Summary
1) The Calfornia public K-12 education system has been suffering from budget cuts for decades, is not at the forefront, and is these days among the bottom 10% of the states in terms of standards and results. 2) It used to produce higher-quality student results two decades ago but since then it's been deteriorating as compared to some of the higher-standard systems in the East Coast and Midwest. 3) It is ironic that about 20 of the top 100 "Gold Medal" public high schools are in California, though these 20 are indeed very good schools, as I know the ones in the Bay Area. See: http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/gold-medal-schools.html.
Analysis
New vendors trying to sell products and services to school districts in California and many states are being challenged. A few innovators strong in sales, marketing, and product/service quality will succeed. Established vendors can keep up the product and customer service quality and continue to get business. Richer school districts can relatively buy more, as the current system of state budget allocation may be outdated and off-balanced. It also means quality supplemental education is needed and in demand for years to come for motivated parents and students in California and other states.
