BILL NUMBER: AB 491 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 710
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 7, 2005
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 7, 2005
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 11, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Goldberg
FEBRUARY 16, 2005
An act to amend Sections 17071.75, 17078.27, and 41329.55 of the
Education Code, relating to school facilities, and making an
appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 491, Goldberg Public schools.
(1) Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of
1998, requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant
school districts, prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for
construction and modernization of school facilities, including
hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site development and
acquisition.
Existing law provides that the ongoing eligibility of a school
district for new construction funding is to be determined by making
specified calculations, including a calculation using enrollment
projections, as provided.
This bill would, in addition, authorize additional eligibility for
a school district that has 2 or more schoolsites with a pupil
population density that is greater than 115 pupils per acre in
kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, or a schoolsite pupil
population density greater than 90 pupils per acre in grades 7 to 12,
inclusive, as determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
using enrollment data from the California Basic Educational Data
System for the 2004-05 school year, for funding for projects that
will relieve overcrowded conditions, as specified.
The existing act also establishes the Critically Overcrowded
School Facilities Program to make apportionments to eligible
applicants with critically overcrowded schools in advance of full
compliance with all the application requirements otherwise required
for apportionment.
Existing law provides alternative methods for an applicant in the
program to calculate enrollment for purposes of determining
eligibility for a final apportionment for a project funded from the
Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2002.
This bill would also provide alternative methods for an applicant
in the program to calculate enrollment for purposes of determining
eligibility for a final apportionment for a project funded from the
Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004.
(2) Existing law requires the California Infrastructure and
Economic Development Bank to give notice to the Controller and a
school district of certain lease financing provided to the school
district from the proceeds of bonds, including a rent schedule, and
requires the Controller to make apportionments to the bond trustee on
the dates shown on the schedule.
This bill would require the California Infrastructure and Economic
Development Bank to amend or supplement that schedule in specified
circumstances.
(3) Existing law requires a county superintendent of schools to
annually visit and examine each school in his or her county. Existing
law specifies that the objective of these visits is to determine the
status of certain circumstances, including, but not limited to, the
condition of a school facility that poses an emergency or urgent
threat to the health and safety of pupils or staff, and provides
specified funds for this purpose.
This bill would make an appropriation by reallocating savings
realized from amounts appropriated for these visits, as specified,
upon a determination by the State Department of Education, the
Secretary for Education, and the Department of Finance that a county
office of education has incurred extraordinary costs, with certain
requirements.
Appropriation: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 17071.75 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
17071.75. After a one-time initial report of existing school
building capacity has been completed, the ongoing eligibility of a
school district for new construction funding shall be determined by
making all of the following calculations:
(a) A school district that applies to receive funding for new
construction shall use the following methods to determine projected
enrollment:
(1) A school district that has two or more schoolsites each with a
pupil population density that is greater than 115 pupils per acre in
kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, or a schoolsite pupil
population density that is greater than 90 pupils per acre in grades
7 to 12, inclusive, as determined by the Superintendent using
enrollment data from the California Basic Educational Data System for
the 2004-05 school year, may submit an application for funding for
projects that will relieve overcrowded conditions. That school
district may also submit an alternative enrollment projection for the
fifth year beyond the fiscal year in which the application is made
using a methodology other than the cohort survival method as defined
by the board pursuant to paragraph (2), to be reviewed by the
Demographic Research Unit of the Department of Finance, in
consultation with the department and the Office of Public School
Construction. If the Office of Public School Construction and the
Demographic Research Unit of the Department of Finance jointly
determine that the alternative enrollment projection provides a
reasonable estimate of expected enrollment demand, a recommendation
shall be forwarded to the board to approve or disapprove the
application, in accordance with all of the following:
(A) Total funding for new construction projects using this method
shall be limited to five hundred million ($500,000,000), from the
Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004.
(B) The eligibility amount for proposed projects that relieve
overcrowding is the difference between the alternative enrollment
projection method for the year the application is submitted and the
cohort survival method, as defined by paragraph (2), for the same
year, adjusted by the existing pupil capacity in excess of the
projected enrollment according to the cohort survival projection
method.
(C) The Office of Public School Construction shall determine
whether each proposed project will relieve overcrowding, including,
but not limited to, the elimination of the use of Concept 6
calendars, four track year-round calendars, or bussing in excess of
40 minutes, and recommend approval to the board. The number of
unhoused pupil grants requested in the application for funding from
the eligibility determined pursuant to this paragraph shall be
limited to the number of seats necessary to relieve overcrowding,
including, but not limited to, the elimination of the use of Concept
6 calendars, four track year-round calendars, or bussing in excess of
40 minutes, less the number of unhoused pupil grants attributed to
that school as a source school in an approved application pursuant to
Section 17078.24.
(D) A school district shall use the same alternative enrollment
projection methodology for all applications submitted pursuant to
this paragraph and shall calculate those projections in accordance
with the same district-wide or high school attendance area used for
the enrollment projection made pursuant to paragraph (2).
(2) A school district shall calculate enrollment projections for
the fifth year beyond the fiscal year in which the application is
made. Projected enrollment shall be determined by utilizing the
cohort survival enrollment projection system, as defined and approved
by the board. The board may supplement the cohort survival
enrollment projection by the number of unhoused pupils that are
anticipated as a result of dwelling units proposed pursuant to
approved and valid tentative subdivision maps.
