Audited schools are more likely to be low-income, in rural areas, and charter schools
Source: Audit list 2025-26, California Department of Public Health
NOTES: Only elementary schools are included. We are comparing the characteristics of the 296 audited schools to the 6,042 elementary schools that met the vaccination requirements but aren't audited.
Low-income is measured as the average share of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals (FRPM) in each group of schools. Urbanicity categories (city, suburban, rural, and town) reflect the distribution of schools within audited and non-audited groups, following National Center on Education Statistics (NCES) classifications. The 10% of elementary schools (650) with missing NCES locale data were imputed based on their district locale type (NCES assigns locale type to school districts based on enrollment-weighted locale assignments of schools within the district).
For charters, the figure shows the share of charters within audited and non-audited schools. Charter schools include all types; while most are subject to the same vaccination requirements as traditional public schools, remote or nonclassroom-based charters may not be subject to the same requirements. Data do not distinguish remote charter schools.
FROM: PPIC Blog, April 2026. Low-income is measured as the average share of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals (FRPM) in each group of schools. Urbanicity categories (city, suburban, rural, and town) reflect the distribution of schools within audited and non-audited groups, following National Center on Education Statistics (NCES) classifications. The 10% of elementary schools (650) with missing NCES locale data were imputed based on their district locale type (NCES assigns locale type to school districts based on enrollment-weighted locale assignments of schools within the district).
For charters, the figure shows the share of charters within audited and non-audited schools. Charter schools include all types; while most are subject to the same vaccination requirements as traditional public schools, remote or nonclassroom-based charters may not be subject to the same requirements. Data do not distinguish remote charter schools.
