Chapter 14. Emergency School Classroom Law Of 1979 of California Education Code >> Division 1. >> Title 1. >> Part 10. >> Chapter 14.

This chapter may be cited as the State Relocatable Classroom Law of 1979.

In adopting this chapter, the Legislature recognizes that the ad valorem tax is no longer available as a source of revenue for the construction of necessary school facilities. The Legislature considers that the greatest need in school construction is for classrooms for the education of public school pupils. It is the intent of the Legislature to satisfy this primary need to the greatest extent possible before providing any additional educational facilities, regardless of how desirable such additional facilities may be.

As used in this chapter:
  (a) "Board" means the State Allocation Board.
  (b) "Good repair" has the same meaning as specified in subdivision (d) of Section 17002.
  (c) "Lessee" means a school district or county superintendent of schools to whom the board has leased a portable classroom pursuant to this chapter.
  (d) "State School Building Aid Fund" means that fund established pursuant to Section 16096.

In addition to any other powers and duties as are granted the board by this chapter, other statutes, or the State Constitution, the board has the power to do each of the following:
  (a) Establish any qualifications not in conflict with other provisions of this chapter, as it deems will best serve the purposes of this chapter, for determining the eligibility of school districts and county superintendents of schools to lease portable classrooms under this chapter.
  (b) Establish any procedures and policies in connection with the administration of this chapter as it deems necessary.
  (c) Adopt any rules and regulations for the administration of this chapter requiring such procedure, forms, and information, as it may deem necessary.
  (d) Have constructed, furnished, equipped, or otherwise require whatever work is necessary to place, portable classrooms on schoolsites where needed.
  (e) Own, have maintained, and lease portable classrooms to qualifying school districts and county superintendents of schools.
  (f) From any moneys in the State School Building Aid Fund available for purposes of this chapter, the board shall make available to the Director of General Services such amounts as it determines necessary to provide the assistance, pursuant to this chapter, required by Section 15504 of the Government Code.
  (g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, from any funds available to the board, the board may, no later than January 15 of any year, make available to the Director of General Services up to thirty-five million dollars ($35,000,000) for expenditure in the subsequent school year. It is the intent of the Legislature that this allocation be annually funded from an appropriation made for this purpose by the Legislature in the Budget Act for the fiscal year in which the board is to act to make that funding available. These funds shall be utilized to purchase portable classrooms for the purposes of this section.

Notwithstanding any other law, the board may transfer any funds within the State School Building Aid Fund that are in excess of the amounts needed by the board for the maintenance of portable buildings or for the purchase of new portable buildings, for that fiscal year, to any of the following, as appropriate:
  (a) The 1998 State School Facilities Fund for allocation by the board for any purpose authorized pursuant to that fund.
  (b) The 2002 State School Facilities Fund for allocation by the board for any purpose authorized pursuant to that fund.
  (c) The 2004 State School Facilities Fund for allocation by the board for any purpose authorized pursuant to that fund.

(a) No school district shall qualify for the lease under this chapter, after January 1, 1990, of one or more portable classrooms except upon submitting a study examining the feasibility of implementing in the district a year-round multitrack educational program that is designed to increase pupil capacity in the district by at least 20 percent.
  (b) Emergency or urgency conditions within a school district shall constitute grounds for approval by the board, pending submission of the report.
  (c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to facilities that are designated as uninhabitable after July 1, 1989, due to fire or other health or safety conditions.
  (d) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a school district for leases or subleases under this chapter for the purpose of providing facilities, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 17091, for licensed child day care programs or recreation or enrichment activities or programs for schoolage children.

