In a rare action, the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) and the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH) have joined together for the purpose of alerting their respective members to the requirements of AB 99, a trailer bill that became law in June 2017. This new law imposes new auditing procedures for state school construction bond funds. These new audit standards and procedures will adversely affect school districts and COEs that receive state bond funding through Proposition 51 and the limited prior state bonds available. The new law requires substantially more internal work for business and facility staff and will add financial burdens to the general funds of any LEAs that receive SFP state bond funds.
AB 99 will affect current and future projects for new construction, modernization, career technical education, facility hardship, seismic repair/replacement, and charter schools funded through the School Facility Program (SFP). It is imperative that district and COE personnel, as well as independent auditors conducting K-12 audits, become knowledgeable about AB 99 and immediately begin to prepare for the advent of these new obligations.
The new audit requirements will be presented at CASBO’s 2017 CBO Symposium on November 16-17, 2017, in Anaheim, and also will be discussed in depth at a special session for superintendents and governing board members on April 7, 2018, at CASBO’s Annual Conference in Sacramento. Additionally, the new audit work will be a major topic at CASH workshops on January 23 and 26, 2018; and at its Annual Conference in Sacramento on February 26-28, 2018.
