Districts receive a higher priority for state funding of a project if they provide 50 percent of the project cost with local funds. School districts are authorized to sell bonds to finance school construction projects, with the approval of two-thirds of the voters in the district. In these cases, the bonds are paid off by taxes that are levied on property located within the school district. School districts are authorized to form special districts in order to sell these bonds for school construction projects, with approval of two-thirds of the voters in the special district. The bonds are paid off by charges assessed to property owners in the special district.
State law authorizes school districts to impose developer fees on new construction.
These fees may be used only for construction and reconstruction of school buildings. In addition to these fees imposed by school districts, decisions by the courts have allowed cities and counties , when approving new residential and commercial development, to impose additional developer fees for new school construction. School Building Needs. The State Department of Finance estimates that the number of students attending K-12 schools statewide will increase by about 300,000 over the next five years. Given this projected growth, several billions of dollars will be needed statewide for new schools over the next five years.