.

This study estimated the economic penalty that immigrant underemployment imposes, both in forgone earnings and tax payments, using U.S. Census Bureau data to analyze demographic characteristics and estimate the forgone earnings and taxes at federal, state, and local levels. It focuses on three groups of workers: (1) Immigrants who are foreign-educated college graduates; (2) Immigrants who are U.S.-educated college graduates; and (3) U.S.-born college graduates. The research produces findings nationally, as well as for seven states that include a mix of traditional immigrant destinations (California, Florida, New York, and Texas), a relatively new destination state (Washington), and two industrial states that have recently sought to attract skilled immigrants (Michigan and Ohio). Findings indicate that the underemployment of immigrant college graduates results in tens of billions of dollars in forgone earnings and taxes annually, which in turn affects our economy at every level by lowering productivity and consumer demand. Given that skills and education degrade over time if not put to productive use, brain waste can also have long-term detrimental effects on foreign-born workers. Highly skilled immigrants who cannot fully utilize their skills are less likely to earn family-sustaining wages and achieve financial stability for themselves and their families. Finding a way to tap underutilized skills would have a positive impact on national and local economies. [For the full report, see ED586143.]

This study estimated the economic penalty that immigrant underemployment imposes, both in forgone earnings and tax payments, using U.S. Census Bureau data to analyze demographic characteristics and estimate the forgone earnings and taxes at federal, state, and local levels. It focuses on three groups of workers: (1) Immigrants who are foreign-educated college graduates; (2) Immigrants who are U.S.-educated college graduates; and (3) U.S.-born college graduates. The research produces findings nationally, as well as for seven states that include a mix of traditional immigrant destinations (California, Florida, New York, and Texas), a relatively new destination state (Washington), and two industrial states that have recently sought to attract skilled immigrants (Michigan and Ohio). Findings indicate that the underemployment of immigrant college graduates results in tens of billions of dollars in forgone earnings and taxes annually, which in turn affects our economy at every level by lowering productivity and consumer demand. Given that skills and education degrade over time if not put to productive use, brain waste can also have long-term detrimental effects on foreign-born workers. Highly skilled immigrants who cannot fully utilize their skills are less likely to earn family-sustaining wages and achieve financial stability for themselves and their families. Finding a way to tap underutilized skills would have a positive impact on national and local economies. [For the report in brief, see ED586142.]

In 2016, there was an increasingly dramatic divergence between state economies in the West. Most states in the region benefited from an ongoing economic recovery, but states reliant on the energy sector for tax revenues were hit hard by the global decline in oil prices. This resulted in varying budget situations in legislatures across the West--outlined in this "Policy Insights"--with certain states dealing with significant cuts to higher education while others were in a position to make a wealth of new investments. Despite the region's varied economic outlook, common themes did emerge. These included a focus on affordability and accelerated learning options, continued support of military-connected students, investing in evidence-based student success initiatives, and proposed solutions for addressing teacher shortages. The brief concludes with a section on issues to watch in the region, ranging from data privacy to guns on campus.

School suspension rates have been rising since the early 1970s, especially for children of color. One body of research has demonstrated that suspension from school is harmful to students, as it increases the risk of retention and school dropout. Another has demonstrated that school dropouts impose huge social costs on their states and localities, due to lost wages and taxes, increased crime, higher welfare costs, and poorer health. Although it is estimated that reducing school suspension rates in Texas would save the state up to $1 billion in social costs, only one study to date has linked these two bodies of research. The current study addresses some of the limitations of that study by (1) estimating a stronger causal model of the effects suspension has on dropping out of school, (2) calculating a more comprehensive set of the social costs associated with dropping out, and (3) estimating the cost of school suspensions in Florida and California, and for the U.S. as a whole. The results show that suspensions in 10th grade alone produced more than 67,000 dropouts in the U.S. and generated social costs to the nation of more than $35 billion. These results are undoubtedly conservative, since the California and U.S. estimates were limited to 10th-grade students, while the Florida estimates were limited to 9th-grade students. Thus, they did not capture the effects of suspensions in earlier grades. The report contains recommendations for policymakers, an appendix detailing the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 analysis, and endnotes.

"Stress factor" is defined as any internal or external influence that makes it more difficult for a school or district to carry out its basic mission of providing a high quality education to all its students, as well as to ensure that its students succeed on state and federal accountability measures. This report identifies 11 such stress factors. "Internal" stress factors include teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, fewer instructional days, fewer counselors, cutbacks in summer school, and security threats. "External" stress factors are declining enrollments, increasing childhood poverty, high unemployment, foreclosures, and health insurance coverage. In February 2013, EdSource sent e-mail surveys on these stress factors to California's 30 school districts with the largest enrollments. This report describes the multiple challenges faced by the school districts as "stress factors," and shows whether these stresses have increased, diminished, or stayed the same since 2011-12 and, in some areas, since 2007-08 before the recession began. [For a related report, see "Schools under Stress: Pressures Mount on California's Largest School Districts" (ED606405).]

