Policy Brief: Teacher Staffing Trends in California

California's education spending has risen substantially in the past decade, bolstered by growing revenues, recovery from the Great Recession, and pandemic-era state and federal investments. Recognizing the central role teachers play in student performance, the state has invested over $1 billion in additional funding to address teacher staffing and preparation in recent years. However, California's schools continue to face academic and fiscal challenges. Tracking recent trends in district staff spending and student-teacher ratios, as well as teacher credentials and experience, can inform efforts to address these challenges.

Increased school spending has had a modest effect on teacher staffing

Roughly 80% of California's school spending goes toward salaries and benefits-and teachers are by far the largest single staffing category. But while instructional salary spending has grown substantially in recent years-rising by nearly $2,000 per student (42%) since 2012-13-other areas have seen even sharper increases. Instructional salaries have declined as a share of overall spending (40% to 33%), while the shares of spending on benefits (19% to 22%) and other spending (21% to 25%) have increased.