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If your district's construction project is the result of an event that either the State of California or the federal government has officially declared a "disaster," contact the Governor's Office Of Emergency Services (OES).
Your first stop will be in the Public Assistance Section. After your school district submits an application, the Public Assistance Section staff determines how much damage your district sustained, and makes repair or replacement estimates. The staff submits these to the OES for approval and, thereafter, may remain in the construction approval process acting as your advocate with state and federal agencies. For example, Public Assistance Section personnel helped the San Francisco Unified School District secure over $4.3 million in federal funds following the Loma Prieta earthquake; the Placer Hills Unified School District received almost $18,000 to repair damage that occurred as the result of severe winter storms in 1995.
If the disaster that befell your school was a presidentially declared disaster, another office within the OES may also help. The Hazard Mitigation Section will suggest and help secure funding for construction or retrofitting to reduce the risk of future damage to your school in the event of another disaster. After the Northridge earthquake, for instance, the Los Angeles Unified School District received a grant to replace and retrofit ceilings and lights, and the Castaic Union School District received money to defray the costs of physically relocating some school facilities. Other school districts prone to flooding or with chronic drainage problems similarly have received grants to help limit damage in the future.
For more information, please visit the OES website at www.oes.ca.gov.
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