During the 2009-10 academic year international students generated more than $18.8 billion in net income into the US economy. California alone had nearly 100,000 international students with an economic impact of nearly $3.0 billion. In this paper, we outline a strategy for the San Francisco/Bay Area to double the number of international students enrolled in local colleges and universities in ten years or less, generating a total direct economic impact of an additional $1 billion a year into the regional economy. The US retains a huge market advantage for attracting foreign students. Within the US, the San Francisco/Bay Area is particularly attractive and could prevail as an extraordinary global talent magnet, if only policymakers and higher education leaders better understood this and formulated strategies to tap the global demand for higher education. Ultimately, all globalism is local. We propose that the San Francisco/Bay Area, a region with a group of stellar universities and colleges, should reimagine itself as a Global Higher Education Hub to meet national and regional economic needs, as well as the thirst of a growing world population for high-quality tertiary education. Other parts of the world have already developed their version of the higher education hub idea. The major difference in our proposed Californian version is that foreign competitors seek to attract foreign universities to help build enrollment and program capacity at home, and are funded almost solely by significant government subsidies. Our model builds capacity, but is focused on attracting the world's talent and generating additional income to existing public and private colleges and universities. Doubling international enrollment from 30,000 to 60,000 students in ten years or less will require expanding regional enrollment capacity as part of a strategy to ensure access to native students, and as part of a scheme to attract a new generation of faculty and researchers to the Bay Area and California. International students would need to pay higher then the full cost of their education, helping to subsidize domestic students and college and university programs. The result would be a San Francisco/Bay Area Global Higher Education Hub--a self-reinforcing knowledge ecosystem that is internationally attractive, socially beneficial, and economically viable. We offer a path for analyzing the feasibility of this Global Higher Education Hub, including the steps necessary to engage the private sector and local government to help create enrollment capacity and academic programs, a discussion of a financial model, possible marketing strategies, and for developing shared facilities and services. This initiative will require most Bay Area colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley and Stanford University, to collaborate. By providing a leadership role, Berkeley and Stanford would help brand the hub idea internationally, provide leadership in shaping direct and indirect economic returns of the SF/Bay area higher education hub, while also gaining from the increased international attractiveness of the region and the use of shared facilities. It is about the money. But it is also about establishing closer ties with the regional universities and colleges, business interests and local governments, enhancing the quality and reputation of our universities and colleges, building enrollment capacity for native students, integrating international perspectives into the activities and learning of students and faculty, and broadening the opportunity for international collaborations. It is about solidifying the Bay Area as a global talent magnet, one that is even more culturally diverse, even more innovative, and that continues to attract talent from throughout the world. We conclude the paper by suggesting that a regionally based knowledge hub would also be a viable strategy for a select group of other urban areas of the US. Appended are: (1) Examples of Higher Education Hubs; and (2) The Elements of a Hub Cost and Benefits Model. (Contains 7 tables, 5 figures and 37 endnotes.)

The fundamental asset of a university is its faculty. Without faculty working with students, the university is just a set of buildings. The faculty design and teach the courses, keep the educational program updated, and work with students to help them gain the skills and knowledge they need to prepare for their careers or professional education. The quality of faculty is very directly linked to the quality of a student's education and the value of the degree. The research released in these two new studies from the Civil Rights Project shows that the budget cutbacks at the California State University (CSU) system are already reducing the quality of education faculty can offer students. The CSU now faces large additional cuts. These reports are part of a series of independent original studies designed to analyze the impact of fiscal cutbacks in the CSU system on higher education opportunities. The Civil Rights Project is particularly interested in these issues because the CSU system is an extremely important pathway for opening opportunity to historically excluded groups of Latino, African American and poor students in California. The first of these new studies, "Faculty under Siege: Demoralization and Educational Decline in CSU" (Gary Orfield) shows that faculty in the CSU system are severely impacted by budget cuts as the sizes of their classrooms increase, and resources and support are cut away. What they can offer their students is declining given that teaching loads are too big and support too weak. This study offers new data showing specific shifts in workload and sources of stress before and after the budget cuts. This survey collected data from hundreds of faculty members at multiple CSU campuses, while the second survey provides more in-depth qualitative data on a smaller sample of faculty on one-campus. The second study, "The Worst of Times: Faculty Productivity and Job Satisfaction During the CSU Budget Crisis" (Helen H. Hyun, Rafael M. Diaz, and Sahar Khoury) concludes from in-depth interviews that faculty are experiencing increased workloads, larger class sizes, reductions in salary and resources, and a lack of time for scholarship due to significant budget cuts. These sources of stress, along with declining campus morale, and uncertainty about their futures in the profession, all led to reports of diminished career satisfaction and negative impacts on the personal lives of the faculty participants. While the second study adds much more depth in terms of qualitative data collected from faculty, this data supports the findings of the faculty survey conducted in the first study. The findings from both studies show that faculty overall have been negatively impacted by the budget cuts, creating more sources of stress due to increased workload and decreased resources. Both studies also point out that the additional budget cuts set for the system have the ability to critically change the mission of the educational system with long-term implications to the system's welfare. Appendices include: (1) Semi-structured Faculty Interview Protocol; and (2) Faculty Career Satisfaction Questionnaire. (Contains 7 figures and 2 footnotes.) [Additional funding for this paper was provided by the California State University (CSU) Faculty Association.]

