Hi Chris,
As an ex-patriot Californian, I'm interested in this, too. Six years ago, as we prepared to move from Santa Clarita to Colorado, I went in to inform my daughter's 4th grade teacher that Emily would be leaving the class. This was in October and she was already the second teacher the class had had that year. Even though she'd had the class for six weeks, she insisted that of her 38 4th graders, none was named Emily. She was wrong. We're glad we moved.
Last summer our Santa Clarita neighbors joined us here with their daughter who is the same age as Emily (both entering 10th grade last fall) and their daughter, though an honor student, was considerably behind in science, foreign language, and English. They are all so glad that they moved because the education had deteriorated so much.
Finally I heard from my friend who is an assistant principal in the foothills area and she said that she can't imagine how they are going to cope. All summer classes, including remedial classes, and anything not strictly mandated by the state is gone.
It was bad enough when I taught there - my husband used to call teaching "the world's most expensive hobby" but now it has to be prohibitive - plus they're cutting teaching jobs!
Regarding tuition at CA universities, I think that it is not a CA phenomenon but one that is found across the country. Tuition is increasing, but hopefully the quality will not fall - too far anyhow. The University of Colorado won their case and does not have to re-instate Ward Churchill, so that's food for thought.
Hope that helps,
Beth