In this brief, we use data from the 2021 PACE/USC Rossier Poll to report on California voters' attitudes towards and engagement with local school district governance. Generally, our findings show relatively high support for school boards among California voters, although voters were less satisfied with school board performance in the context of…

Growing inequities and lessons learned during the pandemic together with billions of dollars in new funding present an opportunity to make substantial changes to K-12 education to better serve all students in California. In May 2021, PACE and the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California (USC) fielded our annual poll of…

Political scientists have largely overlooked the democratic challenges inherent in the governance of U.S. public education--despite profound implications for educational delivery and, ultimately, social mobility and economic growth. In this study, we consider whether the interests of adult voters who elect school boards in each community are…

California law severely limits local school districts' revenue-raising authority compared to most other states, which allow districts to raise local property taxes to support schools. School districts are primarily funded by revenues allocated by the state through complex formulas established decades ago. In California, school districts have…

Over 40 years ago the historic Kerner Commission Report declared that America was undergoing an urban crisis whose effects were disproportionately felt by underclass populations. In "America's Urban Crisis and the Advent of Color-blind Politics", Curtis Ivery and Joshua Bassett explore the persistence of this crisis today, despite public…

"Newark Kids Count 2004" presents a statistical snapshot of child well-being that can be used to inform those efforts to create a strong community safety net for Newark's youngest citizens. Following is a look at some of the major trends documented in this year's report: (1) Poverty persists; (2) Nutritional supports lag; (3) Unmarried…