(a) The board may empower any lessee to act as its agent in the performance of acts authorized under this chapter with regard to portable classrooms to be made available to that lessee, including, but not necessarily limited to, contracting for architectural and construction services and purchasing furniture and equipment.
  (b) In addition, where any qualifying school district or county superintendent of schools is deemed by the board to be eligible under this chapter for the lease of portable classrooms, but adequate funds are not at that time available to the board for the purchase of those classrooms, the board may authorize the school district or county superintendent of schools to purchase portable classrooms, to the extent of that eligibility, pursuant to the following conditions:
  (1) The portable classrooms are purchased under a procedure determined by the board, pursuant to either a bidding process implemented by the school district or county superintendent of schools or by the State Office of Procurement.
  (2) To the extent that funding for purposes of this chapter is subsequently made available to the board, the board shall purchase the portable classroom or classrooms from the school district or county superintendent of schools, for lease to that entity under this chapter, for an amount, not to exceed the purchase price the board determines it would have paid for the classroom or classrooms at the time they were acquired pursuant to paragraph (1), as necessary to reimburse the school district or county superintendent of schools for the purchase price, less the amount that would have been charged to the school district or county superintendent of schools for the lease of the classroom or classrooms under Section 17089 from the date of purchase. The sale of the portable classroom or classrooms under this paragraph shall be at the discretion of the school district or county superintendent of schools.

(a) Any school district, or, under a joint powers agreement pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, any combination of one or more school districts or county superintendents of schools, may, to the extent of the eligibility of the school district or of the parties to the joint powers agreement to lease portable classrooms under this chapter, purchase portable classrooms as provided in this section.
  (b) The number of portable classrooms which may be purchased pursuant to this section, on a statewide basis, shall not exceed 200 in any given year, and shall not exceed 600 in total. Portable classrooms purchased prior to September 22, 1989, are exempt from the yearly limit of 200, but shall be counted towards the total limit of 600.
  (c) The purchase costs of the portable classrooms, which include costs of site preparation, furniture and equipment, toilet facilities as described in Section 65980 of the Government Code, and the transportation of classrooms, may be funded from revenues received by the school district or districts pursuant to Section 17620. The purchase shall comply with any procedures and policies established by the board under this chapter for the purchase of portable classrooms. All portable classrooms purchased pursuant to this section are the property of the state.
  (d) The board shall lease the portable classrooms purchased pursuant to the authority granted in this section to the purchaser, as described in subdivision (a), in accordance with this chapter, including applicable eligibility standards, and the purchase costs paid shall be credited toward the rent the purchaser would otherwise be required to pay under this chapter as a lessee.
  (e) In the event that the purchase of portable classrooms under this section occurs pursuant to a joint powers agreement, as described in subdivision (a), the agreement shall identify the school district or districts and county superintendent or superintendents of schools that are party to the agreement, identify the district or districts providing the revenues, specify the manner in which the revenues are to be expended, and specify the distribution of portable classrooms subsequent to purchase, which distribution shall be in accordance with the eligibility requirements of this chapter. The agreement shall be subject to approval of the board, pursuant to subdivision (b) and any applicable procedures and policies established by the board under this chapter.

(a) The board shall lease portable classrooms to qualifying school districts and county superintendents of schools for not less than one dollar ($1) per year, nor more than four thousand dollars ($4,000) per year, for each portable classroom. This amount shall be annually increased according to the adjustment for inflation set forth in the statewide cost index for classroom construction, as determined by the board at its January meeting.
  (b) The board shall require each lessee to undertake all necessary maintenance, repairs, renewal, and replacement to ensure that a project is at all times kept in good repair, working order, and condition. All costs incurred for this purpose shall be borne by the lessee.
  (c) For purposes of this section, "good repair" has the same meaning as specified in subdivision (d) of Section 17002.

Any portable classroom that is leased from the board by a school district or county superintendent of schools under this chapter on or prior to December 1, 1991, may be purchased by that district or county superintendent of schools for an amount equal to the purchase price paid by the board, including the purchase costs specified in subdivision (c) of Section 17088.7, less the amount of any rent already paid to the board by the district or county superintendent of schools for that classroom. Payment for purchases made pursuant to this section shall be in equal annual installments for an agreed upon term not to exceed nine years.

