How is Budget Information Reported?
State Required Budget Reports
All elementary, secondary, and unified school districts in California are required to prepare, adopt, and submit Form SACS in order to fully reflect their financial condition. In accordance with the California School Accounting Manual, the basic expenditure categories in the SACS are Objects and Subobjects of Expenditure. In addition, the SACS requires that proposed General Fund revenues and expenditures be summarized according to their status as restricted or unrestricted. The SACS now reflects the revised Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) utilized by all California school districts. Form SACS is submitted to the County Office of Education as the Superintendent's Provisional Budget and again as the Superintendent's Final Budget. Need for Additional Budget Detail and Summary Reports The SACS is designed primarily to collect financial information from California school districts in a common format, and to ensure a minimum level of financial reporting by each school district. However, it does not provide financial information in a format easily understood by lay readers. Therefore, Los Angeles Unified School District budget documents are prepared to supplement the State form. The District budget documents reflect detailed information regarding revenue and proposed expenditures.