California long enjoyed rapid growth, abundant jobs, and expanding college opportunity--key elements of the California dream. Now the state is struggling to recover from its worst economic crisis in generations, a demographic slowdown, a devastating collapse of the wealth of the state' families from the housing crisis, and severe cutbacks in higher education. California' students are being asked to pay much more to get less. There can be no doubt that these are extraordinary times and if California is to emerge from its worst fiscal crisis in modern times, it will require sacrifice on everyone's part. Yet, in spite of a lot of discussion about the budget crisis, there has been too little analysis of the consequences of the budget cuts and far too little information on how the cuts have affected the lives and prospects of the young people trying to finish college and prepare for a future. The choices are grim for California students. Either the state develops the talent of its young people or it declines. There is no easy answer in this difficult time, but everyone needs to listen carefully to the struggling students who are the state's future. (Contains 11 tables and 4 footnotes.)

For the past 21 years, the KIDS COUNT project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation has tracked the well-being of children at the national, state, and local levels. Over the years, the foundation's work has documented both great progress in child well-being and periodic setbacks. The 10 key indicators tracked in the KIDS COUNT Data Book over the past two decades reveal significant overall improvements in health and safety outcomes for children. This report begins with a review of the data on how children and families are faring in the wake of the recession. It then looks at what the research says about the importance of family economic success and early childhood investments for increasing opportunity and preparing the next generation to succeed. Drawing from successful initiatives at the state and federal levels, it then discusses effective policies and programs that can help ensure a strong economic future for the country. To help tell the story of the human impact of the recent economic downturn, five families from across the nation are also profiled in this publication. These families--from Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Los Angeles County, California; Rochester, New Hampshire; and San Antonio, Texas--have faced different struggles but share a common bond: the help they received and the hope they have for the future. Multi-Year State Trend Data for Overall Ranks is appended. (Contains 6 tables and 57 endnotes.) [For "KIDS COUNT Data Book, 2010: State Profiles of Child Well-Being", see ED516507.]

Although public universities account for most of the higher education enrollment in California, independent colleges and universities make an important contribution to meeting enrollment demand. California's 76 independent non-profit colleges and universities provide a wide range of degree and certificate programs. In fall 2008, the independents served approximately 241,000 undergraduate and graduate students, a number that could not be absorbed by public campuses, given the existing and projected demand. The purpose of "Ready for Learning" is to: (1) Update policymakers and the general public on the range of independent institutions serving California and the importance of incorporating the independents as an integral part of state higher education long-range planning; (2) Provide a benchmark estimate of undergraduate demand for the independents by student ethnicity and institution type; (3) Highlight key demographic and economic factors that influence demand for the independents; and (4) Identify additional data elements that would enable CPEC (California Postsecondary Education Commission) to derive undergraduate demand projections for the independents that are more refined and useful for higher education planning. Undergraduate demand estimates were derived from two forecast models: a demographic model that relies principally on observed and projected changes in college-going rates and the population aged 18 to 49 by ethnicity; and an economic model that considers projected changes in personal income, annual unemployment, and Cal Grant funding levels as a function of student demand. Both models estimate undergraduate demand for the independents to increase by about 16%, from about 130,000 students in fall 2008 to approximately 150,000 in 2019. The similarity in findings is evidence of construct validity in modeling enrollment demand. The findings are also consistent with projections developed in 2009 by the National Center for Education Statistics that show undergraduate enrollments at private institutions increasing by 13% nationwide. CPEC analysts recognize that estimating demand for the independents is more complex than for public colleges and universities. The independents, unlike public institutions, are not a system with a common purpose, mission, and legislated obligations and mandates. The objective of "Ready for Learning" is not to project precisely how many students will be enrolled at any particular independent institution in a particular year, but to derive a reasonable and valid trend in undergraduate demand to support long-range planning. Following formal Commission adoption of this report, staff expects to convene an advisory committee consisting of representatives of public and independent institutions to identify policy recommendations that address the increased enrollment demand shown by these projections and CPEC's projections for the public systems. Appendices include: (1) AICCU's [Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities'] Comments on the Projections; (2) Methodology; and (3) Participation Rates, by Classification and Ethnicity, 2000-2008. (Contains 8 displays.)

