Report Finds california Department of Education Underserved, Calls for Systemic Overhaul
SACRAMENTO – A new report from the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) reveals significant shortcomings in how California governs its public education system, citing chronic underfunding and staffing issues within the Department of Education. The study, released in February 2025, suggests these deficiencies hinder the state’s ability to effectively manage large-scale educational initiatives and support struggling schools.
the report details how the Department of Education lacks sufficient resources to guide multi-billion-dollar programs, such as after-school initiatives, and assist underperforming schools in improving student achievement. A key obstacle, researchers found, is that Proposition 98 funding-the primary source for schools-is restricted from administrative use, forcing the department to compete with Medi-Cal and higher education for general fund dollars.
This funding limitation has led the state Legislature and governors to circumvent the department, creating option entities like the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence to work directly with underperforming school districts.
“It becomes like this negative cycle or downward spiral where they don’t have the capacity to led state-level work, so they don’t get the funds in the state budget because they’re not trusted to do a good job,” one unnamed expert told PACE researchers.
The study, authored by Jeannie Myung, Heather Hough, and Julia Marsh, is based on interviews with 16 prominent education leaders and feedback from 30 experts in education governance. Participants were granted anonymity to encourage candid assessments.
One interviewee criticized a lack of strategic planning, stating, “There are so many new shiny things that have amazing potential, but it feels a little like we are throwing spaghetti against the wall. We have community schools, expanded learning, teacher workforce initiatives, and all these things happening that have transformative potential. We have to think about: ‘what does it look like to implement them and learn to improve?'”
Researchers evaluated state governance across six key elements: strategic thinking, accountability, capacity, knowledge, engagement, and a whole-of-system viewpoint. The overall average grade assigned by the 16 experts was 2.8, falling between ”poor” and “fair.”
