State officials approve audit of OCBE’s spending on litigation instead of education.

Allegations that the Orange County Board of Education (OCBE) is misspending education dollars and neglecting its charter school oversight duties have triggered a review of the Board’s practices by the state auditor.

The charges were made at a March 24, 2026, hearing in Sacramento of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) – a 14-member bipartisan standing committee (seven from each house) that oversees state government operations, audits, and financial practices. The JLAC reviews, prioritizes, and approves audit requests for the California State Auditor, ensuring accountability and efficiency in state agencies and publicly created entities.

The request for an audit came from the office of Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana). “I’m asking for a comprehensive review of the Board’s actions over the past five years to determine whether the board complied with civil rights, transparency and other legal requirements,” testified Sen. Umberg. “My concern is how OCBE decisions affected student outcomes.”

Some of the issues included in the audit request are the millions of education dollars spent by the OCBE on lawsuits against the County Superintendent of Schools, the State of California, and Governor Gavin Newsom. Other matters included the firings of top administrators affecting students, governance disputes arising from LGBTQ+ policies and library content, the approval of charter school appeals against the recommendations of local school districts and the Board’s own staff, and litigation costs totaling $8.7 million over a five-year period.

Testifying on behalf of the audit request was Contemporary Policy Institute (CPI) President Andy Thorburn. “We believe that an audit of this board would shed light that the public needs to see, and that the regulatory bodies here in Sacramento need to see,” said Thorburn. “We need to find out if the OCBE is operating in the public interest or pursuing some other private or partisan agenda.” One of CPI’s major projects is the Public School Defenders Hub, a nonprofit coalition with a mission to defend public education.

Lisa Hickman, a teacher and the president of Tustin Educators Association, also testified in support of the audit request, as did representatives from the California School Employees Association (CSEA) and the California Teachers Association (CTA).

Four “Aye” votes from both the Assembly and Senate members of the JLAC were needed to approve an audit request. JLAC Chair, Assemblyman John Harabedian (D-Pasadena), and Vice-Chair Sen. Chris Cabaldon (D-Vallejo) both voted “Aye” approving the audit. “These are funds that are for the education of young people,” said Sen. Cabaldon. “Although it can be enticing and seductive to be on a Board that can control money, it can divert away from kids, from the classroom, from special needs kids and work job training programs and instead divert it to litigation – that is absolutely a concern to the State of California.”

Once the California Joint Legislative Audit Committee approves an audit request, it generally takes at least six months for the California State Auditor (CSA) to complete the audit work. Specific timeframes can vary depending on the scope of the audit.

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About CPI

https://www.contemporarypolicyinstitute.org/

For decades, CPI Founder Andy Thorburn was in the business of selling insurance outside the United States. As the business became successful, leadership decided to give back to the communities served. A private foundation was started, and when the business was eventually sold, the new owner opted out of the nonprofit sector, but Andy didn’t. He spun off CPI and began focusing on U.S. issues. Its guiding principle is expressed by the motto, “Fact-driven. Issue-based.”