This report analyzes the economic and social costs of the high school dropout problem in California from the perspective of a state taxpayer. The authors' analysis considers the consequences of this problem in terms of labor market, tax revenue, public health, and incarceration costs. The authors' quantification of these costs reveals the sizeable taxpayer benefits that stand to be gained by aggressively combating the state's dropout problem. Their analysis reveals the following findings: (1) According to the California Department of Education, 98,420 public high school students dropped out of school in 2007-08, suggesting 19 percent of California high school students in any ninth-grade class will drop out over a four-year period. Hispanic and African American students drop out at an estimated rate of 24 percent and 33 percent respectively; (2) California dropouts experience difficulty in the labor market. They are more likely to be unemployed or out of the labor force and twice as likely to be living in poverty; (3) The lower earnings of high school dropouts cost the state more than $54 billion per year in lost taxable personal income; (4) Dropouts report worse health than graduates and require more public health resources. Close to 20 percent of California high school dropouts report fair or poor health and close to half receive Medicaid; (5) Dropouts drive up the state's incarceration costs. Over a lifetime, a dropout costs the state $8,484 because of higher incarceration rates than higher-educated peers; and (6) California's economy will benefit tremendously by reducing dropouts. The authors estimate that each prevented dropout will result in a present value lifetime benefit of $28,227. By permanently cutting the dropout rate in half, each new graduating class of high school students would yield more than $1.4 billion in direct gross economic benefits to the state. Completely eliminating the dropout problem would save the state $2.8 billion annually, or approximately 14 percent of its present budget deficit. (Contains 9 tables, 9 figures, and 40 notes.)

While educators have long argued that when local schools are successful, local communities benefit; there's now clear evidence that is the case. A new report, "The Economic Benefits from Halving the Dropout Rate: A Boom to Businesses in the Nation's Largest Metropolitan Areas," released in January by the Alliance for Excellent Education demonstrates growth in many economic areas from a lower dropout rate. "The report underscores the notion that the best economic stimulus package is a high school diploma," said Bob Wise, Alliance president and former West Virginia governor. The Alliance analyzed the local economies of the 50 largest cities and their surrounding areas using a model developed by Economic Modeling Specialists, an Idaho-based firm working in socioeconomics. Economic projections for each metropolitan area were made in such key areas as individual earnings, home and auto sales, job and economic growth, spending and investment, and tax revenue. The information in this study can produce greater community support for high schools if community leaders become aware of its findings, but it's up to high school principals and school system communicators to make sure there is widespread knowledge of the report in their community.

This report examines why former foster youth in California are not receiving the aid they are likely eligible for, from inadequate or poorly targeted information about college costs and financial aid to structural obstacles within the aid process and programs. While many of this report's findings and recommendations are specific to foster youth, some apply to low-income, first-generation college-going, and underrepresented students generally. In researching this topic, the authors analyzed financial aid programs and data from state, federal, and private sources pertaining to college access and affordability for foster youth both before and after emancipation. While the barriers to college are considerable, ensuring that foster youth know that financial aid is available would improve access in a meaningful way. The benefits are real, and the cost of inaction is great. By age 19, one in seven foster youth no longer in care has been homeless, almost half receive public benefits, and more than a quarter have been arrested (Courtney and Dworsky, 2005). The youth who are working typically earn poverty-level wages, with one study finding that 90 percent of recently emancipated youth had earned less than $10,000 the previous year (Courtney and Dworsky, 2005). Helping more foster youth attend and afford college will not only help these disadvantaged young people realize their potential, but also save the state and federal governments money spent on prisons and public assistance while increasing tax revenues from the greater earnings of well-educated citizens. (Contains 25 footnotes.)

