The district serves almost all of Compton, all of East Rancho Dominguez, most of Willowbrook CDP, portions of Carson, Lynwood, West Rancho Dominguez CDP, and a small sliver of Paramount.

[2] In 1993 the State of California offered to loan the school district $20 million in exchange for temporary control of the school district; the rationale for wanting to take control included both financial problems and poor academic performance, making Compton USD the only California school district to ever have a takeover for both reasons.

The state had complete control over the school district.

In 1997 Jeff Leeds of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the physical conditions of the campuses had deteriorated since the takeover.

Delaine Eastin, the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, decided not to close the school district despite receiving requests to do so.