Allocations under this article may be made in the amount as may be necessary, and in the manner as to distribute the available funds equitably among school districts, giving consideration to the needs of each district and the number of children within each district who are blind, partially seeing, aphasic, deaf, hard of hearing, orthopedically impaired, or have an intellectual disability, or who are health impaired, multihandicapped, speech handicapped, educationally handicapped, or enrolled in development centers for the handicapped.

In computing the number of those children, there shall be included all of the following:

(a) The number of them residing in the district.

(b) The number of handicapped minors who are actually living within the district five or more days a week, although their legal residence may be outside the district, and who are educated pursuant to former Section 56708, as enacted by Section 2 of Chapter 1010 of the Statutes of 1976.

(c) The number of them who reside outside of the district, except those described in subdivision (b), and who are to be educated by the district, excluding minors with intellectual disabilities within former Section 56501, as amended by Section 58 of Chapter 1247 of the Statutes of 1977, who reside within a district having an average daily attendance of 900 or more and that does not meet the requirements of Section 16058 concerning outstanding bonded indebtedness.

Allocations for housing and equipment for minors having speech defects or disorders shall be allowed in new schools constructed after July 1, 1968, and in existing schools constructed between July 1, 1933, and July 1, 1968. The housing and equipment shall be designed and provided to permit their utilization for remedial and other special services including speech therapy, speech reading (lipreading), and auditory training for the speech and hearing handicapped, screening and testing for speech and hearing defects, or both, psychological testing of exceptional children, subject matter tutoring of exceptional children, and other specialized activities required by these children. In addition to the maximum building area allowances provided in Sections 16047, 16052, 16053, and 16054, not more than an additional 200 square feet of building area shall be allowed for each new school so planned and constructed.

Each existing school, constructed between July 1, 1933, and July 1, 1968, shall be allowed not more than an additional 200 square feet of building area only for construction thereon of a new speech facility. At the option of the applicant district, the board may allocate funds to convert existing facilities or to provide a combination of new construction and conversion of existing facilities to provide housing for minors having speech defects or disorders, provided the cost of the conversion or combination of new construction and conversion does not exceed the computed cost for 200 square feet of new classroom construction based upon cost standards adopted by the board. At the further option of the applicant district, and in lieu of new building construction or conversion, the board may allocate funds for the acquisition of mobile speech therapy facilities, provided the cost of the mobile facilities does not exceed the combined computed cost for 200 square feet of new classroom construction, based upon cost standards adopted by the board, at all schools that will be served by the mobile facility.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 457, Sec. 7. (SB 1381) Effective January 1, 2013.)