Not to exceed forty million dollars ($40,000,000) of the proceeds of the sale of bonds authorized by the State School Building Aid Bond Law of 1966 may be expended pursuant to this article.

Not to exceed two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) of the proceeds of the sale of bonds authorized by the School Building Aid and Earthquake Reconstruction and Replacement Bond Law of 1972 may be expended pursuant to this article.

The Legislature hereby declares that it is in the interest of the state and the people thereof to provide assistance to school districts in rehabilitating or replacing structurally unsafe school facilities inasmuch as the education of children is an obligation of the state, and the obligation carries with it a corresponding responsibility for the physical safety of children while attending school.

It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this article to provide a means through repayable state loans for school districts not otherwise eligible for assistance under this chapter (consisting principally of school districts in the urban centers of the state), to house their pupils in facilities that are structurally safe.

The following terms, as used in this article, shall have the following meanings, unless the State Allocation Board finds a different meaning is essential for properly carrying out the purposes of this article, or finds that a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

Education.

The State Allocation Board shall administer this article. The Director of General Services shall provide the assistance to the board as it may require.

In addition to any other powers and duties granted to the board by Article 1 (commencing with Section 16000) of this chapter, the board shall:

for the purpose of this article that it deems necessary.

The board, by the adoption of rules, shall give priority in allocating funds to districts which will benefit most from the reconstruction or replacement of schoolhouse facilities. This priority may be based on the age and structural safety of existing buildings at the school or schools where the construction or reconstruction will occur, acuteness of overcrowding and density of population in the attendance areas affected, or any other factors that will insure that the greatest need will be served in allocating funds under this article.

The board shall prescribe instructions specifying the manner in which property, real or personal, being replaced through the apportionment, shall be disposed of, and compliance with the instructions shall be a condition upon the making of the apportionment. The net proceeds derived from the disposition shall be contributed in reduction of any apportionment proportionate to the state’s participating in the project. Any school district affected shall comply with instructions prescribed by the board. The board may require a district to transfer to the state by any

instruments deemed appropriate by the board, title to the property, whereupon, the board shall dispose of the property in any manner it deems appropriate to insure the highest return to the state, and apply the applicable proceeds therefrom in reduction of apportionments to the district. The district affected shall do all things deemed necessary by the board to implement the disposition.

Apportionments under this article from the State School Building Aid Fund shall be made for the sole purpose of reconstructing or replacing existing substandard buildings that present a potential threat to the safety of schoolchildren and which do not comply with the requirements of Article 3 (commencing with Section 17280) of Chapter 2 of Part 10.5 or for the purpose of restoring facilities damaged by an earthquake after February 1, 1971, and for which there are no other state or federal funds available for the restoration. The apportionments shall be made in the

manner and subject to the conditions herein provided and in accordance with policies adopted by the board for the following purposes, all of which purposes are declared to be, and are, public works:

facilities, utilities or improvements which the board determines are necessary to the proper operation or functioning of the school facilities for which apportionments are made.

Except as is provided in Section 16320, apportionments shall not be made under this article for the purpose of reconstructing or replacing existing substandard buildings which have already been reconstructed or replaced using funds made available under Chapter 1575 of the Statutes of 1947, as amended, or Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 16500), Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 15700), and Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 16000) of this part.

As a part of the purposes, where a district is required by a contract entered into between itself and a contractor, to obtain at its own expense insurance covering risks incurred during any construction, reconstruction, or alteration for which an apportionment has been made, the cost thereof may be paid either directly, or by way of reimbursement, to the district out of the apportionment, or out of any apportionment made specifically covering the insurance. However, in other respects the apportionments are eligible for payment under this chapter.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 16319, apportionments under this article from the proceeds of bonds remaining from the authorization provided in the State School Building Aid Bond Law of 1966 may be made for the purpose of (1) reconstructing or replacing existing substandard school buildings or high school dormitories that present a potential threat to the safety of schoolchildren and which were not previously constructed or reconstructed in accordance with the requirements of Article 3 (commencing with Section 17280) of Chapter 2 of Part 10.5 or which if

