Sacramento City Unified is preparing to strip Cesar Chavez's name from an elementary school in South Sacramento, setting off a renaming process that will run through the end of the year. District staff documents state that Chavez no longer reflects the district's vision, mission, and values, and the school board is expected to formally begin the process this month.
The move follows a March 2026 New York Times investigation, as reported by Abridged – PBS KVIE, which revealed numerous claims that Chavez groomed and abused girls. Per the outlet, labor leader Dolores Huerta has said she was raped twice by Chavez. Sacramento's renaming would apply to Cesar Chavez Elementary School, located in South Sacramento, and comes as school districts and cities across California have removed or considered removing Chavez's name from schools, parks, streets, and buildings, according to the same report.
Sacramento City Unified expects the renaming to cost between $10,000 and $12,000, funded through the district's restricted facilities budget, the outlet reports. That estimate is well below the price tags seen elsewhere in the state — Stockton Unified pegged the cost of renaming Cesar Chavez High School at $2 million to $3 million depending on whether the new name kept the CCHS initials, according to fox40.com, with the money set to come from the district's general fund.
How the Process Will Unfold
The district's renaming committee, made up of nine parents, staff members, and students, plans to meet throughout November and recommend a final name, per the same report from Abridged. Sacramento City Unified staff have recommended against naming the school after another living or deceased person. Surveys asking students and families for input on the proposed change are expected to go out this month, with a school board vote on the update scheduled for December.
This would not be Sacramento City Unified's first school renaming — the district changed a school's name in 2023, and that renaming, for Suy:u Elementary, cost about $8,000, the outlet notes. Sacramento city leaders have also begun the process of renaming downtown's Cesar Chavez Plaza, according to the same report.
Woodland and Davis Set the Regional Pattern
Sacramento's move follows similar action already completed or underway in neighboring Yolo County. Davis Joint Unified renamed Cesar Chavez Elementary School to Monarca Elementary School in June 2026, after a 15-member renaming group narrowed 281 public suggestions down to two finalists, Monarca or Sí Se Puede Elementary, per Abridged. The committee said Monarca — Spanish for monarch butterfly — honors the school's bilingual identity and represents a broad concept rather than one individual.
In Woodland, the Yolo County Office of Education started its own process of finding a new name for what had been Cesar Chavez Community School, a campus serving grades 7 through 12. The office gave the campus the temporary name YCOE Community School in June 2026 and surveyed community members for new name ideas in August, according to the same report. A renaming committee of at least seven members will produce two final name options, with contenders required to relate to the area around the school or to an entity whose contributions or values align with the county office; the office plans to hold a public hearing and board vote in November.
Anthony Volkar said the county office wants to approach the name change thoughtfully and responsibly, and he expects the Woodland renaming costs to be fairly minimal, according to Abridged.
Stockton's Divided Response Offers a Cautionary Tale
Not every California district has moved in the same direction. Stockton Unified School District, which has used the Chavez name and initials at its high school since it opened in 2005, saw trustees decide to put off any action on the school's name after reviewing a community poll, according to stocktonia.org. Nearly half of surveyed students said they either strongly or somewhat supported changing the name, while more than a fifth remained neutral, the outlet reports.
Patrick Martin opposed jumping on the renaming bandwagon, saying the allegations against Chavez have not received due process and that the money could instead be spent in other areas for students, according to the same report. Stocktonia notes that Chavez, who died in 1993, cannot face criminal charges over the allegations. The outlet also reports that Stockton Unified has seven schools named after presidents who owned slaves, a point raised in the district's broader naming debate. A separate, lower-confidence account from abc10.com described the outcome differently, reporting that the Cesar Chavez High School name would stay following an Aug. 26 board discussion — a version that conflicts with Stocktonia's account of trustees postponing any decision.
California has at least 21 schools named after Chavez, according to the state Department of Education directory cited by Stocktonia, and the debate over his legacy has reached beyond individual campuses. The Los Angeles Unified School District set aside $209,000 to remove Chavez's name from gym floors and entrance signs at two schools, the outlet reports — a sign that the cost and controversy of these renamings can vary widely depending on where, and how far, a district is willing to go.
