LOS ANGELES — A California school construction bond measure passed the Senate Appropriation Committee Thursday after being shrunk by more than half to $4.3 billion, but its fate remains uncertain.
California Gov. Jerry Brown has come out repeatedly in opposition to more state school construction bonds. In addition to opposing additional debt — unless it is aimed at the state's water problems — Brown has criticized the current system of funding school construction in the state.
The appropriations committee unanimously approved Assembly Bill 2235 by a 7-0 vote. The amended version creates a $4.3 billion bond, less than half of the $9 billion proposed in the original bill authored by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, who chairs the Assembly's Education Committee, and Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills.
The bill would divide the allocation with $600 million for higher education,
The bulk of the funding would be split between three categories, with $600 million for higher education, $1.23 billion for new K-12 school construction, and $2.47 billion to modernize existing K-12 schools. The K-12 portion of state construction money would be matched by school districts, which would pay half of the cost for new construction, with the state paying 60 cents out of every dollar for school renovations.
A Department of Finance analysis of the bill said that the Brown administration is focused on paying down existing obligations and saving for a rainy day — not adding to debt service. The state currently is paying $3 billion annually in debt service for existing school bonds.
The bill first would have to be approved by the full Senate in the next few weeks before legislators take their August break.
Even if the full Senate approves the bill, and Brown signs the measure, it may already be too late to get the proposal on this November's ballot. The Legislature already extended the deadline for propositions to be included in the ballot guide for the November election when it passed a $7.5 billion water bond on Wednesday. Now that that bond has been approved, printing of the voter guide is expected soon.
Voters last approved a state bond for school construction, for $10.4 billion, in 2006, and the state agency that administers the allocations has run out of money. The bill has garnered support from education organizations and the building trade organizations.
