(a) On or before July 1 of each fiscal year, the county board of education shall adopt an annual budget for the budget year and shall file the budget with the Superintendent, the county board of supervisors, and the county auditor. The budget, and supporting data, shall be maintained and made available for public review. The budget shall indicate the date, time, and location at which the county board of education held the public hearing required under Section 1620. For the 2014–15 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, the county board of education shall not adopt a budget before the county board of education adopts a local control and accountability plan or approves an update to an existing local control and accountability plan if an existing local control and accountability plan or update to a local control and accountability plan is not effective during the budget year. The county board of education shall not adopt a budget that does not include the expenditures identified in the local control and accountability plan and any annual update to the local control and accountability plan that will be effective for the budget year. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, for the 2014–15 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, the budget shall not be adopted or approved by the Superintendent before a local control and accountability plan or update to an existing local control and accountability plan for the budget year is approved.

(b) (1) The Superintendent shall examine the budget to determine if it (A) complies with the standards and criteria adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 33127 for application to final local educational agency budgets, (B) allows the county office of education to meet its financial obligations during the fiscal year, and (C) is consistent with a financial plan that will enable the county office of education to satisfy its multiyear financial commitments. In addition, the Superintendent shall identify any technical corrections to the budget that must be made. On or before September 15, the Superintendent shall approve or disapprove the budget and, in the event of a disapproval, transmit to the county office of education in writing his or her recommendations regarding revision of the budget and the reasons for those recommendations.

(2) For the 2014–15 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, the Superintendent shall disapprove a budget if any of the following occur:

(A) The Superintendent has not approved a local control and accountability plan or an annual update to the local control and accountability plan filed by a county board of education pursuant to Section 52070.5 that is effective for the budget year.

(B) The Superintendent determines that the budget does not include the expenditures necessary to implement the local control and accountability plan or an annual update to the local control and accountability plan that is effective for that budget year.

(c) In the event of the disapproval of the budget of a county office of education pursuant to subdivision (b), on or before October 8, the county superintendent of schools and the county board of education shall review the recommendations of the Superintendent at a regularly scheduled meeting of the county board of education and respond to those recommendations. That response shall include any revisions to the adopted budget and other proposed actions to be taken, if any, as a result of those recommendations.

(d) (1) The Superintendent shall examine the revised budget as provided in subdivision (c) to determine if it complies with the standards and criteria adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 33127 for application to final local educational agency budgets and, on or before November 8, shall approve or disapprove the revised budget. For the 2014–15 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, the Superintendent shall disapprove a revised budget if the Superintendent determines that the revised budget does not include the expenditures necessary to implement the local control and accountability plan or an annual update to the local control and accountability plan approved by the Superintendent pursuant to Section 52070.5 that is effective for the budget year. If the Superintendent disapproves the budget, he or she shall call for the formation of a budget review committee pursuant to Section 1623.

(2) Notwithstanding any other law, for the 2014–15 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, if the Superintendent disapproves the budget for the sole reason that the Superintendent has not approved a local control and accountability plan or an annual update to the local control and accountability plan filed by the county board of education pursuant to Section 52070.5, the Superintendent shall not call for the formation of a budget review committee pursuant to Section 1623.

(e) Not later than 45 days after the Governor signs the annual Budget Act, the county office of education shall make available for public review any revisions in revenues and expenditures that it has made to its budget to reflect the funding made available by that Budget Act.

(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 19, Sec. 4. (SB 78) Effective June 24, 2015.)