There are at least 16,000 portable classrooms in use in Florida. More than 2 million California school children attend classes in portable classrooms. The need is real. The California Federal School Infrastructure Coalition supports Rebuild America's Schools. Cal-Fed has written to the Committee on this issue and I will use their information to illustrate one state's school construction situation.
Every state faces the same problems to differing degrees.
The California Department of Finance estimates that California's student population will grow by an average of 37,653 pupils per year between 2000-2005. Currently, California has a K-12 student population of approximately 5,951,612 students. Projections are that by the year 2005, California will have a student population base of 6,134,412 students. In 1998 California voters passed Proposition 1A that provided state funds for modernization and new construction. The state funding from the proposition requires a match from local school districts.