11 California county education offices underpaid or overpaid millions due to state clerical error

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Nearly a dozen California county education offices were either overpaid or underpaid millions of dollars in school funding due to a state clerical error, according to the State Controller’s Office. 

The State Controller’s Office said in a statement that a “misalignment of payment amounts” resulted in 11 counties receiving incorrect allocations. 

Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Sierra, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus and Sutter — counties that happen to start with an S — mistakenly received or were missing millions.

Sutter County, which supports 20,000 students across multiple districts, was expecting $25 million but received $105 million in funds, according to the Siskiyou Daily News. Of the $80 million misallocated to Sutter County, $60 million was intended for the Central Valley’s Stanislaus County, which serves over 105,000 students across its districts. Stanislaus County received funds meant for Sonoma County, KCRA reported. 

Based on news reports and information provided to EdSource, the mistake was corrected sometime between January and March. 

The funding issue was identified on Jan. 28, and the underpaid counties received their correct payments by Jan. 30, according to the controller’s office. 

The additional affected county education offices were notified, the controller’s office said. County offices, such as Shasta, reported that none of the $6.2 million in misallocated money had been spent, the Siskiyou Daily News reported. The controller’s office ordered the return of the funds by March 5. 

Based on communication in February with the controller’s office, the San Mateo County education office in the Bay Area was overpaid $1.6 million. The county office has since repaid the funds to the state, officials told EdSource. 

Sutter County agreed to return the $80 million last week but is keeping more than $200,000 in accrued interest, KCRA reported. 

“I just wonder how many mistakes like this the state is making across the board,” Sutter County Supervisor Dan Flores said during a meeting, KCRA reported.

The controller’s office said it took immediate steps to “strengthen safeguards around payment processing,” including an enhanced review and approval process. 

California’s 58 county education offices operate special education, migrant youth and juvenile programs. However, many offer programs and initiatives to serve all the county’s students across multiple school districts, much more than the number of students they directly support.

This story was originally published by EdSource and is republished here with permission.