BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1022
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 13, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                    AB 1022 (Nava) - As Amended:  April 29, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              Education  
          Vote:10-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill authorizes the Ventura Unified School District (VUSD)  
          to deposit $10 million of the proceeds of the sale of surplus  
          real property, purchased entirely with local funds and sold  
          before January 1, 2005, into the GF of the school district.   
          This measure further authorizes VUSD to use the proceeds for any  
          one-time GF purpose.  Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Requires the proceeds from the sale of the surplus property to  
            not exceed the difference between the purchase price of the  
            property and the proceeds of the sale, if the property was  
            originally purchased using a local general obligation bond or  
            local developer fees, as specified.  

          2)Requires the State Allocation Board (SAB) to reduce the amount  
            of hardship assistance funding awarded to VUSD, if it sells  
            its surplus property for a one-time GF purpose.  

          3)Declares VUSD ineligible for hardship funding under the State  
            School Deferred Maintenance Fund, if it if it sells its  
            surplus property for a one-time GF purpose.  

          4)Requires VUSD's governing board, before it sells the property,  
            to submit documents to the SAB certifying the following: (a)  
            the district has no major deferred-maintenance requirements  
            not covered by existing capital outlay resources and (b) the  
            sale of the surplus property does not violate any provisions  
            of a local bond act.  

          5)Requires VUSD, prior to selling the property, to submit an  
            expenditure plan of the proceeds of the sale to its governing  
            board, as specified.  







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          6)Sunsets the provisions of this measure on October 31, 2013.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Potential state and local school bond cost pressure, likely in  
          the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, to offset the loss  
          of proceeds from the sale of surplus property, which are  
          primarily used for capital outlay purposes. 

          COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  .  VUSD enrolled approximately 17,321 pupils in 31  
            schools in 2007-08. It received approximately $95.9 million in  
            revenue limit funding (general purpose), including $5,883 per  
            average daily attendance during this same period. 

            According to VUSD, "Existing law does not provide us the  
            flexibility to utilize this source of funds as our students  
            suffer from the recent devastating cutbacks to our budget.   
            [We] understand the importance of building and maintaining  
            excellent facilities in which to teach our children, [but]  
            this must not be at the expense of our primary mission. Our  
            primary mission is student achievement through programs and  
            the allocation of resources that actually increase student  
            achievement such as the resources low class size, academic and  
            social intervention, technology, summer school, music  
            programs, extra-curricular programs, and our recently hired  
            innovative teachers in our classrooms. In short, our  
            programmatic needs are far greater and more critical to our  
            students than our facility needs." 

            VUSD reports it bought and sold property to maximize its  
            return, which resulted in $30 million in proceeds from the  
            sale of surplus property that is separate from local and state  
            bond funds.  This bill authorizes the district to deposit $10  
            million of the proceeds of the sale of surplus real property  
            to use for one-time GF purposes.  This measure deletes this  
            authority in October 2013.     

           2)Existing law  requires the sale of surplus property to be used  
            for capital outlay purposes. SB 1415 (Scott), Chapter 810,  
            Statutes of 2006, authorizes the proceeds from the sale of  
            surplus property to be deposited into the GF for one-time  
            expenditures and prohibits the use for on-going expenditures.  
            As a condition for using funds for a one-time GF purposes, a  
            district must demonstrate that it does not need additional  
            sites or need to construct schools for a 10-year period  






                                                                  AB 1022
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            following the sale of the property. Likewise, the district  
            cannot apply for state school construction funds during the  
            10-year period, though statute authorizes the school district  
            to apply for funds after five years, if the SAB determines  
            that the district demonstrates enrollment growth or the  
            unanticipated need for additional schoolsites. 

            Prior to Chapter 810, statute also provides various districts  
            with the authority to sell surplus property purchased with  
            local funds to be used for one-time GF purposes.  This  
            authority does not result in a ban from applying for state  
            bond funds for these districts.  Also, statute limits the  
            authority to specific time periods and conditions. 

            Existing law also provides Oakland Unified School District and  
            Vallejo City Unified School District with the authority to  
            sell surplus property in order to repay state emergency loans.  


           3)Previous related legislation  .  SB 1447 (Yee), authorized the  
            San Bruno Park School District to expend up to $1.4 million of  
            the proceeds from the sale of an elementary school for any  
            one-time GF purpose and required the district to repay the  
            capital outlay account within 10 years.  This measure was  
            vetoed in September 2008 with the following message: 

            "I do not agree with provisions in this bill that would allow  
            the San Bruno Park School District to continue to be eligible  
            for state school facility bond funds even after it sells off  
            property to meet its non-capital financial obligations.  
            However, I am willing to sign a bill that provides some  
            budgetary relief through the sale of excess property, as long  
            as it excludes the district from applying for additional bond  
            funds, and other conditions are met, as specified in prior  
            bills I have signed." 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081