This report focuses on the 15 states of the West (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming), their ability to educate minorities, and the resulting impact on their workforces and economies. The foundation of the Western U.S. economy rests on a workforce that is becoming increasingly diverse, as residents of European descent are growing older and making up an ever-smaller proportion of the workforce, and the economy demands more upward mobility among Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native populations. The following questions are addressed in this the report: (1) What are the current education gaps between minorities and White non-Hispanics? (2) How well are certain minorities prepared for high-skill, high-wage jobs? (3) What is their status in the workforce as a result? (4) Has their status in the workforce improved for recent generations? and (5) What would be the impact if we improved our ability to educate these disadvantaged populations? The report does not provide solutions: it is intended to expand understanding of the impact of racial and ethnic inequality on the Western United States' ability to compete educationally and economically with countries around the world that have gained ground with respect to educational attainment, and to add some insight into efforts to address the challenges that minority populations face. (Contains 7 endnotes and 37 figures.)

Over the past several decades, researchers, politicians, and corporate leaders have focused reform efforts on the size of educational contexts. Hundreds of billions of public and private dollars have been invested to reduce the size and scope of both classrooms and schools (Lee & Ready, 2007). Unlike many education reforms, these downsizing plans have attracted support from virtually every quarter, and a united front of stakeholders has coalesced behind the notion that "smaller is better." Efforts to reduce elementary-school class sizes have garnered particularly strong popular and political support. Indeed, the American public feels that creating smaller class sizes is the most effective way to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers (Rose & Gallup, 2007). Thirty-two states now fund either voluntary or mandated class-size reduction programs, with California and Florida together investing almost $20 billion to reduce class sizes. The author organizes this interpretive and analytic review into three main sections, each of which focuses on the potential links between elementary-school class size and educational equity. In the first section he discusses findings from the three distinct analytic approaches employed in class-size research: randomized experiments, quasi-and nonexperiments, and meta-analyses. The second section moves from research to practice, and describes the large-scale class-size reduction programs currently operating in California and Florida, and what individuals have learned from these programs in relation to educational equity. The third section addresses the financial and opportunity costs associated with universal class-size reduction policies, particularly how these costs influence the educational experiences of low-income and minority children. (Contains 14 notes.)

Many more community college students than students at California's four-year colleges would lose financial aid under Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed budget for 2009. This issue brief finds that the budget-cutting plan would eliminate new Cal Grant awards for 45 percent of community college students who would have received them, compared to five percent of would-be recipients at the University of California and 10 percent in the California State University system. (Contains 5 sources and 7 footnotes.) [Contributions to the writing and production of the brief are by Robert Shireman, Lauren Asher, Edie Irons, and Shannon Gallegos.]

The California Postsecondary Education Commission recently adopted three reports dealing with postsecondary education and the economy, as part of its Higher Education Performance and Accountability Framework. The reports examined three specific measures: (1) Educational attainment of the population; (2) Links between degree attainment and earnings; and (3) Match between degrees awarded and labor market demand. These papers were discussed by the Commission, its staff, and the Commission's Statutory Advisory Committee representing all the postsecondary education segments. The purpose of this paper is to suggest policy options worthy of further exploration based on previous papers and ensuing discussions. This item reviews what the Commission has learned about the alignment between degree production and California's demand for an educated workforce. It offers a series of options for state colleges and universities to increase enrollment and degree production. It also offers an option for policymakers to consider encouraging increased degree production in specific fields of high state priority but for which there are shortages of qualified workers.

Consistent with the California Postsecondary Education Commission's higher education accountability framework, this report summarizes major findings and conclusions from three 2007 Commission reports assessing the contributions of postsecondary education to California's social, civic, and economic well-being. The Commission's research shows that educational attainment of the population is shaped significantly by migration as well as by the success of California higher education institutions. Likewise, the earnings of graduates are shaped by the overall state of the economy and an ever-shifting national and international labor supply. The Commission's analysis shows that while educational attainment is growing, it is growing more slowly than the national average. (Contains 11 footnotes.)

This report evaluates the contribution of public higher education to raise per capita income in California. The report highlights how diversity in the State's population impacts the need for higher education and presents options for improving income earning using postsecondary education programs. The Commission measured differences in financial rewards for a college education by gender and ethnicity, as well as by degree-attainment level. California's experience is also compared with key competitor states. (Contains 3 displays and 8 footnotes.)

HSIs (Hispanic-Serving Institutions) are important institutions for Latinos, yet little research exists on them. This brief serves as a primer on the conditions and history behind their invention, the processes for identification, and the general institutional characteristics of HSIs. It also offers an overview of how these institutions are contributing to Latino student success. Appended is a list of Hispanic-Serving Institutions: 2003-04. (Contains 5 tables, 2 figures and 9 notes,) [This brief was produced with funding by California State University-Dominguez Hills (CA) and City University of New York (CUNY)-Lehman College (NY) [members of the Latino Student Success Alliance], Mercy College (NY), Carlos Albizu University (PR), Ana G. Mendez System (PR), The University of Texas System (TX) on behalf of the system's HSIs, and The Latino Institute.]

