(a) Whenever a school district acquires or has acquired a site for school purposes, as determined by the State Allocation Board, and does not use the site within (1) five years of the date of acquisition for the kindergarten, if any, and any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, maintained by an elementary school district or a unified school district, or, (2) seven years of the date of acquisition for any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, maintained by a high school district or a unified school district, or if a school district has a site at any grade level that has previously been used but has not been used for school purposes within the preceding five years, the school district shall be subject to nonuse payments, unless the State Allocation Board, from time to time, makes a determination that the school district will utilize the property for the purpose for which it was intended within a reasonable period of time, in a specific amount for each additional year in which the site is retained and not used by the district beyond the foregoing specified periods, except the first additional year shall be deemed to end not earlier than April 30, 1973.
(b) Payment shall not be required under this section as to any site having a value of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or less. Commencing on January 1, 1988, and annually thereafter, the State Allocation Board shall increase this exemption figure by the amount of the current fiscal year inflation adjustment specified in Section 42238.1, if any.
(c) The payments required shall be computed by the Executive Officer of the State Allocation Board and certified to the Controller, and payments shall be equal to one one-hundredth (1/100) of the original purchase price of the site modified by either a factor reflecting the change in assessed value of all lands in the state from the date of purchase of the site to the current date or any other factor that in the determination of the State Allocation Board is applicable to the site under consideration.
(d) Whenever the State Allocation Board has determined that a school district in good faith has, within the preceding year, advertised the schoolsite for sale to the highest bidder pursuant to the provisions of Article 4 (commencing with Section 17455) of Chapter 4 of Part 10.5 and has received no bids that in the judgment of the State Allocation Board reflect the fair market value of the property, the Executive Officer of the State Allocation Board shall not compute any nonuse payments for the site for a period of one year beyond the date of the determination.
(e) Nonuse payments shall not be required for any year with respect to a schoolsite that for one-half or more of the number of days of that year has been utilized for any of the following purposes:
(1) By the school district, or by any other governmental entity pursuant to agreement with the school district, for school purposes, for use as a civic center, or for community playground, playing field, or other outdoor recreational purposes. For purposes of this paragraph, “civic center” means a site used for one or more of the purposes described in Section 40041.
(2) By the State Allocation Board, pursuant to agreement with the school district, for the storage of emergency portable classrooms.
(3) By the school district, or by any other public or private entity pursuant to agreement with the school district, for the operation of a child care program.
(f) Nonuse payments shall not be required for any year with respect to a schoolsite that was leased at least one-half of the days in that year in a manner that subjected the site to property taxes equal to the taxes that would have been paid if the site had been sold.
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 370, Sec. 54. (SB 1371) Effective January 1, 2021.)