SACRAMENTO State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today joined Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in announcing the allocation of $463 million in Proposition 1 D funds for charter school construction and modernization projects.

"Approximately 250,000 students in California attend a charter school," O'Connell said. "Charter schools are public schools, but many charter schools are located in facilities that were not originally designed as school sites. This can be a significant challenge to creating a healthy learning environment. As a member of the State Allocation Board, I am proud to have approved this funding to build and modernize 29 charter schools across our state."

Three state bonds have provided matching funds for the construction of charter schools. The first two, Proposition 47, which was passed in 2003 and Proposition 55, passed in 2005, provided a total of $400 million for charter school construction and modernization. Proposition 1D, which was passed in 2006, included $500 million for charter school classroom construction. Combined, these three bonds have provided funding to establish classrooms for approximately 23,443 charter school students and the construction of 63 charter schools in 19 counties throughout California.

The list of charter schools approved to receive Proposition 1D funding is available at List of Schools [http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/dgs—/newsrelease/Charter%205-08%20xls.pdf] (Outside Source; PDF; 13KB; 1p.).