School facilities: master plan for green schoolyards: greening programs.

The Field Act requires the Department of General Services under the police power of the state to supervise the design and construction of any school building or the reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any school building, if not exempted, to ensure that plans and specifications comply with adopted rules and regulations and building standards published in regulations, and to ensure that the work of construction is performed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications for the protection of life and property. This bill would require the State Department of Education and the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, the Division of the State Architect, the Office of Public School Construction, and any other appropriate state entities, as determined by the department and the agency, to facilitate an interagency and stakeholder engagement process to prepare, on or before December 1, 2024, a master plan for green schoolyards that, among other things, recommends a statewide goal for the number of schools with green schoolyards to be achieved by a specified date, recommends strategies to overcome identified barriers to green schoolyards, and identifies recommendations and best practices to prevent or mitigate the impacts of extreme heat in schools. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the Department of Parks and Recreation to incorporate the recommendations and best practices from the master plan into the guidelines for specified state programs. The bill would provide that the master plan is advisory for local educational agencies, defined as school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. The bill would require the department and the agency to submit the master plan for green schoolyards to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before December 1, 2024.