previously reconstructed to comply with the provisions of Article 3 no longer meet the standards of structural safety prescribed under the authority of Article 3 in effect on April 10, 1933, or (2) reconstructing or replacing existing structures utilized by a school district as school buildings originally designed to house the United States Cavalry and used as World War II prisoner-of-war camp structures or an existing structure utilized by a school district as a school building which was originally designed as a mess facility for the United States Army Air Corps without regard to conditional or provisional structural approvals received by the district with respect to the buildings prior to the enactment of Chapter 500 of the Statutes of 1972.

Apportionments for the reconstruction or replacement of a dormitory shall only be made when the use and occupancy of the dormitory will be by resident pupils of the district who are in attendance at the high school of the

district and when in the judgment of the board the pupils cannot be reasonably expected to travel by vehicle to the school on a daily basis.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 16319, apportionments under this article from the proceeds of bonds remaining from the authorization provided in the State School Building Aid Bond Law of 1966 may be made for the purpose of replacing school buildings severely damaged by an earthquake in Sonoma County subsequent to September 30, 1969, and subsequently demolished by the school district in the interest of safety to the children, but not yet replaced by permanent facilities.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 16319, apportionments may be made to a school district for the purpose of replacing an existing substandard building which formerly housed the district’s high school, and which was subsequently replaced by a new high school building using an apportionment received under this chapter, but which continued to be used by the district for elementary school purposes from the time of completion of the new high school in the 1958–59 school year until November 1971, when the pupils were transferred from the unsafe school building to

temporary structures.

The State Department of Education shall provide the following services to school districts making applications for apportionments under this article:

for specific problems a school district may have.

Unless specifically exempted by the State Allocation Board, each school district which files an application for an apportionment

of funds under this article after July 1, 1973, shall prepare and submit to the board either, (1) a long-range comprehensive master plan justifying the application, prepared in accordance with acceptable planning procedures, or (2) a certification to the effect that replacement school buildings for which application has been made will all be located on existing schoolsites containing a school building or buildings, or (3) a certification that the applicant school maintains only one school. Specific information relating to the following factors must be included in the master plan:

reconstructed or replaced under this article, prepared in accordance with the requirements of Section 17302 or 81138.

plans.

The director shall review the long-range master plan and project development plan and shall report his findings and recommendations thereon to the board. The board shall in no instance approve an application or make an apportionment therefor until it has determined to its satisfaction that the facility for which the apportionment is sought is justified by an appropriate estimate of average daily attendance and location within the district.

Each school district which desires an apportionment shall submit through its governing board to the board an application therefor in the form and number of copies as the board shall prescribe. Each copy of the application shall be accompanied by a statement of the estimated cost of the project certified by an architect or structural engineer, and by layout plans showing the entire construction project for which the district desires an apportionment.

Estimates of costs for new construction or equipment appearing in an

application shall conform to cost standards adopted by the board under Section 16024.

A school district shall not let any contract for new construction included in an application for a construction project which has been approved by the board if the cost exceeds the construction cost standards fixed by the board under Section 16024 for the new construction by more than 2 percent or except as otherwise provided in Section 16332. The amount, if any, by which the contract cost exceeds the construction cost standards fixed by the board shall be borne by the school district and shall not be included in the apportionment.

A school district may at any time amend or supplement its application.

Each construction project for which a district applies for an apportionment shall be applied for on a separate application and shall be considered separately by the board. If a district applies for

more than one construction project, at the same time or at different times, the priority points of the district shall be recalculated after the approval of each separate construction project and before a subsequent construction project is approved.

The board shall require any changes in the plans which an applicant school district submits with its application that the board determines is necessary or desirable to reduce the cost of the project.

