SECTIONS 17077.10 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 17077.10

17077.10. (a) It is a goal of the Legislature to eventually enhance
pupil safety by equipping all elementary and secondary school
classrooms with a telephone hook connected to a public switched
network.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares that as of 1999, there are
approximately 205,000 classrooms in California's elementary and
secondary schools and only a small, undetermined percentage of these
classrooms have telephones. The Legislature finds and declares that
in order to protect the safety of pupils, schools should be
integrated into local emergency, information, and interagency health
and safety, networks with up-to-date telecommunications systems.
Connection to these systems would also facilitate community and
parent interaction with teachers and schools, and thereby further
enhance pupil safety.
(c) "School building" as used in this section means and includes
any building used, or designed to be used, for elementary or
secondary school purposes and constructed, reconstructed, altered, or
added to, by the state or by any city or city and county, or by any
political subdivision, or by any school district of any kind within
the state, or by any regional occupational center or program,
established by or authorized to act by any agreement under joint
exercise of power, or by the United States government, or any agency
thereof. This definition includes any fabrication, construction, or
alteration of a relocatable school building.
(d) Commencing with applications submitted on or after January 1,
2000, any school district applying for funding pursuant to this
chapter shall include in its plans and specifications for the
construction or fabrication of a new or modernized school building,
that includes the construction or fabrication of new or modernized
classrooms, a hard-wired connection to a public switched telephone
network in each new or modernized classroom. However, a school
district may meet this requirement by utilizing wireless technology
equal to a hard-wired connection to a public switched telephone
network.