News Update

California has few school districts in financial peril this year

An influx of federal and state funding has most California school districts on firm financial ground, but 17 are still on the financial early warning list released by the California Department of Education.

That is considerably less than six months ago, when 55 school districts reported they could not meet their financial obligations for three consecutive years.

Two of those districts — Sacramento City Unified and Belridge Elementary School District — have received a negative certification, meaning based on current projections they will not be able to meet their financial obligations for the 2020-21 school year and next school year.

Sacramento City Unified, which has 45,000 students and a $600 million budget, has reported the same fiscal status since the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, according to the California Department of Education. Beldridge Elementary School in Kern County has been on the list since the second half of 2019-20. It has 25 students and a $1 million budget.

Fifteen of the 17 districts on the list are in qualified status, meaning based on current projections they can’t meet their obligations over three consecutive years beginning with the 2020-21 school year. The largest district of those districts is San Francisco, which serves 58,705 students and has an annual budget of $923 million.

School districts are required to file reports on their financial health twice a year. They are then certified as being in positive, qualified or negative status. Those in positive status can meet all their financial obligations.


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