A battle pitting a board against a superintendent has led to a delay in finalizing a budget. In a move that the state is calling “legally and factually without precedent,” the Orange County Department of Education is nearly four months late in submitting a valid annual budget due to a deadlocked power struggle between the board and the superintendent.
The California Department of Education warned the county earlier this month that it needed to settle the dispute by Oct. 8 or a state-appointed committee will step in to oversee the budget process. As of Monday, Oct. 28, a new majority voting bloc on the Board of Education and Superintendent Al Mijares had yet to end the standoff.