At an emergency meeting on March 25, 2020, the State Allocation Board (SAB) approved emergency regulations allowing the Executive Office and the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) to temporarily extend deadlines set by regulations, rules, and/or procedures of the SAB or OPSC in light of the COVID-19 crisis and the unprecedented challenges local educational agencies are facing.
The authority is valid only during the period of time of the emergency proclaimed by Governor Gavin Newsom on March 4, 2020—Executive Order N-25-20—and is repealed after 180 days, unless the SAB acts to extend it. In addition, should the decision be made to extend a deadline, notification must be provided to the SAB and the public. OPSC has already contacted school districts with existing deadlines for submittal of information or documentation in response to OPSC requests, but it cannot unilaterally extend deadlines set by regulation.
As its first action under these emergency regulations, today, the third filing round of the Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program (FDKFGP), which was set to occur from April 1–30, 2020, has been postponed and new dates have yet to be determined. In addition, OPSC is looking at deadlines associated with the following:
- Career Technical Education Facilities Program—currently scheduled for April 6, 2020
- FDKFGP—project approval submittals currently due April 23, 2020, or May 22, 2020, depending on whether or not an advanced fund release was received
- Substantial progress compliance deadlines
- In-progress and final expenditure reporting deadlines
- Priority funding certification and fund release deadlines
This list is not exhaustive, but provides a good picture of the number of programs under the OPSC’s purview with which school districts are currently grappling.