The worldwide economic decline in 2008 hit many states hard, and had an especially strong impact on California and its public education system. The purpose of this report is to develop and present baseline information regarding K-12 public education in California prior to this fiscal crisis. This report presents alternative ways of comparing the California K-12 school system to the nation prior to the fiscal crisis. First, the authors provide comparisons of the education resources and outcomes for California schools compared to other states, both in terms of raw data and adjusted for varying student demographics and levels of purchasing power in each state. Second, they turn to analyses within California to examine cost-adjusted inputs as compared to need-adjusted student outcomes in unified school districts. These analyses were initially developed to support district sample selection for the component of this project documenting district experiences of the fiscal crisis and their future plans. They were selecting districts to interview that were higher- and lower-performing in relation to the resources available to them to determine how the fiscal crisis might be affecting them differently. (Contains 10 figures and 16 footnotes.)