photo: Sebastian Bergmann/ BY-NC-SA

Reporter Kelly Chau has taken a long look at California's budget crisis, a story she knows all too well as a student of San Francisco State University, and has put together this series of interviews and reports on how the Golden State managed to loose it's luster... and what it might take to win it back.

The (Not So) Secret Origin of the California Budget Crisis 

In 1978, a measure called Proposition 13 was passed by California voters in a landslide. The purpose of this proposition was (and still is), to limit the taxation on property. Since the passing of this initiative, funding for public education and other public-funded services has decreased over the decades. Many in the state point ot Prop 13 as the source of California's budget problems. Despite this the law retains its reputation as the "electric third rail" of California politics. Read more about Prop 13's impact.

Ultimate Do-Over: Pushing for a Constitutional Convention in California

We spoke with John Grubb a spokesman for Repair California, the political group whose members and employees are currently out collecting signatures for a pair of ballot measures that could change California politics forever. In this interview, he describes how the organization came to be and what its plans are. Repair California was founded as a movement to help push for a constitutional convention in California in an effort to reform the State from poor governing.

Inside the University System

Last but not least, NPR's Madeleine Brand visited her alma mater of UCLA to report on growing class sizes and the difficulties students are having paying for their tuition. This report looks at the whole ecosystem of the university, from students who are juggling class fees and food budgets to professors who have watched time they could have spent teaching students get turned into time spent telling students why they can't fit into their already overcrowded classes. It's powerful reporting that brings the human impact of the budget crisis to the fore.