The purpose of this state report card is to provide the general public and policymakers with information they can use to assess and improve postsecondary education in each state. "Measuring Up 2006" is the fourth in a series of biennial report cards. The report card grades states in six overall performance categories: (1) Preparation: How adequately does the state prepare students for education and training beyond high school?; (2) Participation: Do state residents have sufficient opportunities to enroll in education and training beyond high school?; (3) Affordability: How affordable is higher education for students and their families?; (4) Completion: Do students make progress toward and complete their certificates or degrees in a timely manner?; (5) Benefits: What benefits does the state receive from having a highly educated population?; and (6) Learning: What is known about student learning as a result of education and training beyond high school? Findings for California include: (1) Despite substantial improvement, California's performance in preparing students to succeed in college remains low when compared with other states. This year California receives a C in preparation; (2) California continues to perform well in enrolling students in higher education. This year California receives an A in participation; (3) California has generally made progress in making higher education affordable, primarily through its many low-priced community colleges. Despite that trend, California has lost ground through recent tuition and fee increases. This year California earns a C- in affordability; (4) California has seen substantial gains in the proportion of students earning certificates and degrees in a timely manner. This year California receives a B in completion; (5) California has seen an increase in the benefits it receives from a more highly educated population. This year California earns an A in benefits; and (6) Like most states, California receives an "Incomplete" in Learning because insufficient data would not allow meaningful state-by-state comparisons. However, data are available this year to examine the readiness of college graduates--from two- and four-year institutions--for advanced practice. This report also includes international comparisons, additional information, questions and answers, and state grades. (Contains 3 figures.) [For "Measuring Up, 2006. The National Report Card on Higher Education," see ED493360.]

The role and responsibility of postsecondary education in preparing California's workforce demand both a research-based examination and a comprehensive discussion that can bring education and workforce interests together at the state level. This policy brief and others to follow examine where and how the state's postsecondary systems fit into a plethora of programs that educate and train workers. The outcome will be policy recommendations that support postsecondary education in most effectively fulfilling its role in preparing a workforce to meet the challenges of a 21st century economy. Appended are: (1) Outline of Briefs in the Series; and (2) The Nexus Between Postsecondary Education and the Workforce--Major Actions.

Every year, across the country, a dangerously high percentage of students--disproportionately poor and minority--disappear from the educational pipeline before graduating from high school. Nationally, only about 68% of all students who enter 9th grade will graduate "on time" with regular diplomas in 12th grade. While the graduation rate for white students is 75%, only approximately half of Black, Latino, and Native American students earn regular diplomas alongside their classmates. Graduation rates are even lower for Black, Latino and Native American males. Yet, because of misleading and inaccurate reporting of dropout and graduation rates, the public remains largely unaware of this educational and civil rights crisis. California's failure to graduate so many of its students is a tragic story of wasted human potential and tremendous economic loss. When high numbers of youth leave school ill-prepared to contribute to our labor force and to civic life, our economy and our democracy suffer. Life opportunities for these youth and for their offspring are dramatically curtailed. This report recommends that until the single identifier system is functioning in California, the state should use Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI) for both reporting and accountability purposes. For accountability purposes the state should set a clear floor and the floor should be calculated for major racial groups, not just students in the aggregate. Schools and districts should be given rewards for schools or districts falling below the floor but that make substantial and steady progress over a number of years toward the goal. The state should provide substantial technical assistance to struggling schools and districts, especially toward improving the rates for Latinos, Blacks and Native Americans. Adequate-yearly-progress (AYP) sanctions should be reserved only for districts that consistently make little or no progress toward the goal. (Contains 21 footnotes.)

This report introduces, analyzes, and summarizes for policymakers an extensive and diverse economics literature on the effects of public K-12 education spending on local, regional, and state economies. The effects of education spending appear in indicators ranging from economic development to employment rates, small business starts, personal income, and housing values. The report offers real-world evidence that providing a quality K-12 public education for all is one of the best investments that governments can make. Therefore, policymakers should engage in serious thought and analysis before taking cost-saving steps that reduce the quality of public education to solve a local, state, or even federal budget shortfall. The paper looks at the effects of education spending and educational quality--as distinct from education spending--on economic indicators such as an individual's lifetime earnings, residential property values, manufacturing activity in a state, and small business start-ups in a state. (Contains 15 tables.)

This state report card is derived from "Measuring Up 2004," the national report card for higher education. Its purpose is to provide the public and policymakers with information to assess and improve postsecondary education in each state. "Measuring Up 2004" is the third in a series of biennial report cards. The report card grades states in six overall performance categories: (1) Preparation: How adequately are students in each state being prepared for education and training beyond high school?; (2) Participation: Do state residents have sufficient opportunities to enroll in education and training beyond high school?; (3) Affordability: How affordable is higher education for students and their families?; (4) Completion: Do students make progress toward and complete their certificates and degrees in a timely manner?; (5) Benefits: What benefits does the state receive as a result of having a highly educated population?; and (6) Learning: What is known about student learning as a result of education and training beyond high school? This state report card begins by summarizing the state's performance today compared with ten years ago, and by presenting key policy questions that these results suggest for the state. Next, the state's performance in each category is described in greater detail, followed by additional contextual information. Findings for California include: (1) Over the past decade, California has made substantial improvement in preparing students to succeed in college. However, California receives only a C in preparation this year because other states performed better; (2) Over the past decade, California has improved in enrolling students in higher education. This year California receives an A in participation; (3) With many low-priced community colleges, California has provided students and families with opportunities for affordable higher education over the past decade. This year California earns a B in affordability; (4) California, over the past decade, has seen an improvement in the proportion of students earning certificates and degrees in a timely manner. This year California receives a C in completion; (5) California has seen a notable increase in benefits to the state from a more highly educated population over the past decade. That positive performance continues this year, and California earns an A in benefits; and (6) Like most states, California received an Incomplete in learning because there are no comparable data that would allow for meaningful state-by-state comparisons in learning. The Incomplete in this category highlights a gap in the ability to measure each state's educational capital--the reservoir of high-level knowledge and skills that benefit each state. [For "Measuring Up 2004: The National Report Card on Higher Education," see ED508096.]

This study examined children's health care utilization at six sites within a Northern California health maintenance organization (HMO). Approximately 300 parent-child dyads seeking medical attention at the HMO sites were subjects. Parents completed the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) and reported the presence of a serious or chronic illness. In addition, psychiatric/medical utilization and costs for the previous year were retrieved from a regional database. According to PSC scores, 13 percent of children were experiencing psychosocial dysfunction and there was a consistent linear relationship between child PSC positive status and health care utilization. Health care utilization was highest for children with psychosocial morbidity (or chronic illness) and higher among younger children, decreasing with age as psychiatric costs progressively increased. Results suggest that the costs of timely and appropriate mental health care for young children may be offset by decreased general health care costs. (DB)

This booklet, which is designed to clarify facts regarding the minimum wage's impact on marketplace economics, contains a total of 31 questions and answers pertaining to the following topics: relationship between minimum wages and poverty; impacts of changes in the minimum wage on welfare reform; and possible effects of changes in the minimum wage and job loss. Among the issues addressed in the individual questions are the following: characteristics of individuals who work at the minimum wage; whether a higher minimum wage would help selected groups such as poor families, low-skilled adults, and minorities; whether the minimum wage should be linked to other wages in the economy, the Consumer Price Index, and/or inflation; the types of jobs people take when leaving welfare; whether individuals leaving welfare for entry-level jobs will require permanent income support; the findings of studies examining the link between the minimum wage and job loss in California, New Jersey, and Texas; and the effects of minimum wage increases on youth employment and unemployment. The bibliography lists 64 publications dealing with the following topics: labor market and employment effects of the minimum wage; youth and the minimum wage; macroeconomic effects; and poverty and equity issues. (MN)

This 1993 study attempts to define the size and scope of state-wide economic activity generated by the arts in California. The analysis is based on data from surveys of nonprofit arts organization and five case studies. The case studies, which provided context for the core research, include examinations of: (1) artists in Los Angeles County; (2) the motion picture and television industry in California; (3) seven California festivals; (4) art and auto design in California; and (5) the manufacturing of musical instruments in California. Survey and case study findings indicate: (1) the economics of the nonprofit arts sector are robust, with $2.159 billion in economic activity and 115,153 jobs in 1993. (2) Los Angeles County artists are deeply involved in the community and arts as volunteers, contributors to charity, and participants in commercial and nonprofit art worlds, and have average incomes of $38,000 a year. (3) The motion picture and television industry employs a core staff of 50,000 Californians with average salaries of $80,000 in 1992. (4) Cultural tourism is a growth industry for the state with festivals being a strong attraction for tourism. For example, the Half Moon Bay Main Street Beautification Committee spent $70,000 on their Art and Pumpkin Festival and generated $10.5 million including $79,815 in local sales tax. (5) Art and auto design produces $47 million in business revenues and employs more than 400 people. (6) The manufacturing of musical instruments results in $75 million in wages and salaries by the $500 million industry. The arts are found to be a significant basis of California's economic strength. The report includes an "Executive Summary," charts, statistical tables, sample surveys, and acknowledgements. (MM)

