BILL NUMBER: AB 1627 CHAPTERED 10/10/99 CHAPTER 857 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 7, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 16, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 12, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 24, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 7, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Machado FEBRUARY 26, 1999 An act to amend Section 17071.10 of the Education Code, relating to school facilities. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1627, Machado. School facilities: Tracy Joint Unified School District. Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, authorizes the State Allocation Board to apportion funds to school districts for the purposes of new school facilities construction and the modernization of school facilities. Existing law requires the State Allocation Board to determine the maximum total new school construction grant eligibility of applicant school districts. The amount is based, in part, on the baseline and ongoing school building capacity. This bill would, notwithstanding the provision regarding baseline school building capacity, authorize a school district newly formed or reorganized pursuant to an election that occurred on or after November 4, 1998, to calculate its existing school building capacity pursuant to regulations adopted by the State Allocation Board. This bill would deem the number of pupils enrolled at the Delta Island Elementary School at the time of determining the existing school building capacity of the Tracy Joint Unified School District to be the number of pupils housed by grade level at the Delta Island Elementary School. The bill would also deem the number of pupils enrolled at the Delta Island Elementary School at the time of determining the ongoing eligibility for new construction of the Tracy Joint Unified School District to be the number of pupils housed by grade level at the Delta Island Elementary School and would prohibit that number from exceeding the assumed capacity calculated pursuant to existing law. The bill would make a declaration of special circumstances concerning the annexation of the Delta Island Union Elementary School District by the Tracy Joint Unified School District. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 17071.10 of the Education Code is amended to read: 17071.10. (a) The calculation determined by this article shall be made on a one-time basis and will be used as the baseline for eligibility determinations pursuant to this chapter. (b) Each school district that elects to participate in the new construction program pursuant to this chapter shall submit to the board a one-time report of existing school building capacity. (c) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), a school district newly formed or reorganized pursuant to an election that occurred on or after November 4, 1998, may calculate its existing school building capacity pursuant to regulations adopted by the State Allocation Board. SEC. 2. In calculating the existing school building capacity of the Tracy Joint Unified School District pursuant to this article, the number of pupils housed by grade level at the Delta Island Elementary School shall be deemed to be the number of pupils enrolled at that school at the time of determining the existing school building capacity of the Tracy Joint Unified School District. SEC. 3. In calculating the ongoing eligibility for new construction funding of the Tracy Joint Unified School District pursuant to this article the number of pupils housed by grade level at the Delta Island Elementary School shall be deemed to be the number of pupils enrolled at that school at the time of determining the ongoing eligibility for new construction of the Tracy Joint Unified School District, but that number may never exceed the assumed capacity calculated for the Delta Island School pursuant to Section 17071.25. SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that, for Sections 2 and 3 of this act, a special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstance concerning the annexation of the Delta Island Union Elementary School District by the Tracy Joint Unified School District. The facts constituting the special circumstances are these: The Delta Island Union Elementary School District is located in the rural agricultural part of San Joaquin County. The Delta Island Union Elementary School District which consists of the Delta Island Elementary School is adjacent to the Tracy Joint Unified School District and is in the process of being annexed to the Tracy Joint Unified School District, the only unified school district in close proximity to the Delta Island Elementary School. The Delta Island Union Elementary School District has less enrollment than it has building capacity. Once the Delta Island Elementary School District is annexed to the Tracy Joint Unified School District, the Delta Island Elementary School's excess capacity will be charged against the Tracy Joint Unified School District when it applies for new school facility construction funding from the state although it had no responsibility for creating the excess capacity and it would be a hardship to assign pupils residing in other parts of the Tracy Joint Unified School District to attend the more remote Delta Island Elementary School. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Tracy Joint Unified School District not be penalized for the excess capacity at the Delta Island Elementary School when it applies for new school facility construction funding from the state.