Funding Our Schools 25-26
Schools Face Hard Choices
Fewer Students, One-Time Revenue, and Restricted Funds
Many public school districts in Sonoma County and California are closing campuses, reducing staff, and adjusting programs because of shrinking budgets. Long- standing financial difficulties have recently become more challenging because of the expiration of one-time funding granted by the Legislature during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these funds were used to pay for behavioral health staff and other mental health resources, which is why some schools are eliminating or restructuring these types of positions. At the same time, the population in Sonoma County and California is aging. As a result, fewer students are attending schools, which also reduces funding that is allocated by average daily attendance.
Enrollment by School District
- 111 Alexander Valley Union Elementary
- 1,655 Bellevue Union
- 889 Bennett Valley Union Elementary
- 177 Cinnabar Elementary
- 1,303 Cloverdale Unified
- 6,798 Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified
- 175 Dunham Elementary
- 224 Forestville Union Elementary
- 20 Fort Ross Elementary
- 194 Geyserville Unified
- 800 Gravenstein Union Elementary
- 398 Guerneville Elementary
- 582 Harmony Union Elementary
- 1,236 Healdsburg Unified
- 69 Horicon Elementary
- 8 Kashia Elementary
- 124 Kenwood
- 1,923 Liberty Elementary
- 1,368 Mark West Union Elementary
- 68 Monte Rio Union Elementary
- 23 Montgomery Elementary
- 1,240 Oak Grove Union Elementary
- 1,881 Old Adobe Union
- 2,455 Petaluma City Schools Elementary
- 4,961 Petaluma Joint Union High School
- 1,247 Piner-Olivet Union Elementary
- 3,091 Rincon Valley Union Elementary
- 2,842 Roseland
- 4,945 Santa Rosa City Schools Elementary
- 9,546 Santa Rosa City High Schools
- 769 Sebastopol Union Elementary
- 278 Sonoma County Office of Education
- 3,519 Sonoma Valley Unified
- 994 Twin Hills Union Elementary
- 135 Two Rock Union
- 790 Waugh Elementary
- 130 West Side Union Elementary
- 1,570 West Sonoma County Union High
- 236 Wilmar Union Elementary
- 4,810 Windsor Unified
- 1,214 Wright Elementary
All data in this report is from 2024-25 unless otherwise noted.
How Schools Are Funded
Each District Has a Different Mix of Funds
Public schools in Sonoma County are funded via the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The formula allocates a base grant for each school district based on average daily attendance (ADA). A grade span adjustment is added to each base grant for students in grades TK-3 and 9-12. Districts and charters are eligible for an additional 20% supplemental grant and some are eligible for 65% concentration grants for each student with a higher level of need. Such students include English learners, children from low-income families, and youth who are experiencing homelessness or are in foster homes.
For the 2025-26 school year, about 18 districts in Sonoma County are community-funded, or basic-aid, districts. These districts receive 100% of their core LCFF funding directly from property taxes, and get to keep any excess local property taxes that exceed the LCFF’s core funding threshold. As a result, their funding is not tied to attendance.
Managing Distress
Financial Troubles Can Trigger Intervention
SCOE has no direct role in closing schools or laying off staff. Those decisions are made by each district’s elected school board. But the county superintendent and SCOE’s external fiscal team are responsible for monitoring school districts’ budgets and revenue to ensure they can meet their financial commitments for the current school year as well as two subsequent years. This includes assisting in budgeting as well as auditing budgeted versus actual revenue and expenditures at several points throughout the school year.
If a school is unable to meet financial criteria set by the state for a prolonged period, or if it needs to take out an emergency loan from the state to cover expenses, the district can enter state receivership. This means the county superintendent of schools appoints a special administrator to oversee the district, and its board of trustees becomes strictly advisory. The special administrator’s oversight of the district lasts until the district can meet more than 150 criteria outlined by the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.
In January 2026, Superintendent Carter installed a financial advisor with the ability to halt or overrule spending decisions made by the Santa Rosa Schools Board of Trustees. Carter took this step after years of warnings to the district by SCOE about the urgent need to address long-standing, structural budget deficits. The last time an advisor was given what is known as “stay and rescind” authority over a Sonoma County school district was in the 2009-10 school year. Besides fiscal oversight, SCOE also processes revenue and payroll for all public schools in Sonoma County.
