CA SB 414

Title: School accountability: school financial and performance audits: chartering authorities: educational support activities: flex-based instruction.
Author: Angelique V. Ashby

Summary
SB 414, as amended, Ashby. School accountability: school financial and performance audits: chartering authorities: educational support activities: flex-based instruction. (1) Existing law requires county superintendents of schools to provide for an audit of all funds under their jurisdiction and control, and requires the governing board of each local educational agency to either provide for an audit of the books and accounts of the local educational agency or make arrangements with county superintendents of schools to provide for that auditing. Existing law requires those audits to be made by a certified public accountant or a public accountant, licensed by the California Board of Accountancy, and selected by the local educational agency, as applicable, from a directory of certified public accountants and public accountants deemed by the Controller as qualified to conduct audits of local educational agencies.Under existing law, once the Controller or county superintendent of schools makes a final determination that specified audits performed by a certified public accountant or public accountant were not performed in substantial conformity with provisions of an audit guide, or that the audit reports do not conform to the provisions of an audit guide, the certified public accountant or public accountant is ineligible to conduct specified audits for 3 years. Existing law requires the Controller to notify each school district and county office of education of those certified public accountants or public accountants determined to be ineligible pursuant to these provisions.This bill would impose additional requirements on certified public accountants and public accountants relating to training specific to local educational agencies in order to, after the 2026–27 fiscal year, be added to or remain on the Controller’s directory of certified public accountants and public accountants deemed qualified to conduct audits of local educational agencies, as provided.The bill would require an auditor of a local educational agency to, among other things, ensure that all sampling of documents or records necessary for the audit are independently selected by the auditor, and would require an auditor of a local educational agency that offers independent study to verify the pupil-to-teacher ratio of the school or program and include that information in the audit, as provided. The bill would extend the above-described rules related to the ineligibility of the certified public accountant or public accountant to audits of charter schools, as provided, and would additionally require the Controller to notify charter schools of those certified public accountants or public accountants determined to be ineligible to conduct audits, as provided.(2) If a school district governing board has entered into a contract for an independent audit of its financial statements, as specified, and the audited financial statements have not been timely filed with the county superintendent of schools, existing law authorizes the county superintendent of schools to investigate the causes for the delay and initiate one of certain specified actions that will provide the required audited financial statements in the most effective manner, as provided.This bill would revise and recast those provisions by, among other things, applying them to all local educational agencies and instead requiring the county superintendent of schools or the chartering authority, as applicable, to investigate the causes of the delay and initiate one of certain specified actions, as provided. By imposing additional duties on county superintendents of schools and chartering authorities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize a county superintendent of schools, chartering authority, the Controller, or the Superintendent of Public Instruction to refer an independent auditor of a local educational agency to the California Board of Accountancy if certain conditions are

Status
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

Bill Documents
CA SB 414 - 07/18/25 - Amended Assembly
07/18/25 - CA SB 414 (07/18/25 - Amended Assembly)