Districts With a Disapproved Budget | CASchoolBudgetData.com

Disapproved 2025–26 Budget

Weed Union Elementary (Siskiyou County) — the only California district whose 2025–26 adopted budget was disapproved. Its 2024–25 budget was disapproved too.

Disapproved Budgets Since 1989–90

Across 59 different local educational agencies over 37 years. In 10 of those years, no budget was disapproved at all. This is a rare step.

Summary: What a Disapproved Budget Means

Every California school district must adopt a budget each year by July 1 (Ed Code §42127). The county superintendent of schools then reviews it to make sure the district can pay its bills this year and keep paying them for the next two years. If the county office concludes the budget does not hold up, it can disapprove it.

A disapproved budget is one of the strongest warning signals in California's school finance oversight system (often called "AB 1200" after the 1991 law that created it). It is different from — and much rarer than — the Negative and Qualified certifications on our Districts in Fiscal Crisis page. A certification is the district's own self-assessment, checked by the county, at each interim report. A disapproval is the county office formally saying "no" to the district's spending plan.

July 1 — District board adopts its budget.

Fall review — County office reviews it and may ask for revisions. Final approve-or-disapprove decisions are due by November 8.

If disapproved — A Budget Review Committee (outside experts) is formed to review the budget, unless the district and county agree to waive it and CDE approves the waiver.

By December 31 — When the committee is waived, the county superintendent takes on its role and must make sure a balanced budget is adopted.

What the "Resolution" Column Means

BRC Waived The district and county agreed to skip the outside Budget Review Committee; the county superintendent took over that job instead. This is the most common outcome.

State BRC A Budget Review Committee of outside school-finance experts was actually convened to review the budget.

RRC A Regional Review Committee was used in place of a Budget Review Committee.

BRC Not Required* The budget was disapproved only because the district's Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) wasn't approved — not for money reasons — so no committee was needed.

Why This Matters for Today's Watch List

Several districts on CDE's current 2025–26 Second Interim watch list have been here before. A past disapproval is a useful piece of history to bring to the bargaining table or a board meeting.

Negative now

Weed Union Elementary — budgets disapproved 2024–25 and 2025–26.
Sacramento City Unified — budgets disapproved three straight years, 2018–19 to 2020–21.
San Ysidro Elementary — budgets disapproved 2013–14 and 2014–15.

Qualified now

Oakland Unified — budget disapproved 2002–03.
Vallejo City Unified — budget disapproved 2003–04 (listed by CDE as "Vallejo Unified").
Livermore Valley Joint Unified — budget disapproved 2003–04 (listed by CDE as "Livermore Joint Unified").

Most repeat disapprovals

Hayward Unified and Westwood Unified (4 years each); Berkeley Unified, Corning Union Elementary, and Sacramento City Unified (3 years each).

Timing note: county decisions on 2026–27 budgets are due by November 8, 2026. CDE last updated its disapproved-budget list on February 19, 2026, so any 2026–27 disapprovals will not appear here until CDE posts them.

📕 Full List

Every Disapproved Budget, 1989–90 to 2025–26

Listed exactly as published by CDE, newest first. District names are shown as CDE lists them, which sometimes uses an older name. Type in the box to filter by district, county, or year.

