School Facilities Agreement Reached

After months of negotiations with school districts throughout California and an intensive lobbying campaign aimed at the State Allocation Board (the entity responsible for allocating state funds for the new construction and modernization of local public school facilities), the CBIA Governmental Affairs division is pleased to announce that a major agreement has been struck that will make significant additional dollars available to finance the construction of new school projects. The deal, just approved unanimously by the Allocation Board, will likely provide builders with a cushion against triggering “level 3” (100% builder financing) through the coming year.

Under the specifics of the plan, $233 million in remaining bonding authority heretofore reserved for urban districts, minus a 15% reserve, will be transferred into the state’s new school construction account. The official action took place this afternoon during the final meeting of the year of the Board. The $211 million transfer, coupled with roughly $300 million in remaining funds tagged for new construction, raises the new construction fund balance to well over $500 million.