STATE REVENUE GENERATION

STATE GRANT FUNDING PROGRAM
REVENUE RECOVERY AND CLOSEOUT AUDITS
JOINT USE PROJECTS
FACILITY PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT

STATE GRANT FUNDING PROGRAM

CFS develops strategies for Districts to generate revenue for school facility construction and improvement from the State School Facility Program.  Our comprehensive Grant Funding Group provides the following services:

1. Identify the State policies and procedures that are required to obtain matching State grants, including the amounts and timing needed for the District's local share of project costs

2. Identify the impact to State matching grants and timing of receiving such grants of proposed revisions to school project    priorities the scope of projects, and the timing of implementing the projects

3. Develop strategies that minimize the District's local G.O. Bond and other Capital Facility fund amounts required to obtain        State matching grants

4. Preserve the District’s eligibility for future State reimbursement of qualified costs paid in advance by the District for eligible  school projects

5. Submit applications and other relevant documents to OPSC and monitor each application's progress

6. Review of the District’s student capacity data to determine the number of chargeable classrooms, including the Class Size Reduction program, in accordance with State policy

7. Determine enrollment projections for the next five years using the State approved modified cohort survival projection method

      8.  Calculate eligibility for State School Facility Program new construction and modernization projects based on State                         Allocation Board (SAB) regulations

      9.  Prepare, monitor and update State applications and supporting documents to incorporate changes in the SAB funding                policies and procedures that may occur in the future

   10.  Prepare, update, and submit a qualifying Five Year Facilities Plan and an educational specification report for approval by            the California Deparment of Education (CDE)

   11.  Identify additional State funds available on a project by project basis beyond the State's base grant funding for excess                costs, i.e, facility hardship, joint-use, etc.

   12.  Publish a facility report that compiles the backup and submitted documents for State audit and District records.  The                    facility report will function as the supportiong documentation needed by the District for the self-certification process in the            event of future State audits

   13.  Schedule and attend required meetings with CDE’s School Facility Planning Division, the OSPC, the SAB and individual              legislators, as needed, to obtain additional State grant funding

   14.  Serve as a liaison to the OSPC and the CDE to facilitate processing of the State applications and supporting documents            for approval by the SAB and subsequent apportionments from State school bond funds

REVENUE RECOVERY AND CLOSEOUT AUDITS

1. Review of the documents filed by districts to the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) regarding interest earned and close out data, when applicable;

2. Develop a strategy for requesting interest be retained by districts and preparation of documentation that substantiates              the districts' justification for retention of such revenue, when applicable;

3. Monitor, amend or appeal past and pending district school funding applications filed under the State Modernization and      Growth Programs;

4. Monitor project reimbursements based on advances, zero dollar apportionments, or any other source requiring an    administrative action to accomplish a release, transfer, or retention of funds from the State to districts;

5. Recommend and implement the required procedures required for maintaining adequate files, procedures, and policies to  improve the timeliness of cost recovery and funding apportionment from the State for eligible school projects; and

6. Integrate the adopted revenue and cost recovery policies and procedures into the districts' Facility Master Plan and       Economic Master Plan.

JOINT USE PROJECTS

CFS provides planning expertise to assist Districts in acquiring land for new school sites. Due to land use planning and environmental restrictions, sites adequate in size and location are at a premium, especially those in urban areas. CFS, however, has been very successful in implementing Joint Use Plans that merge  multi-agency land needs in an effort to provide adequate site acreage at minimal cost.  This service includes the development of joint park-school sites,joint church-school sites, use of local agency controlled sites, as well as a land leveraged from redevelopment projects. Joint Use is an especially essential asset in Urban School Districts that have little access to undeveloped land, and where open land acquisition becomes a political liability.



FACILITY PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT

Unlike most financial advisors, CFS emphasizes effective facility planning and State grant funding over bond and other financing mechanisms. Strong facility planning and grant funding are much less expensive than debt service payments on COPs or bonds.  Although local funding has its place among the tools that districts can use to fund capital construction, CFS’ recommends lower-cost solutions—hence the need for three full-time facility planners on staff. These planners assist clients in developing uniform school educational specifications and evaluate alternative methods of housing existing and projected students. Our planners are experts on State school funding and have the hands-on experience required to prepare enrollment projections, facility assessments, site evaluations and State School Building Program applications.

CFS’ planners also have extensive experience with school construction delivery mechanisms and school site selection, and can assist districts by evaluating the potential cost of various school sites, as well as the potential advantages and disadvantages of project management, construction management and architect-managed construction projects. By emphasizing facility planning and grant funding, CFS develops lower-cost solutions to facility problems than traditional underwriters or other financial advisors. The list of clients that received grants under the California State School Building Program from Proposition 203 (1996)  illustrates this point. CFS clients received over $550 million, nearly 40% of all State school facility funding. Experience with Proposition 1A State Funding to date also validates our view that matching funds deserve center stage when preparing a facility plan.

CFS’ economic and financial master planning services ensure that each client has:

1. Properly assessed its needs on a facility-by-facility basis;

2. Efficiently addressed those needs through its use, development and expansion of existing financial resources;

3. Fully capitalized on all extra statutory local revenue sources, especially mitigation and RDA agreements;

4. Properly invested its funds in a manner consistent with maximizing its rate of return, until funds are actually required, while maintaining a low level of investment risk; and

5. Fully anticipated future capital facility and equipment needs and effectively advance-purchased and/or surplused             properties at the most opportune time, and at their highest-and-best-use, respectively.

XHTML - CSS