Fiscal Year	County	Local Educational Agency	Resolution
2025–26	Siskiyou	Weed Union Elementary	BRC Waived · CDE report (Word) ↗
2024–25	Siskiyou	Weed Union Elementary	State BRC · CDE report (Word) ↗
2023–24	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
2022–23	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
2021–22	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
2020–21	Sacramento	Sacramento City Unified	BRC Waived
2019–20	Sacramento	Sacramento City Unified	BRC Waived
2018–19	Sacramento	Sacramento City Unified	BRC Waived
2018–19	Sierra	Sierra County Office of Education	BRC Not Required*
2018–19	Sierra	Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified	BRC Not Required*
2017–18	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
2016–17	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
2015–16	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
2014–15	San Diego	San Ysidro Elementary	BRC Waived
2013–14	San Bernardino	Victor Valley Union High	BRC Waived
2013–14	San Diego	San Ysidro Elementary	BRC Waived
2013–14	Stanislaus	Denair Unified	BRC Waived
2012–13	Lassen	Westwood Unified	BRC Waived
2012–13	San Diego	Borrego Springs Unified	BRC Waived
2012–13	San Mateo	Portola Valley Elementary	BRC Waived
2011–12	Imperial	Calexico Unified	BRC Waived
2010–11	Alameda	Hayward Unified	BRC Waived
2010–11	Kern	Southern Kern Unified	BRC Waived
2010–11	Lassen	Westwood Unified	BRC Waived
2010–11	Los Angeles	Inglewood Unified	BRC Waived
2010–11	Sacramento	Natomas Unified	BRC Waived
2009–10	Lassen	Westwood Unified	BRC Waived
2009–10	Los Angeles	Los Angeles County Office of Education	BRC Waived
2009–10	Monterey	King City Joint Union High	BRC Waived
2009–10	Tulare	Stone Corral Elementary	BRC Waived
2008–09	Glenn	Willows Unified	State BRC
2008–09	Lassen	Westwood Unified	BRC Waived
2008–09	Los Angeles	Centinela Valley Union High	BRC Waived
2008–09	Los Angeles	Gorman Elementary	BRC Waived
2008–09	Monterey	King City Joint Union High	BRC Waived
2008–09	San Benito	Aromas-San Juan Unified	BRC Waived
2007–08	Fresno	Golden Plains Unified	BRC Waived
2007–08	Humboldt	Rohnerville Elementary	BRC Waived
2007–08	Los Angeles	Gorman Joint Elementary	BRC Waived
2007–08	Sonoma	Healdsburg Unified	BRC Waived
2006–07	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
2005–06	Alameda	Hayward Unified	BRC Waived
2005–06	Butte	Biggs Unified	BRC Waived
2005–06	Fresno	Fresno Unified	BRC Waived
2005–06	Fresno	Parlier Unified	BRC Waived
2005–06	Los Angeles	Lowell Joint Elementary	BRC Waived
2005–06	Tehama	Corning Union Elementary	BRC Waived
2005–06	Tehama	Los Molinos Unified	BRC Waived
2004–05	Alameda	Hayward Unified	BRC Waived
2004–05	Fresno	Fresno Unified	BRC Waived
2004–05	San Bernardino	Chino Unified	State BRC
2004–05	Tehama	Corning Union Elementary	BRC Waived
2003–04	Alameda	Berkeley Unified	BRC Waived
2003–04	Alameda	Hayward Unified	BRC Waived
2003–04	Alameda	Livermore Joint Unified	BRC Waived
2003–04	Solano	Vallejo Unified	BRC Waived
2003–04	Tehama	Corning Union Elementary	BRC Waived
2002–03	Alameda	Berkeley Unified	BRC Waived
2002–03	Alameda	Oakland Unified	BRC Waived
2002–03	Contra Costa	Pittsburg Unified	RRC
2002–03	San Bernardino	Trona Joint Unified	BRC Waived
2002–03	San Bernardino	Victor High	BRC Waived
2001–02	Alameda	Berkeley Unified	BRC Waived
2001–02	Kern	Muroc Joint Unified	RRC
2001–02	Santa Clara	Orchard Elementary	BRC Waived
2001–02	Yolo	Esparto Unified	BRC Waived
2000–01	Alameda	Emery Unified	BRC Waived
1999–00	Alameda	San Leandro Unified	BRC Waived
1999–00	Contra Costa	John Swett Unified	RRC
1998–99	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
1997–98	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
1996–97	Orange	Laguna Beach Unified	State BRC
1995–96	Fresno	Mendota Unified	State BRC
1994–95	Los Angeles	Montebello Unified	State BRC
1993–94	Los Angeles	Inglewood Unified	State BRC
1993–94	Riverside	Jurupa Unified	State BRC
1992–93	San Mateo	Laguna Salada Union Elementary	State BRC
1992–93	Santa Cruz	Pajaro Valley Unified	State BRC
1992–93	Tulare	Visalia Unified	State BRC
1991–92	N/A	N/A — no disapproved budgets this year	N/A
1990–91	Alameda	Newark Unified	State BRC
1990–91	Los Angeles	Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary	State BRC
1990–91	Yolo	Woodland Unified	State BRC
1989–90	Contra Costa	Richmond Unified	State BRC
1989–90	Humboldt	Eureka High	State BRC
1989–90	Merced	Merced River Union Elementary	State BRC
1989–90	Riverside	Murrieta Valley Unified	State BRC

* BRC Not Required — the budget was disapproved solely because the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) was not approved. "Gorman Elementary" (2008–09) and "Gorman Joint Elementary" (2007–08) appear to be the same district under two spellings in CDE's list.