Article 1. Statements of California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 24. >> Chapter 6. >> Article 1.

(a) On or before September 15, the governing board of each school district shall approve, in a format prescribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, an annual statement of all receipts and expenditures of the district for the preceding fiscal year and shall file the statement, along with the statement received pursuant to subdivision (b), with the county superintendent of schools. On or before October 15, the county superintendent of schools shall verify the mathematical accuracy of the statements and shall transmit a copy to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
  (b) On or before September 15, each charter school shall approve, in a format prescribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, an annual statement of all receipts and expenditures of the charter school for the preceding fiscal year and shall file the statement with the entity that approved the charter school.
  (c) The forms prescribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be adopted as regulations by the State Board of Education, and may be amended periodically to accommodate changes in statute or government reporting standards.

The governing board of each school district shall hold a public hearing on the proposed budget in a district facility, or some other place conveniently accessible to the residents of the district. The public hearing shall be held any day on or before the date specified for this purpose in subdivision (e) or (i), respectively, of Section 42127, but not less than three working days following availability of the proposed budget for public inspection. At the hearing any resident in the district may appear and object to the proposed budget or any item in the budget. The hearing may be concluded on the proposed budget when there are no requests for further hearing on file, and shall be concluded no later than the date specified for this purpose in subdivision (e) or (i), respectively, of Section 42127. The budget shall not be finally adopted by the governing board of the district until after the public hearing has been held. The proposed budget shall show expenditures, cash balances, and all revenues as required to be tabulated in Sections 42122 and 42123, and also shall include an estimate of those figures, unaudited, for the preceding fiscal year. In addition, any tax statement submitted by the governing board of the school district pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 42127, any district tax requirement computed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 42127 for the school year to which the proposed budget is intended to apply, and any recommendations made by the county superintendent pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 42127 shall be made available by the district for public inspection in a facility of the district or in some other place conveniently accessible to residents of the district. Notification of dates and location or locations at which the proposed budget may be inspected by the public and the date, time, and location of the public hearing on the proposed budget shall be published by the county superintendent of schools in a newspaper of general circulation in the district or, if there is no newspaper of general circulation in the district, in any newspaper of general circulation in the county, at least three days prior to the availability of the proposed budget for public inspection. The publication of the dates and locations shall occur no earlier than 45 days prior to the final date for the hearing as specified in subdivision (e) or (i), respectively, of Section 42127, but not less than 10 days prior to the date set for hearing. The cost of the publication shall be a legal and proper charge against the school district for which the publication is made.

Any violation of this article or a failure to comply with its provisions by the county superintendent of schools or by the governing board of any school district is punishable under Section 1222 of the Government Code.

The governing board of any school district may print and distribute in pamphlet form an annual financial statement of the receipts and expenditures of the school district, and may include in the pamphlet a general report concerning the conduct and condition of the schools of the district. Similar information of value to the public regarding the school system may be printed and distributed from time to time, or published not oftener than once a year, in a newspaper of general circulation published within the district.

If the county board of education neglects or refuses to make a county office of education budget in the manner as prescribed by this article, or neglects to file interim reports pursuant to subdivision (l) of Section 1240, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall not make any apportionment of state or federal money for that particular county office of education for the current fiscal year, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall notify the appropriate county official that he or she shall not approve any warrants issued by the county office of education.