(b) Add the number of pupils that may be adequately housed in the
existing school building capacity of the applicant school district as
determined pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 17071.10)
to the number of pupils for whom facilities were provided from any
state or local funding source after the existing school building
capacity was determined pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with
Section 17071.10). For this purpose, the total number of pupils for
whom facilities were provided shall be determined using the pupil
loading formula set forth in Section 17071.25.
(c) Subtract the number of pupils pursuant to subdivision (b) from
the number of pupils determined pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a).
(d) The calculations required to establish eligibility under this
article shall result in a distinction between the number of existing
unhoused pupils and the number of projected unhoused pupils.
(e) Apply the increase or decrease resulting from the difference
between the most recent report made pursuant to Section 42268, and
the report used in determining the baseline capacity of the school
district pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 17071.25.
(f) For a school district with an enrollment of 2,500, or less, an
adjustment in enrollment projections shall not result in a loss of
ongoing eligibility to that school district for a period of three
years from the date of the approval of eligibility by the board.
SEC. 2. Section 17078.27 of the Education Code is amended to read:
17078.27. (a) Upon completion of the preliminary process
authorized pursuant to this article, and when a preliminary applicant
has complied with the conditions set forth in this chapter for a
final apportionment, including, but not limited to, Section 17070.50,
the board shall adjust the preliminary apportionment as set forth in
subdivision (b) and as necessary to reflect the current eligible
grant amounts for final apportionments pursuant to this chapter
consistent with regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (c) of
Section 17078.24. The board shall then convert the adjusted
preliminary apportionment to a final apportionment and proceed to
completion of the project in the same manner as for any project
funded under provisions of this chapter other than this article.
(b) The board may adjust for cost increases only if uncommitted
funds reserved expressly for the purposes of this article remain
available for those purposes.
(c) For purposes of calculating enrollment to determine
eligibility for a final apportionment for a project funded from the
Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2002,
as set forth in Part 68.1 (commencing with Section 100600), and the
Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004,
as set forth in Part 68.2 (commencing with Section 100800), an
applicant may use one of the following methods as an alternative to
the method provided in subdivision (a) of Section 17071.75:
(1) The current year enrollment as recorded on the cohort survival
enrollment projection system described in subdivision (a) of Section
17071.75, for the year in which the application for the final
apportionment is submitted.
(2) (A) If eligibility for the preliminary apportionment was
calculated pursuant to Section 17071.76, the current year or
five-year projected enrollment as recorded on a cohort survival
enrollment projection system, developed and approved by the board,
that uses pupil residence in the high school attendance area, for the
year in which the application for the final apportionment is
submitted.
(B) A school district that uses the method described in this
paragraph to calculate enrollment shall also use this method to
calculate enrollment for all applications it submits for final
apportionments for projects for which preliminary apportionments were
approved from the same bond authorization.
SEC. 3. Section 41329.55 of the Education Code is amended to read:
41329.55. (a) Simultaneous with the execution of the lease
financing authorized pursuant to Section 41329.52, the bank shall
provide to the Controller and the school district a notification of
its lease financing. The notice shall include a schedule of rent
payments to become due to the bank from the school district and the
name of the bond trustee. The Controller shall make the apportionment
to the bond trustee of those amounts on the dates shown on the
schedule. The bank may further authorize the apportionments to be
used to pay or reimburse the provider of any credit enhancement of
bonds and other ongoing or periodic ancillary costs of the bond
financing issued by the bank in connection with this article. If the
amount of rent payments vary from the schedule as a result of
variable interest rates on the bonds, early redemptions, or changes
in expenses, the bank shall amend or supplement the schedule
accordingly. The Controller shall make the apportionment only from
moneys in Section A of the State School Fund designated for
apportionment to the district and any apportionment authorized
pursuant to this subdivision shall constitute a lien senior to any
other apportionment or payment of State School Fund moneys to or for
that district not made pursuant to this subdivision.
(b) The amount apportioned for a school district pursuant to this
section is an allocation to the district for purposes of subdivision
(b) of Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. For
purposes of computing revenue limits pursuant to Section 42238 for
any school district, the revenue limit for any fiscal year in which
funds are apportioned for the district pursuant to this section shall
include any amounts apportioned by the Controller pursuant to
subdivision (a) as well as Section 41329.57.
(c) No party, including the school district or any of its
creditors, shall have any claim to the money apportioned or to be
apportioned to the bond trustee by the Controller pursuant to this
section.
SEC. 4. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the State Department of
Education may allocate any savings available as of September 1,
2005, from the funds appropriated in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a)
of Section 23 of Chapter 900 of the Statutes of 2004, to any county
office of education for extraordinary costs related to the visits
required in subparagraph (E) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of
Section 1240 of the Education Code.
(b) The State Department of Education shall only allocate savings
pursuant to subdivision (a) upon a determination by the State
Department of Education, the Secretary for Education, and the
Department of Finance that a county office of education has incurred
extraordinary costs in accordance with subdivision (a) and of the
amount of those costs incurred.
(c) To the extent that the amount allocated pursuant to
subdivision (a) is insufficient to cover those costs, these funds
shall be prorated to county offices of education based upon the total
costs agreed upon by the State Department of Education, the
Secretary for Education, and the Department of Finance.