As a follow up to our Sell Bonds Press Conference, please see an opinion piece written by former Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan and Lisa Gonzales, President of the Association for California School Administrators for the Bay Area News Group.

~ CASH Staff

Opinion: State Must Fulfill Voter Mandate to Fund School Construction

By JOAN BUCHANAN and LISA GONZALES |

Research shows that school facilities have a significant, positive impact on school culture, academic performance, student attendance, and teacher retention and job satisfaction.

Students need facilities that, for example, have working air-conditioning, upgraded security and electrical systems, and modern classroom infrastructure that supports technology.

For school districts to meet those needs, school districts partner with the state to fund major rehabilitation projects and build new schools where needed. But today there is more than a $2 billion backlog of school construction project applications that have been submitted to the state and are awaiting action.

To understand how the funding works: School districts collect developer fees, pass local school facilities bonds and then apply to the state for matching state grant funds. Periodically, voters choose to replenish the fund that provides the state matching grants through passage of a statewide school bond initiative.