For Immediate Release: January 12, 2004

Hoover Dam, Empire State Building Constructed Faster than California Schools

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Schools take six years or more to build in California, longer than a student's elementary education, and are as expensive as possible because of dated legislation and a bureaucratic quagmire, according to No Place to Learn: California’s School Facilities Crisis, a new study by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI).

“California students are not getting the facilities they need for a quality education," said author K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director at PRI. “The cause is an obsolete bureaucratic system better at enriching adults than serving the needs of students."

No Place to Learn guides readers through the maze of what one state watchdog group called the "elephantine gestation" process required by the multiple state agencies that must approve a school. The study charts examples of waste and delay, including the Belmont Learning Center, the $200-plus-million high school in Los Angeles yet to serve a single student. California's lethargic six-year process stands in sharp contrast to major construction feats of the last century.

Construction the Empire State Building in New York City was completed in just one year and 45 days. Hoover Dam, one of the largest projects in history, took five years and finished ahead of schedule.

Reforms recommended in No Place to Learn include:

• Exemptions from the Field Act, the 1930s legislation that governs school construction.
  
• Instead of wasteful categorical programs, provide grants to school districts that will empower them to plan, finance and build their own schools.
  
• Reform prevailing-wage laws, which add to expense.
  
• Expand the practice of developer-built schools.
  
• Reject universal preschool, which would require expensive new construction.
  
• Convert administrative facilities and practice year-round schooling.
  
• Allow students in crowded facilities to attend any school in the state.
  
• Promote charter schools and expand parental choice in education.

“It is not acceptable that the leading high-tech state finds it difficult
to build schools,” said Billingsley. “Reform is necessary to provide the students of California with the facilities they need, while respecting taxpayers and maintaining accountability.”

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To receive a copy of No Place to Learn: California’s School Facilities Crisis, visit our website at www.pacificresearch.org.

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About PRI
For more than two decades, the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI) has championed individual liberty through free markets. PRI is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility.