Historical public education information in California, 2011-2013

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on California's public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view California's public education page.

The California public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 California had 6,287,834 students enrolled in a total of 10,170 schools in 1,187 school districts. There were 268,689 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 23 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 389 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average California spent $9,139.00 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 36th highest in the nation. The state's high school graduation rate was 78 percent in 2012.

State agencies

See also: California Department of Education

The mission statement of the California Department of Education reads:

“

California will provide a world-class education for all students, from early childhood to adulthood. The Department of Education serves our state by innovating and collaborating with educators, schools, parents, and community partners. Together, as a team, we prepare students to live, work, and thrive in a highly connected world.

”

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is elected to four-year terms in nonpartisan elections. The office is held by Tom Torlakson.

The State Board of Education determines K-12 policy for the state. The Superintendent of Public Instruction serves as the board's executive officer and secretary. The board is composed of 10 members who serve four-year terms and one student member who serves a one-year term. All members are appointed by the Governor.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how California compared to three neighboring states in the 2011-2012 school year with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
California	10,170	1,187	6,287,834	268,689	1:23.4	1:389.4	$9,139
Arizona	2,252	662	1,080,319	50,800	1:21.3	1:419.5	$7,666
Nevada	649	18	439,634	21,132	1:20.8	1:449.7	$8,527
Oregon	1,261	221	568,208	26,791	1:21.2	1:364.8	$9,682
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12" U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in California as reported in the Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for California's K-12 public school system
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	42,486	0.68%	1.10%
Asian	693,313	11.16%	4.68%
African American	404,412	6.51%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	35,232	0.57%	0.42%
Hispanic	3,239,296	52.13%	24.37%
White	1,617,931	26.04%	51.21%
Two or more	181,534	2.92%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the United States

A plurality of students in California attended city schools during the 2011-2012 school year. More than 82 percent of the state's students attended city or suburban schools, compared to the approximately 18 percent who attended rural or town schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011-2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
California	43.4%	39.3%	6.1%	11.3%
Arizona	48.5%	16.3%	10%	25.2%
Nevada	38.5%	32%	6.6%	22.9%
Oregon	32.6%	23.3%	26.3%	17.8%
U.S. average	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon), California's fourth grade students fared the worst in mathematics, with only 33 percent scoring at or above proficient during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
California	33%	28%	27%	29%
Arizona	40%	31%	28%	28%
Nevada	34%	28%	27%	30%
Oregon	40%	34%	33%	37%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state

See also: ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for California and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
California	78%	Fourth	22.1	25%	1,505	57%
Arizona	76%	Fourth	19.7	35%	1,551	35%
Nevada	63%	Fifth	21.3	34%	1,454	48%
Oregon	68%	Fifth	21.4	38%	1,539	49%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1,498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for California was higher than the national average at 4.2 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 4 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in California

As of June 2015, school choice options in California included: charter schools, online learning programs and open enrollment policies. In addition, about 9 percent of school-age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-12 academic year, and an estimated 2.67 percent were homeschooled in 2012-13.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: California state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), California spent approximately 19.9 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. As a share of the budget, this was down 4.30 percentage points, or 17.8 percent, from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 24.2 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
California	19.9%	$9,139	14.56%	55.06%	30.37%
Arizona	19%	$7,666	14.69%	41.22%	44.09%
Nevada	23.6%	$8,527	10.68%	33.09%	56.24%
Oregon	14%	$9,682	14%	46.07%	39.93%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in California totaled approximately $68.6 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including revenue sources, for California and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
California	$9,995,705	$37,793,351	$20,848,699	$68,637,755
Arizona	$1,367,644	$3,839,130	$4,105,899	$9,312,673
Nevada	$447,888	$1,388,154	$2,359,519	$4,195,561
Oregon	$848,637	$2,792,762	$2,420,619	$6,062,018
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in California totaled approximately $66.9 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including expenditure types, for California and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
California	$56,784,812	$6,535,512	$3,579,908	$66,900,232
Arizona	$8,157,006	$796,052	$634,413	$9,587,471
Nevada	$3,712,313	$324,287	$270,077	$4,306,677
Oregon	$5,418,357	$461,979	$325,080	$6,205,416
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in California, the average salary increased by 6.4 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
California	$65,159	$72,803	$69,672	$69,324	6.4%
Arizona	$50,430	$50,119	$49,501	$49,885	-1.1%
Nevada	$53,830	$54,999	$55,467	$55,957	4%
Oregon	$57,856	$58,948	$58,302	$58,758	1.6%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012 the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. California ranked sixth overall, or "strongest," which was in the first of five tiers.

In July 2009, United States Education Secretary Arne Duncan challenged members of the National Education Association to stop resisting linking teacher pay with student performance. "It's not enough to focus only on issues like job security, tenure, compensation, and evaluation," he said. "You must become full partners and leaders in education reform. You must be willing to change."

In June 2009, the California Teachers Association announced that they could not support Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan for digital textbooks in 2010. "It's a nice idea, but it's not going to work," said David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association. "Where are you going to get a computer for everybody? How many of these kids actually have computers at home?" Instead, Sanchez said that he would like to see the governor's proposal for increasing funds for education. The union suggested increasing tax revenues to directly support schools.

Other California unions include the California Federation of Teachers.

Government sector lobbying

See also: California government sector lobbying

Taxpayer-funded lobbyists for state public schools include:

• Association of California School Administrators
• Association of Low Wealth Schools
• California School Boards Association
• Cities, Counties and Schools Partnership

Transparency

In 2008, the governor launched "School Finder," a website that provides access to data reported by California’s schools to the California Department of Education. Data available on the website covers state elementary through high schools and includes traditional, alternative, adult education and charter schools. “This vital information, compiled in one easy-to-navigate site, will increase school accountability and transparency, and put power back into the hands of California parents. The facts of achievement for every school in California are now easily accessible – not buried in bureaucracy,” said Schwarzenegger about the launch.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in California
• California
• Education Policy in the U.S.