$10.4 billion for school facility construction and modernization with Green Technology

Leveling the Playing Field for Prop 1D

In November 2006, voters authorized $10.4 billion for school facility construction and modernization through Proposition 1D – the Kindergarten-University Facilities Bond Act of 2006. This bond set aside $100 million for incentive grants to promote the use of high-performance attributes in new construction and modernization projects for K-12 schools.

High performance attributes include using designs and materials that promote energy and water efficiency, maximize the use of natural lighting, improve indoor air quality, use recycled materials and materials that emit a minimum of toxic substances, and employ acoustics that aid in teaching and learning.

The High Performance Incentive grants were expected to be in place earlier this year. But previous regulations put forward to implement the program were rescinded because they were insufficient.

“The regulations require incorporation of a high performance framework such as CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) or LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) or the creation of our own standard,” said Rob Cook, the new executive officer for the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC).

At this point, the State is negotiating with CHPS to obtain a license to the CHPS framework. “The CHPS framework is holistic. It considers policy, curriculum, and transportation as well as facilities,” says Cook. “Those are all great things to consider, but the focus for the school facility bond funds has to be on those criteria with facility components. We just need to make sure that the State has the flexibility it needs to run a really smart program.”

Under Cook’s leadership, the OPSC wants to ensure that the $100 million is distributed to as many school construction projects as possible and that it is used to fund aspects of green building that are more difficult to achieve. The high performance grants will provide incentives of between 2 to 10 percent of the per-pupil grant for high performance facilities.

Cook says, “There are some things that are easy to do and some that are harder. We want to provide incentives to do the more difficult things that take a facility from a good school to a high performing school.” Promoting the use of renewable energy, strongly supported by the governor, and coalescing with incentives under the California Solar Initiative, is something Cook would like to see tie in with 1-D.

OPSC wants a level playing field in making 1-D funding available to as many school districts as possible. "Can an urban, suburban, or rural school meet a criterion? If the answer is yes, then it’s something we want to include as a point of equity,” Cook says.

The 1-D regulations are scheduled to be discussed at a meeting of the State Allocation Board’s Implementation Committee on August 3. The committee, a group of professionals in the school building and design community, will vet the new regulations, which will then hopefully be adopted by the State Allocation Board in late August. From there the regulations must be approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). Once OAL approves the regulations, funding will be available. If everything falls into place, 1-D projects may be funded by November.

Kristin Heinen, CHPS assistant executive director, agrees that there are changes being made on how the funding will be allocated and which high performance features will be covered. “We would encourage interested parties to attend the Implementation Committee meeting on August 3^rd to provide input and hear the discussion,” she says. The meeting agenda and handouts can be downloaded at the OPSC website.

“We’re doing this so we can put forward a really intelligent funding framework that will help leverage the $100 million and get it out to as many schools as possible,” Cook says. “We want it to be a smart program, very focused, that will provide incentives to build energy-efficient and educationally exceptional facilities.”