School facilities funding: high-performance schools.

Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (the Greene Act) , requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition, and requires the board to adopt rules and regulations for the administration of the Greene Act. The Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006 (the 2006 Bond Act) sets aside $100,000,000 of the proceeds of the bonds sold under that act for incentive grants under the Greene Act to promote the use of design and materials in new construction and modernization projects that include the attributes of high-performance schools. Existing law authorizes a modernization apportionment to be used for an improvement to extend the useful life of, or to enhance the physical environment of, the school, and specifies the types of costs that may be included in the improvement. This bill would add the cost of designs and materials that support the characteristics of high-performance schools to the types of costs that may be included in the improvement. Existing law establishes the Career Technical Education Facilities Program to provide new construction and modernization grants to qualified local educational agencies for career technical education program facilities, and establishes a maximum grant amount per project. This bill also would make those new construction and modernization projects eligible for an incentive grant if the project meets the criteria prescribed in the 2006 Bond Act for incentive grants to high-performance schools. By allowing an existing appropriation to be spent for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation.