(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, priority for the approval of project funding for new construction under this chapter, shall be as follows:

(1) First priority for construction funds shall be given to school districts with a substantial enrollment in multitrack year-round schools requesting state funding for 50 percent of the cost of a project that would be constructed to operate on a multitrack year-round basis.

(2) Second priority shall be for school districts with a substantial enrollment in multitrack year-round schools requesting state funding for the entire cost of a project that would be constructed to operate on a multitrack year-round basis.

(3) Third priority shall be for school districts without a substantial enrollment in multitrack year-round schools requesting state funding for 50 percent of the cost of a project to operate on a multitrack year-round basis.

(4) Fourth priority shall be for school districts without a substantial enrollment in multitrack year-round schools requesting state funding for the entire cost of a project that would be constructed to operate on a multitrack year-round basis.

(5) Fifth priority shall be for school districts with a substantial enrollment in multitrack year-round schools requesting state funding for 50 percent of the cost of a project that would not operate on a multitrack year-round basis.

(6) Sixth priority shall be for school districts with a substantial enrollment in multitrack year-round schools requesting state funding for the entire cost of a project that would not operate on a multitrack year-round basis.

(b) The board shall not restrict the availability of funding for construction of multitrack year-round schools, from any funding source available to the State School Building Lease-Purchase Fund, but shall make approval of project funding for those projects the first priority in accordance with this section.

(c) “Substantial enrollment,” for the purposes of this section, means enrollment of at least 30 percent of district pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, or 40 percent of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in the high school attendance area for which the school district is applying for new facilities. The calculation set forth in this subdivision, as to a self-certifying district, shall be made by the district, in accordance with any standards governing that calculation that are adopted by the board. The calculation shall be certified by the district to the board and used by the board for the purposes of this section. The self-certifying district shall maintain documentation of the calculation as may be required by the board, and the calculation shall be subject to subsequent audit as the board may direct. If a self-certifying district is found by the board to have materially misrepresented its pupil enrollment pursuant to this subdivision, the board may impose either or both of the penalties set forth in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 17041.2, in accordance with that section.

(d) “Multitrack year-round school,” for purposes of this section, means a school for which the applicant district demonstrates that both of the following criteria are satisfied:

(1) The pupils are divided into three or more groups or tracks, which rotate attendance so that, for a majority of schooldays during the school year, at least one group or track is not attending the school while all other groups or tracks are in attendance.

(2) The operation of the school on a multitrack year-round basis has resulted in an increase in enrollment capacity.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the State Allocation Board may continue to implement any year-round school priority provisions for hardships adopted prior to September 1, 1990.

(Added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 277, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1997. Operative January 1, 1998.)