The board may lease portable classrooms to any school district or county superintendent of schools which serves infant or preschool individuals with exceptional needs, as defined in Section 56026, and which operates programs pursuant to Part 30 (commencing with Section 56000). These portable classrooms shall be adequately equipped to meet the educational needs of these students, including, but not limited to, sinks and restroom facilities.

The board shall require lessees to insure at their own expense for the benefit of the state, any leased portable classroom which is the property of the state, against such risks, including liability from the use thereof, in such amounts as the board may deem necessary to protect the interest of the state. All payments resulting from claims made against the insurance shall be made payable to and retained by the board for deposit in the State School Building Aid Fund.

(a) The board shall have authority to adopt rules establishing priorities for the acquisition and leasing of classrooms to those school districts and county superintendents of schools whose pupils will benefit most. The board may make exceptions from the established priorities if it determines that the pupils affected will benefit.
  (b) If at any time the number of portable classrooms available exceeds the number of those required by applicant districts, as determined by basic loading standards and eligibility requirements, the board may authorize additional portable classrooms to be placed in any school district that agrees to hire an additional teacher for each additional portable classroom placed in the district pursuant to this subdivision.
  (c) If at any time the number of portable classrooms available exceeds the number of those required by applicant districts, as determined by basic loading standards and eligibility requirements, the board shall authorize additional portable classrooms to be placed in any school district, upon request of the school district, for the purpose of providing licensed child day care programs or recreation or enrichment activities or programs for schoolage children on a schoolsite, unless the surplus classrooms are needed for emergency purposes.

(a) No portable classrooms shall be made available to any school district unless the district furnishes evidence, satisfactory to the board, that the district has no available bond proceeds that could be used for the purchase of classroom facilities.
  (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a school district or county superintendent of schools that has received approval for a project that includes a justified number of new teaching stations pursuant to Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 17000) or Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 17070.15) shall be eligible for at least the same number of emergency portable classrooms as approved new teaching stations.
  (c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to leases or subleases under this chapter for the purpose of providing facilities, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 17091, for licensed child day care programs or any recreation or enrichment activities or programs for schoolage children.

A school district may sublease any portable classroom obtained by the district pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 17091 to a private provider that has entered into a contract with the district to provide any child care and development program or programs or any recreation or enrichment activities or programs for schoolage children on a schoolsite. The terms of the sublease for rental payments and other related costs shall not exceed the costs of the portable classroom to the district.

The board shall have prepared for its use, performance specifications for portable classrooms complying with Sections 17280 to 17314, inclusive, which are capable of being economically moved, and bids for the construction of which can be solicited from more than one responsible bidder. The board may from time to time solicit bids from, and award to, the lowest responsible competitive bidder, contracts for the construction or purchase of the number of portable classrooms it deems will be required by eligible school districts and county superintendents of schools during the next 12 months.

If at any time the board determines that a lessee's need for particular portable classrooms which were made available to the lessee pursuant to this chapter has ceased, the board may take possession of the portable classrooms and may lease them to other eligible districts or county superintendents of schools, or if there is no longer a need for any portable classrooms, the board may dispose of them to public or private parties in any manner that it deems to be in the best interests of the state. Any revenue which is derived from a lease or other disposition of the portable classrooms pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the State School Building Aid Fund.

The State Board of Education may waive application of the penalty provisions of Section 41376 for school districts which during the school year used portable classrooms leased pursuant to this chapter.

Commencing with leases entered into on or after January 1, 2000, the plans and specifications for portable classrooms funded pursuant to this chapter shall include a provision for a telephone in each portable classroom. The connection from the portable classroom to a public switched telephone network, as set forth in Section 17077.10, shall be made by the school district at the time of the installation of the building. However, a school district may meet this requirement by utilizing wireless technology equivalent to a hard-wired connection to a public switched telephone network.