State Allocation Board Meeting: CTEFP Regulatory Amendments & No Action on Acknowledged List Proposal

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Today the State Allocation Board (Board) met to hear routine business items, adopt regulatory amendments to the Career Technical Education Facilities Program, and receive a report on the Material Inaccuracy provision.  Additionally, in her Executive Officer Statement, Lisa Silverman addressed the issue of accepting applications once bond authority has been exhausted, which was not on the agenda for discussion or action at today’s Board meeting.

Executive Officer Statement

Ms. Silverman reported on the stakeholder meeting conducted July 11, 2018, on the proposed regulation to cease accepting applications once bond authority has been exhausted.  Ms. Silverman indicated that OPSC received a significant amount of input on the proposal.  Based on that stakeholder feedback and absent further Board direction, Ms. Silverman announced that Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) staff are not bringing forth an action item to amend the regulations at this time.  CASH opposed the proposal and had urged the Board to defer action at its June 27, 2018 meeting and to thoroughly vet the impacts of the proposal.

Thank you to all of the CASH members who actively engaged in this process by contacting their legislators or providing comments at the stakeholder meeting.  Your efforts made a difference in achieving this positive outcome!

Ms. Silverman also announced that OPSC has tentatively scheduled the first stakeholder meeting to develop the Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program for Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at the Department of General Services Offices in West Sacramento.  Budget trailer bill AB 1808 provides $100 million for school districts to build new or retrofit existing facilities for the purpose of providing full-day kindergarten classrooms.

Regulatory Amendments to the Career Technical Education Facilities Program

The Board approved regulatory amendments to the Career Technical Education Facilities Program (CTEFP) to create additional criteria for tie-breakers in the funding order of applications.  During the processing of applications for the fourth funding cycle, there were multiple instances of tied rankings in the funding order.  The approved amendments include three new subsections to define the criteria for funding order when a tie exists among two or more CTEFP approved applications:

  • First: fund the application with the highest total score in all weighted areas.
  • Next: fund the applicant that does not have another application that will receive funding in the current cycle or did not receive funding in the prior funding cycle.
  • If the tie is not resolved, funding order may be based on a lottery.

Material Inaccuracy Overview

The Board received a report outlining the material inaccuracy statute, Education Code Section 17070.51, and historical background of its application in the past.  Chair Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez indicated that the report was brought forward at this time to educate the Board members about this provision.

Information on the Application of Construction Cost Index Adjustments

This item was withdrawn from the agenda.  Chair Wong-Hernandez indicated that staff needed additional time to research the issue, and it will come back to a future meeting, possibly in September.

School Facility Program Workload List

The Unfunded List (Lack of AB 55 Loans) dated June 27, 2018 includes projects worth a total of $507,936,867.  This includes $84.5 million for 52 projects for Charter School Facilities Program Preliminary Apportionments for Design and Site funding.

The workload list dated July 31, 2018 contains projects worth the following:

New Construction:          $2,480,363,845
Modernization:                $1,644,677,102
Total:                               $4,125,040,947

The next State Allocation Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 26 at 2 pm.

~Rebekah Cearley, Legislative Advocate

 

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Message From the Chair – A Call to Action

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In light of the Office of Public School Construction’s (OPSC) recent regulatory proposal to end the School Facility Program (SFP) as we know it and the Administration’s delayed sale of Proposition 51 bonds, state support for school facilities in California is in jeopardy.  We appreciate the State Allocation Board’s (SAB) June 27th decision to defer action on the OPSC proposal, but we need your help to prevent the SAB from adopting it at a future meeting. We also need your help to show state decision-makers, including the Governor, Governor Candidates, and the Legislature, what funding local school construction and modernization projects means to students and local communities.  The following is an update on CASH’s actions to preserve the principals of the SFP, and ensure Proposition 51 bonds are sold and projects are funded. 

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State Allocation Board Meets; Statement on OAL Underground Regulation Petition and Appeals

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Today the State Allocation Board (Board) met to hear routine business items, including two school district appeals.