A school district may at any time file an application or amend or supplement an application. Upon receipt of any application, the Director of General Services shall as promptly as possible prepare a report and recommendation with respect to the application after having received recommendations from the director in respect to any matter which is subject to the jurisdiction or approval of the director or State Department of Education. The board shall, subject to the provisions of this article, approve, in whole or in part, or reject each application referred to it by

the Director of General Services. If the board approves of the application, either in whole or in part, it shall, by a resolution adopted by it, apportion to the district from the State School Building Aid Fund the amount applied for, or any portion thereof that the board may determine appropriate. However, it may order that the apportionment or any part thereof shall be paid in progressive installments at any times and under any conditions that it may then prescribe. This shall be known as a conditional apportionment and shall become final only if the vote provided for in Section 16327 is favorable and if the county superintendent of schools furnishes a certificate satisfactory to the board certifying that there is on deposit in the state school building fund of the district the amount of district funds which, when added to the apportionment computed under Section 16330, will equal the estimated cost of the project approved under Section 16323.

Unless the board has

received the certificates of the county superintendent of schools required by this section within nine months from the date of the conditional apportionment, it shall, at the expiration of the nine-month period, void the conditional apportionment and shall certify this fact to the Controller. Each final apportionment made by the board under this article, shall be certified by it to the Controller who shall from time to time draw his or her warrant on the Treasurer in favor of the county treasurer of the county having jurisdiction over the district in accordance with the terms of the final apportionment. The warrant shall be exempt from the provisions of Division 4 (commencing with Section 16100) of Title 2 of the Government Code and shall be paid by the Treasurer from the State School Building Aid Fund.

The board may, upon approval of the application, in whole or in part, and subsequently from time to time, make a conditional apportionment or conditional apportionments not exceeding in the aggregate the total amount approved for the application from the State School Building Aid Fund for such portion or portions of the project for which the board determines the district is ready to proceed. If the board has approved an application and made an apportionment as to a portion or portions of a project, the board may approve the remaining portion or portions of the

project and make an additional apportionment or apportionments as it deems appropriate.

If the board determines that the actual cost is in excess of the estimated cost of the specific school plant facilities or sites for which an apportionment to a district has been made, or for which a district’s application has been approved in whole or in part pursuant to this section, the board may make an additional apportionment to any district in an amount equal to the excess even though the additional apportionment will result in the total apportionments to the district exceeding the amount of the application originally approved by the board.

Approval of an application under this section shall not be construed as creating or implying any obligation, commitment or promise on the part of the board or the state to make apportionments under this chapter.

The amount of new building area for which an apportionment may be made for the purpose of replacing unsafe school buildings shall be computed in accordance with regulations adopted by the board. Such regulation shall be based upon the number of units of average daily attendance which were housed in the unsafe buildings being replaced and the building area limitations contained in Sections 16047, 16052, 16053, 16054 and 16055 together with any adjustments necessary to alleviate hardships occurring as a result of only partial replacement of an entire attendance center.

In no event shall an apportionment be made for new building area the chargeable area of which exceeds the chargeable area of the unsafe buildings being replaced. The chargeable area of any school building shall be computed in the uniform manner prescribed by the board.

No payment of funds may be made pursuant to an apportionment unless the district holds an election at which the electorate of the district approve the acceptance, expenditure, and repayment of at least the amount apportioned pursuant to this article. The election may be held prior to or subsequent to an apportionment. If the electors voting at the election fail to approve the proposition by the same majority required at a district bond election, within nine months from the date of the apportionment, the apportionment and the board’s approval of the application become

null and void.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, an election held prior to the effective date of Article 9 (commencing with Section 16310) of this chapter, pursuant to Section 16058, is valid for the purposes of the foregoing paragraph, provided that the district is not otherwise eligible to receive apportionments under Article 1 (commencing with Section 16000), Article 2 (commencing with Section 16150), and Article 3 (commencing with Section 16190) of this chapter.

No apportionment shall be made to a district for the construction, reconstruction, or alteration of, or addition to, school buildings if the requirements prescribed by this code for the construction of school buildings are not met by the plans for the entire building program of the district in connection with which the district applied for an apportionment.