A California Democratic state senator successfully pushed through an audit of the Orange County Board of Education, despite concerns raised by some assembly members. Now some board members tell the SoCal Daily Pulse that the motives behind the taxpayer-funded review are questionable.
In February, Democratic California state Sen. Tom Umberg made a formal request to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) to have the OCBE officially audited. With allegedly no prior warning to the board before the request, Dr. Ken Williams Jr., an OCBE trustee, told the Daily Pulse about their surprise regarding the demand. (RELATED: OC Jews Condemn Supervisor Sarmiento’s Call To End U.S. Military Aid To Israel As “Peddling Hamas Propaganda.”)
“Why would the state auditor want to audit a county board of education? It’s never happened before. The precedence is difficult to understand. Because we have nothing to do with the functioning of the department. We’re not their employer,” Williams said.
“This is not a financial audit to see if we’re spending money right. This is a political witch hunt. This is a fishing expedition,” Williams added. “And they want to make an example.”
The OCBE, which serves thousands of students in one of California’s largest and traditionally conservative counties, has a five-member elected governing board. The members oversee issues such as charter school authorizations, alternative and special education programs and support services for the 28 school districts in their county.
Holding a conservative majority, the board has repeatedly taken stances that have opposed the Democratic supermajority priorities on parental rights, school choices and governance.
For instance, in August 2024, the board unanimously voted to join a federal lawsuit challenging Assembly Bill 1955, which bans school districts from requiring staff to notify parents when a student requests a gender-identity or pronoun change.
Williams told the Daily Pulse that he believes the board’s pushback over the years, mixed with Umberg’s alleged potential political plans, is why the Democrat would ask for an audit on the board.
“The Democrats here in Orange County don’t like the fact of our public policy governance positions. They don’t like the fact that we’re a 5-0 conservative Republican pro-family. And by the way, I’ve also spoken out strongly in favor of Israel’s rights and spoken against the anti-Semitism that is out there in government and in the culture,” Williams said.
“We’ve taken some pretty bold stands in the last few years. I’ve been on board for 30 years. So I’ve seen quite a bit,” Williams continued. “I’m so happy with our board and the decisions we’ve made.”
Following Umberg’s initial request for the audit, the JLAC then held a hearing on March 24 to listen to testimony from those who support and oppose the decision. During the hearing, California Assemblymember Josh Hoover could be seen questioning if the audit on the OCBE has ever been performed and called out the appearance of political motivations from Democrats behind the move.
This week the Supermajority weaponized the Audit Committee to punish a county board of education they disagree with politically. This sets a dangerous precedent that undermines voters, silences dissent, and threatens the rights of local boards to represent their communities. pic.twitter.com/fKF665T3N9
— Josh Hoover (@joshua_hoover) March 26, 2026
However, despite pushback from those like Hoover, the state auditor officially added it to their “coming soon” list in April. Williams noted to the Daily Pulse that the audit could potentially be costing taxpayers over $500,000 to conduct the audit.
With the audit pushed forward, fellow OCBE trustee Tim Shaw told the Daily Pulse that while he is all for full transparency, he doubts the motives behind the audit will truly be honest.
“None of us are opposed to transparency. We have a normal audit that’s done regularly anyway. It’s not the state auditor, but the County Department of Ed[ucation] goes through the internal budget process and it is reviewed by outside auditors. So it’s not like that’s unwelcome,” Shaw said.
“They’re just taking the extraordinary step of sending down the state auditor to do an extra thing that’s based on no specific allegation. So we’ll fully comply. We’ll give them anything they want,” Shaw added. At the end of this, to be honest with you, I’m quite sure they’re going to have some finding. The Democrats in Sacramento are not going to send their auditor down here and have them come back and say, ‘Well, they are running everything perfect[ly] and they haven’t done anything wrong.’”
When discussing finances, the only opposition Shaw could recall that Democrats might use against them would be the lawsuits they’ve joined. But even then Shaw stated that a handful had been done by pro bono lawyers and the others had made menial costs to the board.
Both Williams and Shaw pointed out that the money spent on the audit and taxpayer dollars would be better used on issues such as homelessness and hospice care — areas that have recently drawn national attention as the Department of Justice cracks down on fraud in the state.
Since the audit has been approved the OCBE will be holding their first board meeting on April 8.
Umberg did not immediately respond to the Daily Pulse’s request for comment.
