Chart I Cost of School Facilities Authorized Classrooms Authorized and Classrooms Chart III Percentage Distribution of Project Cost for 2 3 State School Building Aid Operations by Year, 1953-64 (1952 Law) 12 2 13 4 Cost of State Aided Facilities 1952-64, Classified by Source 15 5 15 6 16 7 16 8 16 9 17 Average Project Cost per Pupil by Year, 1953-64 Enrollment Growth in State Aided and Other Districts, 1963-64 Facilities for Exceptional Children, Approvals through 1964 Cost of State Aided School Buildings Placed under Construction Assessed Valuation per ADA 1963-64 Year, State Aided and 222 Sales of State School Building Aid Bonds Aid Laws of State School Building Aid Bond Transactions by Year State Project Area School Construction Law of 1957 Fund Fiscal Transactions 23 3 23 24 25 Veterans' Temporary Housing 27 Earthquake Relief Fiscal Transactions 28 23 Earthquake Relief Allotment and Unpaid Balances 28 24 State Water Pollution Control Transactions 29 For nearly 18 years school building aid has been a significant factor in California's school construction program. During this period enrollment In the State's elementary and high schools has increased nearly threefold, with much of this huge gain concentrated in districts surrounding the core cities of metropolitan areas. These districts, facing an extraordinary growth in school population and increasing dilution of a usually modest tax base, have depended heavily on State aid loans to meet the need for additional schools. During this period, the State Allocation Board has approved aid under three major programs. The first was $55 million appropriated in 1947 and 1948 for grants to "impoverished" school districts, followed by a $250 million State bond issue for apportionment under the 1949 aid law, and $1,365 million in bond issues for aid under the 1952 (present) law. Special building aid programs of $0.5 million in 1949 for facilities for the cerebral palsied and $1 million from the California Water Fund for schools in the vicinity of major State public works projects, round out the school building aid programs. Since 1947 the State Allocation Board has approved applications for $1.5 billion in State funds under the three major programs to assist in financing well over two billion dollars in new school facilities. With these funds, school districts have financed nearly 49 thousand new classrooms, together with auxiliary facilities for over 1.6 million elementary and high school students (see Table 1). The present (1952) law and its predecessor, the law of 1949, are loangrant programs. The district applies its remaining bond debt capacity toward the cost of the facilities required, and the State provides the balance. The State holds project costs to the average for non-aided districts by statutory standards as to quantity of facilities per pupil, and maximum costs established by the Board for buildings, equipment, and general site development. Table 1. Classrooms and Seating Capacity Provided under School Building Aid Laws of 1947, 1949, and 1952 Construction Status of Aid Law December 31, 1964 School districts make annual repayments for principal and interest on State funds received, based on current assessed valuation, less offsets for "eligible" debt service on district bonds. If the loans are not repaid in 30 years (40 years for multipurpose rooms) the unpaid balance becomes a grant to the district. Highlights of 1964 The estimated cost of new school facilities approved in 1964 reached a new all-time high of $241.9 million, requiring State aid loans totaling $149.2 million. Application volume has increased steadily during the three years since the last low point of the school construction cycle in 1961. The estimated cost of facilities approved in 1964 is 16 per cent above the preceding year, while State aid increased by 14 percent. The increase over 1963 in the cost and physical capacity of facilities approved was wholly at the high school level where there was a 65 per cent gain in project costs and a 57 percent increase in pupil capacity of the facilities approved. The cost of high school projects approved reached $80.3 million in 1964 as against $48.6 million in the preceding year. Requests for elementary facilities were lower than in 1963 during the first half of 1964, but showed an upturn in the latter part of the year, bringing the total cost of projects to $130 million, up five percent from 1963. Applications were approved for advance site acquisition and plans preparation at a cost of $32 million, down 12 percent from 1963. |