School facilities.

The Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 establishes a school facilities construction and modernization program that requires the State Allocation Board to provide state per‑pupil funding to applicant school districts. The act authorizes a school district that meets specified characteristics established pursuant to regulations to receive financial hardship assistance for school facilities construction and modernization in cases of extraordinary circumstances. Extraordinary circumstances may include the need to repair, reconstruct, or replace the most vulnerable school facilities that are determined by the department to pose an unacceptable risk of injury to their occupants in the event of a seismic event. The Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006 provides that of the $1,900,000,000 of bond proceeds set aside for new construction of school facilities up to 10.5% is required to be available for purposes of seismic repair, reconstruction, or replacement. This bill would authorize the State Allocation Board to review and adopt regulations for apportioning funds set aside for purposes of seismic repair, reconstruction, or replacement projects, as specified. The bill would require apportionments to fund the repair, reconstruction, or replacement of a building evaluated and determined to be seismically at risk. The bill would provide that apportionments may also fund the evaluation by a structural engineer or equivalent professional who is certified to test for the structural safety of school buildings, of a facility to determine if the building is determined to be seismically at risk, and interim housing for displaced pupils who would otherwise be housed in a school building that is evaluated and determined to be seismically at risk.The board would be required to create an unfunded approval list of applicants with buildings determined to be seismically at risk if applications for funding exceed the amount of funds set aside for the repair, reconstruction, or replacement of seismically at risk school buildings. "?>