May 24, 2017

Dear CASH School District Member:

We are writing to request your help in communicating with your representatives in the State Senate and the State Assembly to ask for their direct action to assist us in:

1. Focusing legislative pressure on the Department of Finance (DOF) to increase school bond sales for matching funds through Proposition 51 in years 2018 and in 2019; and
2. Communicating to the State Allocation Board (SAB) concerns as to how the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) and DOF are proposing to treat districts projects negatively that are on the “Acknowledged List.”

Unfortunately, in the May Revision the DOF did not change the state’s plan to sell only $600 million in Proposition 51 bonds between now and June 30, 2018. That rate of bond sales will not even cover the new applications being filed, much less the current $2.4 billion waiting list.

In communicating with your legislative representatives we ask that you cite specific information about your District’s projects waiting for state bond funding, including estimated state bond funding amounts. We request that you speak to the need to increase state bond sale amounts for purposes of funding your projects and the $2.4 billion in the pipeline waiting for funding.

It is important to note here that it has been proposed by OPSC that the SAB consider sending projects on the “Acknowledged List” back to the applicant school districts, thus denying funding to those projects.

To date, there are $2 billion on the “Acknowledged List.” This is a combination of new construction and modernization projects. If your District has projects on the “Acknowledged List” we advise that you specifically identify those projects to your representative and detail the negative impact that the proposed action to deny funding to the “Acknowledged List” will have on your District.

We suggest also that you communicate your concern regarding the proposed OPSC/DOF “grant agreement” that is intended to be applied retroactively to all projects waiting for funding, notwithstanding the fact that contracts have been signed or that projects have been completed and occupied.

The Legislature needs to hear directly from you about the specific harm that the proposed OPSC and DOF actions will have on your district.

Again those proposed actions are:

1. Limit bond sales;
2. Reject projects waiting for funding on the “Acknowledged List;” and
3. Require that a grant agreement is signed for each project retroactively.

Please review the draft letter that you may use to write your own request that the state sells more bonds faster.

Please send your letter to your State Assembly Member and State Senator.

Thank you in advance for your assistance on this matter of importance.

~ Tom Duffy