Report #117, June 1992
OVERVIEW
School facilities in California are in crisis as the State struggles with an anticipated increase of two million students by the year 2000 in an education system already threadbare and bursting at the seams. The Commission focuses on three areas in this study: funding sources for facilities, the state approval process for building schools, and state policies that constrain districts from maximizing the use of their assets.
This report contains four findings and 16 recommendations, including modifying current law to return the responsibility of funding new school facilities to the local school districts, thereby limiting the State’s role to ensuring equity. In addition, the Commission proposes a one-stop shopping system so school districts have a single point of contact for facility projects. The Commission found that too many agencies were involved in the approval process for school facility construction and recommended a streamlined approval process and more local control.