Executive Officer Statement
In her Executive Officer statement, Lisa Silverman indicated that the next priority funding filing period will begin May 9, 2018 and will close June 7, 2018.  Requests will be valid from July 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018.  She also indicated that the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC), California Department of Education (CDE), and Division of the State Architect continue to hold joint agency workshops.  Upcoming workshops in May will focus on the Career Technical Education Facilities Program (CTEFP).  Applications for the fifth CTEFP cycle are due to CDE on October 19, 2018 and due to OPSC on February 15, 2019.  Additionally, at the January 2018 Board meeting, the Board approved regulatory amendments for the Seismic Mitigation Program and other “technical conforming regulatory amendments” on an emergency basis.  These regulations require new construction projects to submit eligibility updates for the enrollment year in which OPSC processes the application.  The regulations also allow small school districts to request a three-year lock using enrollment figures from the year in which the eligibility application is submitted, if the district makes the request prior to OPSC’s notification that it will soon begin to process the funding application.  Ms. Silverman stated that the regulations took effect on April 16, 2018.

Appeals
The Board heard the following appeals.

  • Burnt Ranch Elementary/Trinity – The Board approved the District’s request for an expedited Apportionment for replacement funding outside of the priority funding process.
  • San Marcos Unified/San Diego – The Board heard the District’s request to retain unspent site acquisition funds.  No motion was made, therefore the staff’s action to deny the District’s request stands.

Underground Regulation Petition and Appeals

On February 23, 2018, CASH filed an underground regulation petition with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) challenging the Board’s September 2017 action providing apportionments using the 2012 pupil grant amounts rather than the 2017 grant amounts.  The projects had been approved as “unfunded” in 2012.  Several districts filed appeals with OPSC on this issue.

At today’s meeting, Chair Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez indicated that OAL declined to take up a petition filed on February 23, 2017 on this matter.  She said there is no legal basis for the Board to consider an appeal of its own action.  She stated that two appeals were received by OPSC and the districts were notified that the matter was not appealable.  Fourteen additional appeals have been received by OPSC, and Ms. Wong-Hernandez intends to notify these districts that their appeals will not be heard by the Board.

School Facility Program Unfunded Approvals and Workload List
The Board approved Unfunded Approvals (Lack of AB 55 Loans) at the April 25, 2018 meeting worth the following:

New Construction $34,485,565
Modernization $47,139,111
Total $81,624,676

 

The Unfunded List (Lack of AB 55 Loans) dated March 21, 2018 includes projects worth a total of $219,443,730.49.  This includes $66.5 million for 49 projects for Charter School Facilities Program Preliminary Apportionments for Design and Site funding.

The workload list dated March 31, 2018 contains projects worth the following:

New Construction $2,389,337,208
Modernization $1,412,818,037
Total $3,802,155,245

Note that the workload list dollar amounts include CTEFP and Charter School Facilities Program projects.

The next State Allocation Board meeting is scheduled for May 23, 2018.

~ Rebekah Cearley, Legislative Advocate

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Call for Presenters: 2018 California Title I Conference hosted by the California Department of Education

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The biennial conference will be held at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles on October 9 -11, 2018. Workshop content should be of interest to the greater Title I community. Proposals should describe an effective program, practice, strategy, process, or system and local education agencies, educators, administrators, and non-profit organizations may submit proposals to present on learning environments and relevant school facilities topics. Proposals for the following strands will be accepted: 

  • Assessment and Planning
  • Equity and Access
  • Implementation and Evaluation 

The Title I Conference is an opportunity to share facilities best practices and to reach a wide audience of schools in California who are in need of modernized and modified facilities for all students in California. For more detailed information about the conference and the call for presenters, please visit the following web page.

https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/sw/t1/title1conf.asp

Electronically submitted workshop proposals are due by Sunday, May 6, 2018.

If you have any questions, please contact Molly Stitt, Education Programs Consultant, CDE School Facilities and Transportation Services Division: 916-322-6249 or mstitt@cde.ca.gov.

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SAB Meets to Approve Consent Calendar

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The State Allocation Board (Board) met on Wednesday,  March 21st for a brief meeting to approve the Consent Calendar, and the only item on the agenda was the Consent Calendar, which includes the Priority Funding Apportionments.  The following is a summary of the Executive Officer’s statement.

Executive Officer’s Statement

Charter School Facilities Program Workshops

The Office of Public School Construction (OPSC), California School Finance Authority (CSFA), and the California Department of Education (CDE) will hold a joint agency workshop in Sacramento in the Spring of 2018 (specifics to be announced).  The workshop is for applicants that currently have a Preliminary Charter School Apportionment (PCSA), and walk through the process of converting from a PCSA to an adjusted grant.

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