BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1067 (Beall) - Schoolsite Selection
Amended: May 7, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 7-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 19, 2014 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1067 requires all new schoolsites acquired by
the governing board of a school district or charter school to
have at least 2 points of entry and exit onto the schoolsite, as
specified. This bill would require the California Department of
Education (CDE) to:
a) Advise the governing body of a charter school on the
acquisition of new schoolsites, upon request by the charter
school governing board, as specified.
b) Review and update at least every 10 years the standards
for use by a school district or charter school in the
selection of schoolsites, in accordance with specified
objectives.
c) Establish standards for use by school districts and
charter schools to ensure that the design and construction
of school facilities promote walking or bicycling access to
the schoolsite, as specified.
d) Upon the request of the governing body of a charter
school, to review plans and specifications for school
buildings, make a survey of the building needs of the
charter school, advise the governing body concerning the
building needs, and suggest plans for financing a building
program to meet the school's needs.
Fiscal Impact:
Access points: Potentially significant cost pressure on
school districts and charter schools, to the extent that
they would have otherwise selected sites that do not have 2
or more entry and exit points that meet the bill's
specifications. School districts and charter schools would
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have to select different sites or add access points, which
can be costly.
Schoolsite selection advising: Likely minor costs to the
CDE, which has fee authority to fully recover from
requesting charter schools.
Update standards / Investigate non-compliance: Minor CDE
costs to update Title 5 standards and include charter
schools, and annual costs in the tens of thousands of
dollars to investigate complaints of charter school
non-compliance.
Title 5 compliance: Applying Title 5 schoolsite selection
standards to charter schools will result in significant
costs to charter schools, likely $25,000 - $50,000 per
school, to evaluate prospective sites relative to Title 5
standards and to maintain required documentation. Staff
notes that charter schools receive the majority of their
funding from the state General Fund.
Background: Upon request of a school district, the CDE is
required to advise the school district on the acquisition of new
school sites and, after a review of available plots, give the
school district, in writing, a list of the recommended locations
in the order of their merit, considering matters of educational
merit, safety, reduction of traffic hazards, and conformity to
the land use element in the general plan of the city, county, or
city and county having jurisdiction. Existing law requires the
CDE to develop standards for use by a school district in the
selection of school sites and establish standards to ensure that
the design and construction of school facilities are
educationally appropriate and promote school safety. The CDE is
also required to provide information relating to the impact or
potential impact upon any school site of hazardous substances,
solid waste, safety, hazardous air emissions, and other
information as it may deem appropriate. (Education Code �
17251)
Education Code � 17251 and Title 5 of the California Code of
Regulations outline the duties of the CDE regarding schoolsite
review and approval for which school districts seeking state
funds must also comply. Safety is the first consideration in the
selection of school sites and as part of the CDE's review, many
factors are considered including proximity to airports and
high-voltage power lines, presence of toxic and hazardous
substances and air emissions, condition of traffic and school
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safety, safe routes to school, condition of school bus safety,
and many other safety factors.
Proposed Law: This bill requires all new school sites acquired
by the governing board of a school district or charter school to
have at least two points of entry and exit onto the school site.
This bill also:
1) Requires the CDE to advise charter schools, upon the
request of a charter school governing board, on the
acquisition of new school sites (as it currently does for
requesting school districts), as specified.
2) Requires the CDE to review and update the standards
developed for use by a school district or charter school in
the selection of school sites at least every 10 years.
3) Requires the CDE to establish standards for use by
school districts and charter schools to ensure that the
design and construction of school facilities promote
walking or bicycling access to the school site to reduce
traffic risks to pupils and joint use of public facilities.
4) Requires the CDE, upon request of a charter school, to
review plans and specifications for school buildings of the
charter school, and allows the CDE to charge a reasonable
fee not to exceed the actual administrative costs incurred
for that purpose.
5) Requires the CDE, upon request of a charter school, to
make a survey of the building needs of the charter school,
advise the charter school concerning the building needs,
and suggest plans for financing a building program to meet
the needs and allows the CDE to charge a reasonable fee not
to exceed the actual administrative costs incurred for that
purpose.
Staff Comments: This bill requires all new schoolsites acquired
by the governing board of a school district or charter school to
have at least 2 points of entry and exit onto the schoolsite
which meet certain requirements. This requirement would, as
written, apply to future construction, purchase of an existing
building or site, and potentially to leased space intended to be
used for a school (which is common for charter schools).
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While the majority of schoolsites (and virtually all traditional
schoolsites) likely have 2 points of access that meet the bill's
requirements, the restriction creates potentially significant
cost pressure on school districts and charter schools, to the
extent that they would have otherwise selected sites that do not
meet the bill's specifications. If a desired site did not meet
the requirements, a governing board would either have to choose
a different schoolsite or create an additional access point.
According to the the Office of Public School Construction, the
average cost of creating a new entry/exit point on a schoolsite
is $360,000.
Charter schools would likely be most affected, because: a)
approximately 100 new charter schools open each year in
California; b) they generally have less access to traditional
school facilities than district schools; and c) they are more
likely to move existing schools to different schoolsites over
time.
The CDE has indicated that it would incur minor costs to update
Title 5 standards and include charter schools, and estimates
$30,000 in annual costs to investigate complaints of charter
school non-compliance. The CDE also estimates that applying
Title 5 schoolsite selection standards to charter schools will
result in significant costs to charter schools, likely $25,000 -
$50,000 per school, to evaluate prospective sites relative to
Title 5 standards and to maintain required documentation. These
costs would likely be paid from a school's general purpose funds
(Proposition 98 General Fund).