This handbook summarizes the probable effects of California's school-voucher initiative on public spending for K-12 education. The Parental Choice in Education Initiative (Proposition 174) was rejected by voters in the November 2, 1993, election. It sought to establish a system of annual vouchers, funded by public tax dollars, that elementary and secondary students could use to pay tuition at private schools. The book's findings are based on a complex simulation model of enrollment, tax revenues, and other trends over the next decade. It takes a neutral position and attempts to provide an analytic framework for evaluating the claims of opponents and advocates. Specifically, the analysis examines the likely effects of Proposition 174 on total state spending for K-12 education, and on spending per pupil in the public schools. In general, findings indicate that the fiscal effects of Proposition 174 are highly uncertain. Voting for the proposition may help to avoid a fiscal crisis. However, if relatively few students shift to private schools, or if certain provisions of the initiative are interpreted in certain ways, the proposition could actually worsen California's fiscal situation and simultaneously reduce the resources available to each public school pupil. Voting against the measure, however, may court the serious risk that there is no better option for heading off the state's looming fiscal crisis. Until all four players in the debate--voters, courts, parents, and the state--have exercised their influence, the initiative's fiscal impact is unknown. Twenty-one figures and 13 tables are included. Appendices contain projection models and a copy of Proposition 174. (LMI)

Both the current immigration debate and immigration itself have changed in recent years and require changes in thinking about immigration and the architecture of U.S. immigration laws. In California, which receives about a third of all immigrants, voters and state leaders have shifted from viewing immigration as a net benefit to focusing on the costs of immigration to taxpayers. Contributing to such changing attitudes are the following changes in immigration: (1) a rapid increase in immigration over the last decade; (2) decline in the educational level of immigrants relative to the U.S. population; (3) shift in countries of origin and greater diversity of origins; (4) increasing labor force participation of female immigrants; and (5) increased geographic concentration of immigrants in California, Florida, New York, Illinois, and Texas. In addition, the receiving environment is undergoing such changes as slowing employment growth due to worldwide economic change, the inability or unwillingness of all levels of government to cover increasing costs of health services and effective schooling, government gridlock, and growing income and wage disparities. These concurrent changes have rekindled latent concerns about the costs of sustained large scale immigration. Immigrants make their largest service demand on education, which also represents the largest component of state budgets and a significant portion of local budgets. Five principles are outlined to form a new framework for guiding immigration policies. (SV)

This report attempted to measure the impact of 2 years of budget cuts on the University of California and the California State University systems. The research involved review of a variety of budget documents, analysis of planning done to cope with budget cuts, and interviews with local campus and systemwide officials and knowledgeable sources in state government. The project studied the Berkeley and Santa Barbara University of California (UC) campuses and the Long Beach and Sacramento California State University (CSU) campuses. Major findings include the following: (1) the two systems stand on the brink of disaster due to real and damaging cuts resulting in declined education quality, lost faculty members, increased class size, and other effects; (2) students are paying higher fees and getting less as University of California fees are now among the nation's highest, and CSU fees have increased 68 percent; (3) the CSU system has responded to the cuts by reducing enrollment while UC has not done so; (4) both systems have tried to protect academic programs and full-time faculty at the expense of almost everything else, and neither system has tried to identify strong programs that should be defended; and (5) leaders in both systems were slow to recognize the threat posed by budget cuts and have been even slower to devise plans for the future. (JB)

A study was performed at the Los Rios Community College District (LRCCD), in California, to measure changes in enrollment and educational access due to a 67% increase in statewide community college fees and a $40-per-unit "differential fee" for students already holding a bachelor's degree or higher (BA+). The study was divided into four parts: a survey of 4,009 fall 1992 BA+ students asking them about the potential effects of the new fees on their educational plans, an analysis of these students' course-taking patterns and demographics, an analysis of the entire LRCCD student population before and after the changes, and an analysis of students who continued and those who did not in the years before and after the fees. Results of the study, based on responses from 37% of the BA+ students (n=1,475), included the following: (1) almost 60% of the BA+ students were attending for job-related reasons, while 26% were enrolled for personal development; (2) more than half (55%) were employed full-time, while 19% were employed part-time; (3) 65% said that their employers provided no financial assistance toward their educational expenses; (4) only 12% believed that they would be eligible for one of the fee exemption categories; (5) BA+ student enrollment dropped by 47.3% between spring 1992 and spring 1993, compared to a decrease of 7.9% for the district overall; (6) an analysis of fall-to-spring enrollment for the first year after the new fees revealed that the number of new/returning students declined by 14.6% from pre-fee years; and (7) the largest decreases were for older, part-time, working adult students. Data for similar surveys performed by other colleges in the district, comments by individual respondents, and the survey instrument are included. (MAB)