The California State Legislature announced an agreement July 1 between Assembly and Senate leadership on a bill to send a $10 billion school bond to voters in November.
Co-written by South Bay representative, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, the “Kindergarten through Grade 12 Schools and Local Community College Public Education Facilities Modernization, Repair, and Safety Bond Act of 2024,” would fund construction, modernization, and repair of California schools and community colleges.
The bill was jointly authored by Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), Mike Fong (D-Alhambra), and Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City), and Senators Steve Glazer (D-Contra Costa) and Josh Newman (D-Fullerton).
“California urgently needs a statewide school bond to repair dilapidated and unsafe school facilities, and to invest in our children to meet 21st century educational and workforce needs,” said Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), chair of the Assembly Education Committee. “California has not passed a statewide school bond since 2016, and we are running out of bond funds. In the meantime, most of our schools are over 50 years old, posing critical facility needs such as leaking roofs and unsafe structures, classrooms without internet access, lead pipes, outdated HVAC systems, shortage of transitional kindergarten and early childhood education facilities, and extreme heat conditions.”
The bond, if passed, would allow for state matching dollars for K-12 districts throughout California.
Since 1998, voters have approved $54 billion in bonds for the state’s K-12 and higher education. The last successful California bond for school facilities, Proposition 51, approved in 2016, totaled $7 billion for K-12 and $2 billion for community colleges. ER
