California audits 428 schools with low vaccination rates

By Diana Lambert And Daniel J. Willis for EdSource
Originally published on Jan. 28, 2026

The state of California is auditing 428 of its public schools because more than 10% of their kindergartners or seventh grade students were not fully vaccinated last school year. An additional 80 schools did not report their vaccination information to the state.

Shifting federal policies and new measles cases are again making vaccination a national conversation. Last year, there were 2,255 measles cases nationwide — the most since the 1990s. The California Department of Public Health reported 25 cases of measles in the state in 2025. Just last week, an unvaccinated student in Napa County was diagnosed with measles after being exposed to it while visiting South Carolina. 

The number of schools on the state vaccination audit list is lower than in the previous two years, but 110 of the schools have been on the list for at least three years. 

Having fewer schools on the audit list this year doesn’t necessarily mean more students are being vaccinated. In 2023-24, the most recent year student vaccination data is available, vaccination rates for kindergartners dropped by nearly half a percentage point to 93.7%. 

“I think California’s still in a good place in terms of the protections that we have,” said Catherine Flores Martin, executive director of the California Immunization Coalition. “A dip in California can be a couple hundred students, and that’s a lot of students, but compared to the rest of the nation we are ahead.”

Which vaccinations are required?

California requires that children be immunized against 10 serious communicable diseases — diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (bacterial meningitis), measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, rubella, tetanus, hepatitis B and chicken pox — to attend public or private schools and child care centers.

Studies have linked clusters of unimmunized children to outbreaks of measles, pertussis and varicella or chicken pox.

California law requires students to be immunized against 10 serious communicable diseases. Proof of immunization is required in kindergarten and seventh grade, as well as upon entering child care, transitional kindergarten, or when transferring schools from out of state. 

Students who are overdue for their vaccinations, or who have been admitted to schools conditionally while they catch up on vaccines, are not fully vaccinated, according to the state. 

California offers exemptions for children in special education, home-based private schools, and students with medical exemptions. But in 2015, the state Legislature added additional oversight to medical exemptions, requiring that the California Department of Public Health review exemptions at schools with an immunization rate of less than 95%, or if a doctor has written more than five exemptions in a year.

It is one of four states, including Connecticut, Maine and New York, that do not allow personal exemptions from school vaccination requirements. 

Schools can lose funds

School districts found to be out of compliance with the state’s immunization regulations can lose average daily attendance (ADA) funding for students who were not fully vaccinated, said Scott Roark, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education.

“If an LEA (local education agency) continues to remain out of compliance, they will continue to receive audit findings and face the associated ADA and funding loss,” Roark said in an email. “In addition, any audit finding requires the LEA to develop a corrective action plan describing how they will remedy the issue and prevent it from recurring in future years.”

Although students attending virtual and nonclassroom-based schools are not subject to state immunization requirements, the schools are still required to maintain immunization records for those students.

In the three years prior to the 2024-25 school year, 62 schools — seven charter and 55 traditional public schools — lost some funding because students were admitted to school without vaccinations, according to the CDE.

Small, rural schools high on the list

Small schools in rural areas factored prominently on the state audit list. The school with the highest percentage of under-vaccinated students was Big Creek Elementary in rural Fresno County. The school, which had 21 students in 2024-25, had 100% of its two kindergartners and three seventh graders without all their vaccinations. 

Redway and Whitethorn elementary schools in rural southern Humboldt County have been on the audit list for the last three years. Both schools are part of the Southern Humboldt Joint Unified School District. Redway Elementary had 56.6% of kindergartners needing vaccinations in 2023, improving to 15.7% in 2025. Whitethorn Elementary went from 25% of its kindergarten students requiring vaccinations in 2023 to 33% last year. Redway Principal Julie Thomas-Steinle declined an interview for this story. 

Map: 428 California schools flagged for audit due to low vaccination rates

Explore the map to see the list of 428 schools.

Oakland schools audited again

Urban and suburban schools made appearances on the list as well. The Oakland Unified School District had 28 of its 53 elementary schools and six of its 11 middle schools on the state audit list last school year. At the top of Oakland Unified’s list was Elmhurst United Middle School, with 63% of its 246 seventh grade students in need of vaccinations. 

The Bay Area district has 44,647 students, according to CDE. Oakland Unified has not lost any average daily attendance funding despite having 14 elementary schools and four middle schools on the state audit list for three years, according to district officials.

School staff review immunization records and begin contacting the families of students in need of vaccines each summer, said John Sasaki, Oakland Unified communications director. Families are then given information about where to obtain vaccinations, he said.

The district has partnered with the Alameda County Public Health Department to offer on-site vaccination clinics at schools with lower vaccination rates, as well as back-to-school clinics. The district is planning back-to-school clinics again this spring, Sasaki said.

There has been progress. Twelve Oakland schools that made the audit list all three years have improved their vaccination rates. Most notable was Markham Elementary, which went from 65.2% of its kindergartners lacking vaccinations in 2023 to 26.5% under-vaccinated last school year. 

LAUSD works to vaccinate

Oakland Unified isn’t the only large school district struggling to get all of its students fully vaccinated, according to state data. Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, had 47 of its 1,200 schools on the 2025 audit list. Fifteen were on the list all three years.

Most of the Los Angeles Unified schools on the list had fewer than 20% of their kindergartners and seventh graders in need of vaccines, although some schools had more. 

“We have maintained an overall district-wide immunization compliance rate of 98%,” according to a statement from the district. “Dedicated health teams are working directly with school communities to identify barriers, connect families to resources, and support compliance.”

Los Angeles Unified hosts vaccination clinics at schools and organizes district-wide health fairs that provide immunizations and other health services, according to the district. School nurses and coordinators are working with regional staff, principals, and school teams to track immunization rates. 

Burlingame schools have high rates

Of California’s traditional public schools with more than 100 kindergarten students attending in person, McKinley Elementary in the Bay Area had the highest percentage of kindergartners without the required vaccinations. About a third of its 101 kindergarten students were unvaccinated when the audit was taken last year. Washington Elementary, another school in the Burlingame Elementary School District, trailed close behind with 32% of its 103 kindergartners without all their vaccinations. 

The Burlingame Elementary School District, in San Mateo County, had five of its six elementary schools on the state vaccination audit list. District officials did not return a call asking for comment for this story.

CDC schedule could put kids behind

Vaccine hesitancy, fueled by the Covid pandemic, has reduced vaccination rates across the country. Now, there is concern that a decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to deemphasize some vaccines will reduce rates even further.

Earlier this month, without traditional scientific review, the CDC rolled back its recommendation that all children be vaccinated against the flu, hepatitis A, meningococcal disease, rotavirus and RSV. Instead, the CDC is recommending that only some high-risk children or children whose parents have consulted a doctor receive the vaccine. The CDC similarly scaled back its recommendations for the Covid and hepatitis B vaccines for infants last year. 

The decision doesn’t impact California’s school vaccination requirements, but could result in more students falling behind on vaccinations as parents forgo immunizations previously recommended at birth, said Flores Martin of the California Immunization Coalition.

“Even though parents may not be in agreement with this administration, I think it’s still planting doubt, or it’s still planting concern in people’s minds,” she said.

Many parents are confused about the conflicting information they are hearing about vaccines, so they avoid making a decision and wait to vaccinate their children, according to Flores Martin.

The California Department of Public Health now recommends parents adhere to the American Academy of Pediatrics vaccination schedule.

“I think there are still parents that are working hard to avoid vaccination,” Flores Martin said. “But once children are enrolled in public school or day care, they don’t have that many options in California. They have to vaccinate.”