The state budget contains hundreds of specific provisions but none is bigger, more complicated, more politicized, more emotional – or more important – than the 30 or so billion dollars that it spends on K-12 education.

Whenever someone suggests that California's public employee pension systems need reform, civil service unions react dismissively, often with attacks on the credentials or even the morals of critics.

Pinning down the number of homeless people in our county is a near-impossible task; experts point out that the best we can do is provide a “snapshot in time.” The most recent “snapshot” was taken Jan. 26, 2011, when 3,774 homeless individuals were counted in San Luis Obispo County — nearly half of them children.

Jerry Brown evidently does not want to join the nascent movement to overhaul – perhaps radically – California's dysfunctional political structure.

In the interest of neighborliness, it’s nice to overlook an occasional loud party or home improvement project going on next door. But a regular barrage of noise is another matter, which is why we believe the San Luis Obispo City Council hit the right note when it yanked a piano teacher’s permit to give lessons in her condominium. For that, the council deserves a well-played bouquet.

California's big tax battle will be waged next fall, as voters decide the fate of Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed hike in sales and income taxes and perhaps one or two competing tax increases.

Jerry Brown devoted much of Wednesday's State of the State speech to dissing "declinists" who portray California as failing because they don't understand that "California is turbulent, less predictable and, well, different."

Bee political columnist Dan Walters hosted a live chat to discuss Gov. Jerry Brown's State of the State address. Replay it here.

The county clearly needs to do more homework before adopting a truancy ordinance that would give deputies the ability to “temporarily detain” and ticket students who skip school.

Some of the California legislators who voted last year to abolish redevelopment agencies and shift their money into schools and other local governments appear to be having executioner's remorse – creating uncertainty about redevelopment's future, if any.

"In re Glass on Admission" is certainly not the most important case ever to be decided by the California Supreme Court.

The mayors of California's larger cities have enjoyed – or at least experienced – marked increases in their authority in recent decades.

Can California’s community colleges — which have traditionally functioned as institutions of lifelong learning — still live up to their name?

Jerry Brown spent months and much political capital three decades ago to persuade the Legislature to authorize construction of a "peripheral canal" that would complete the immense statewide water project that his father had begun.

We’re delivering a biodegradable bouquet to each member of the county waste management board who voted in favor of the ban on single-use plastic grocery bags. The change may take some getting used to, but any inconvenience is minor when you consider the benefits, including a reduction in ugly litter on roads, parks, beaches and waterways.

"Soak the rich" has a populist ring that resonates in a period of economic uncertainty, and making the rich pay their "fair share" of taxes has become a rallying cry for those on the political left with no small appeal to those in the middle.

Like most small California beach towns, Pismo Beach is far better known for its outdoor amenities — sand, surf and sunsets — than for its historic architecture. While there are plenty of older shops and bungalows in the downtown, many have been so extensively remodeled that they’ve lost much of their historic charm.

A last-minute “robo call” campaign against a countywide plastic bag ban is an ugly attempt to bully local officials into changing their minds. They shouldn’t fall for it.

The three-pronged battle over which state Senate districts will be used for this year's elections is reaching a climax that will determine whether Democrats can achieve a two-thirds majority in the upper legislative house.

Gov. Jerry Brown's new budget says that the state's shaky finances are "exacerbated by an unprecedented level of debts, deferrals and budgetary obligations," which he describes as "a wall of debt."