Building from the existing knowledge of charter school spending and staffing, and with a lens toward better understanding the fiscal flexibility afforded charter schools, this study examines staffing patterns in California's charter schools over the last decade. Using detailed professional assignment data for the universe of California schools in…

Current census data make clear that California's poor are poorer today than they were 10 years ago. In particular, data indicate that single working women with children earn less than working, married women with children. Because California's state-subsidized day care system directs programs to enroll children on the waiting list who are from…

This book provides new estimates of the private costs and public effects of childhood disabilities among welfare recipients. Based on over 2,000 interviews conducted between 1992-96 with household heads in 3 California counties, the estimates cover direct expenditures by families and indirect costs from employment reductions. The study finds that…

This report provides objective information about the relationship of poverty, welfare, and homelessness to California's regional economy and about the design of programs that help people in poverty build working lives. California does not have enough jobs for its workforce, and welfare caseloads are consequently determined by the economy. The…

The relationships among community characteristics and community well-being were examined for all 366 rural California communities with a population of 1,000-2,000. High proportions of Latinos and new immigrants in a community population were positively related to unemployment, percent children, and employment in agriculture, and negatively related…

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…

The California Workforce Literacy Task Force conducted studies and surveyed existing literature to determine the status of literacy and other basic skills in the state's work force. The results are reported with a series of recommendations for a broad-based state strategy to improve worker productivity through better educational opportunities. Ten…

The impact of California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKS), which was passed to increase California welfare recipients' participation in welfare-to-work (WTW) activities, was examined. The impact study consisted of a nonexperimental program evaluation that used statistical models to estimate causal effects and a simulation…

Despite 6 years of economic growth, California's workforce investment system faces the following challenges: (1) meeting the needs of workers who do not earn enough to bring their families significantly above the poverty level; (2) meeting the needs of employers who face continuing shortages of workers with needed skills; and (3) meeting the needs…

The effectiveness of state enterprise zone programs was examined by using a hypothetical-firm model called the Tax and Incentives Model-Enterprise Zones (TAIM-ez) model to analyze the value of enterprise zone incentives to businesses across the United States and especially in the 13 states that had substantial enterprise zone programs by 1990. The…