Article 2. Apportionments of California Education Code >> Division 1. >> Title 1. >> Part 10. >> Chapter 7. >> Article 2.

Apportionment from the State School Construction Fund to school districts shall be made in the manner and subject to the conditions herein provided and in accordance with policies adopted by the board, for any of the following purposes:
  (a) The purchase and improvement of schoolsites which have been approved by the department.
  (b) The purchase of desks, tables, chairs, and equipment, as approved by the department.
  (c) The planning and construction, reconstruction, alteration of, and addition to, school buildings for facilities that are approved by the department as essential, all of which purposes are hereby declared to be, and are, public works. Where a district is required by a contract entered into between itself and a contractor, to obtain at its own expense insurance covering risks incurred during any construction, reconstruction or alteration for which an apportionment has been made, the cost thereof may be paid either directly, or by way of reimbursement, to the district out of the apportionment, or out of any apportionment made specifically covering the insurance. However, in other respects the apportionments are eligible for payment under this chapter.

In addition to the purposes for which apportionments may be made to school districts under Section 16520, apportionments may also be made to school districts for the construction, repair, attachment or development of offsite facilities, utilities or improvements which the board determines are necessary to the proper operation or functioning of the school facilities for which apportionments are made, all of which purposes are hereby declared to be, and are, public works.

In making applications for, and in expending, apportionments of funds under this chapter, a district acts as an agent of the state and all sites purchased and improved, all equipment purchased, and all buildings constructed, reconstructed, altered, or added to through the expenditure of funds apportioned under this chapter, are declared to be, and are, the property of the state. Upon the payment by the district of the amounts required to be paid by it to the state under this chapter, the board shall, in the name of the state, convey the property to the district.

The board may require school districts to insure for the benefit of the state all sites, equipment, and buildings which are the property of the state, against any risks and in any amounts that the board may deem necessary to protect the interests of the state. No state funds apportioned under this chapter shall be used to pay the premiums on the insurance.

A district shall be eligible to an apportionment under this chapter if the estimated number of project children and indirect project children who will be in average daily attendance in the schools of the district during the period of the state project is at least 25 and is at least 5 percent of the estimated number of all children who will be in average daily attendance in the schools of the district during the current fiscal year.

Any eligible school district may make application for an apportionment for a grade level which it maintains by submitting through the governing board an application therefor in a form and number that the board shall prescribe. The application shall be addressed to the board and shall set forth a project for the construction of school facilities for the district in accordance with this section.
  (a) Each application and copy thereof shall contain and be supported by:
  (1) A description of the project and the site therefor, preliminary drawings of the school facilities to be constructed thereon, and any other information relating to the project that the board may require.
  (2) A statement of the estimated cost of the project certified by an architect or structural engineer.
  (3) Evidence that the district has or will have title to the site upon which the facilities as specified in the application will be constructed.
  (4) Assurance that the district will cause the work on the project to be commenced within a reasonable time and prosecuted to completion with reasonable diligence.
  (b) The board shall require any changes in the plans which an applicant school district submits with its application that the board determines is necessary or desirable to assure completion of the project with available funds of the district and the amount of the apportionment to which the district is entitled under this chapter. For that purpose the board may delegate to the director or the Director of General Services, according to whether the subject matter of the revision of the plans is subject to the jurisdiction and approval of the director or the Director of General Services, the authority to require any revision in the plans that the board deems necessary or desirable to accomplish the purposes of this subdivision.
  (c) Upon submission of an application for an apportionment under this chapter the Director of General Services shall do each of the following:
  (1) Transmit a copy of the application to the director who shall as promptly as possible prepare a report and recommendation with respect thereto. Thereupon the director shall transmit his or her report and recommendation to the Director of General Services who shall refer them to the board if he or she finds them in proper form and otherwise sufficient. If the Director of General Services finds the documents to be lacking in any respect as to any matter subject to the jurisdiction of the director or the department, he or she shall refer them to the director who shall take any action that may be necessary.
  (2) Determine the applicant district's financial ability with funds apportioned under this chapter and funds devoted by the district to the project to meet the cost of the project and submit his or her report thereon as promptly as possible to the board.

