Access Financial Hardship Assistance for School Construction

Financial hardship assistance is available for those school districts that cannot provide all or part of their funding share of a School Facility Program (SFP) or a California Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten, and Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program (CPTKFDKFGP) project. In order to receive financial hardship assistance, a school district must have made all reasonable efforts to raise local funding and must also demonstrate that it is unable to contribute all or a portion of the matching share requirement. If the school district meets the financial hardship criteria, it is eligible for financial assistance for new construction, modernization, Facility Hardship projects and/or CPTKFDKFGP.

Financial Hardship re-reviews will occur when Financial Hardship school districts and county offices of education with projects on the SFP Unfunded List (Lack of AB 55 Loans) for 180 days or more that are participating in a certification filing period must undergo a re-review of their financial records to determine if they have any additional funds available to contribute to their project(s) prior to receiving an actual apportionment.

ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT TO MAXIMUM LEVEL OF TOTAL BONDING CAPACITY FOR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP ASSISTANCE

Education Code (EC) Section 17075.15 requires that, commencing with the 2026-27 fiscal year, the maximum level of total bonding capacity that a school district can have to be automatically deemed eligible for financial hardship assistance shall be adjusted each fiscal year by the inflation adjustment computed pursuant to EC Section 42238.02(d)(2), which relates to the statutory cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) adjustment applied to the grade span adjusted base grants of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Applications submitted on or before October 30, 2024 are eligible for financial hardship assistance if the maximum level of total bonding capacity for the school district is $5 million or less. The amounts listed below apply to applications for funding submitted on or after October 31, 2024.