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HomeEducation CodeCh. 6Art. 3§ 16204 School District Tax Funding

§ 16204 School District Tax Funding

Education Code·California
AI Summary·Official Text·Key Terms·Related Statutes·References
AI SummaryVerified

§ 16204 School District Tax Funding

Each year the school board decides if money for certain school facilities will come from the district’s regular budget or a special tax, and if a special tax is needed the county must collect $160 for each student‑day, minus any leftover aid from previous years.

Key Takeaways

  • •The school board must decide each year whether to use the regular budget or a special tax for the required payments.
  • •If a special tax is required, the county levies $160 for each average daily attendance unit.
  • •Any unused aid from previous years reduces the amount the county needs to raise.

Example

A school district gets a notice that it must use a special tax to pay for a new classroom building. The county then adds a tax on every property where the district’s students live.

The county looks at how many students attend each day on average, multiplies that number by $160, and then subtracts any unused aid from past years. The result is the total tax they must raise from property owners.

How to Calculate

Tax amount = ($160 × Average Daily Attendance units) – (Remaining aid per unit × Average Daily Attendance units)

  1. Find the average daily attendance (ADA) for the district (the number of student‑days).
  2. Multiply the ADA by $160.
  3. Find any remaining aid per ADA unit from prior years.
  4. Multiply the remaining aid per unit by the ADA.
  5. Subtract the amount from Step 4 from the amount in Step 2. The result is the total tax the county must levy.

The district has an average daily attendance of 500 students. There is $20 of unused aid per student‑day from the previous year.

Result: Tax amount = (160 × 500) – (20 × 500) = $80,000 – $10,000 = $70,000

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source
View on CA.gov

§ 16204 School District Tax Funding

On or before July 20th of each year, the governing board of a school district which has received a notification pursuant to Section 16203, shall determine, and notify the county board of supervisors and the county auditor, whether the amounts required to be paid on behalf of the district under Section 16207 shall be provided from the general fund of the district or by a special district tax levied by the county board of supervisors. In the event that the district notification specifies that the amounts so required shall be provided by a special district tax, or if no notification is made, the board of supervisors with whom the certificate prescribed by Section 16203 is filed shall, at the time of making the tax levy for that year for county purposes, levy a special tax upon all taxable property in the district of residence of each pupil enrolled in the facilities other than the district maintaining the facilities, sufficient in amount to raise, for the use of the facilities, the sum of one hundred sixty dollars ($160) per unit of average daily attendance, less any amounts per unit of the average daily attendance remaining in the county school building aid fund from levies and collections made in any prior year and not paid to the state pursuant to Section 16207. (Repealed and added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 277, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1997. Operative January 1, 1998.)

Last verified: January 10, 2026

Key Terms

special district taxgeneral fundcounty board of supervisorsaverage daily attendancecounty school

Related Statutes

  • § 16207 County School Building Aid
  • § 19171 County Library Funding Allocation
  • § 19179 County Library Continuation Rules
  • § 19180 County Library Building Funding
  • § 10501 Regional Education Data Centers

References

  • Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
  • California Legislature. Education Code. Section 16204.
View Official Source