At the next regular meeting of the board following the submission of the reports and recommendations required by Section 16525, the board shall, subject to this chapter, approve or reject the application. If the board approves the application, it shall by resolution adopted by it, apportion to the district from the State School Construction Fund the amount applied for, or any portion thereof that the board determines proper. This shall be known as a conditional apportionment and shall become final only if the vote provided for in Section 16527 is favorable. The conditional apportionment shall remain in effect for a period of nine months from the date of the resolution of the board. If the apportionment does not become final within the time prescribed, it shall become void and the money so apportioned shall again become available for apportionment pursuant to this chapter.

No apportionment to a school district under this chapter shall become final, nor shall any agreement authorized by Section 16528 be entered into, unless at an election called by the governing board of the district, two-thirds of the qualified electors of the district voting thereat have authorized the governing board to accept, expend, and repay an apportionment as provided in this chapter or, with respect to an agreement authorized by Section 16528, to obligate the district in an amount equal to or in excess of the maximum amount which the district could be obligated by the agreement, or by any act of its governing board, or for which it is responsible, contemplated, or permitted under the agreement. The election shall be called, held, and conducted in the same manner as are elections to authorize the issuance of district bonds, except that the ballot shall contain substantially the following words:

"Shall the governing board of the district be authorized (1) to accept and expend an apportionment from the State of California under and subject to the provisions of the State Project Area School Construction Law, a portion of which amount is subject to repayment as provided by that law, or (2) to enter into an agreement or agreements with the state pursuant to Section 16528 of the Education Code, which will at the time of the agreement or agreements (or at the time of any subsequent act of the governing board, or for which it is responsible, contemplated or permitted thereby) commit the district to a total expenditure in connection with all of these agreements of not more than ____ dollars, or both. Yes ___ No ___."

(a) In addition to the powers granted the board under this chapter, the board shall have authority to do each of the following:
  (1) Make apportionments to districts for the purchase of sites only, or for the construction or purchase of temporary or portable buildings, and for the cost of site preparation, including any necessary utility costs, in connection with their utilization.
  (2) Establish standards in conjunction with the State Department of Education pertaining to the sites and buildings as a condition for making the apportionment. In addition the board may also expend moneys from the State School Construction Fund directly for the construction, acquisition, storage, maintenance, and repair of the buildings, including administrative costs related thereto. In the latter event the board may lease, sell, or transfer under a lease-purchase agreement the buildings to school districts eligible for aid under this chapter, under the terms as it deems fit. Agreements pertaining thereto may provide for the payment by the state of site preparation costs, including any necessary utility costs, sufficient to permit their utilization.
  (b) Whenever the board deems it economically desirable to do so the board may dispose of any facilities acquired or constructed directly by it under this section to any public or private parties under the terms and in the manner as the board deems fit, save insofar as the disposal is inconsistent with any agreement under this section between the board and an affected district. The board is authorized to do any and all things necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section, and any eligible school district is authorized to enter into an agreement with the board to carry out the purposes hereof.
  (c) Any buildings leased for placement on the school property or under a purchase or a lease-purchase agreement shall be deemed the construction or alteration of a school building as those terms are defined in Sections 17280 to 17313, inclusive.
  (d) The consideration provided by any agreement between the state and districts pursuant to this section shall as nearly as possible reflect an amount which would return to the state a fair pro rata proportion of its capital investment and expenditures connected therewith in the light of the benefits conferred by the agreement. The consideration shall be paid by the districts promptly when due, and Section 16573 shall not be deemed applicable to reduce the consideration, provided that the amounts so repaid shall be redeposited in the State School Construction Fund.
  (e) No agreement shall be entered into under this section unless the department has, with respect thereto, or as a condition of making the agreement, approved each of the following items:
  (1) The property to be transferred, including any incidental construction pertaining thereto.
  (2) Whether the agreement shall be by lease or sale.
  (3) The term of the transfer, if less than a sale, including any contingent or indefinite term. "Sale" as used in this subdivision includes a lease-purchase transaction. The jurisdiction of the department shall not otherwise extend to the terms of the agreement.