Apportionments from the Urban School Construction Aid Fund created by Section 16728 shall be limited to urban districts and shall be made for the sole purpose of reconstructing or replacing existing substandard buildings constructed prior to 1943. The apportionments shall be made in the manner and subject to the conditions herein provided and in accordance with policies adopted by the board for the following purposes:

(1) The acquisition, by purchase or lease, and the installation and equipping portable classrooms for instructional purposes.

(2) The acquisition and development of schoolsites.

(3) The construction and equipping of permanent school buildings and facilities.

(4) The reconstruction, renovation, or remodeling of existing school buildings and facilities.

(5) Any combination of the above.

As a part of these purposes, where a district is required by a contract entered into between itself and a contractor, to obtain at its own expense insurance covering risks incurred during any construction, reconstruction, or alteration for which an apportionment has been made, the cost thereof may be paid either directly, or by way of reimbursement, to the district out of the apportionment, or out of any apportionment made specifically covering the insurance, provided that in other respects the apportionments are eligible for payment under this chapter.

A leasehold or use permit interest held by a school district in land owned in fee simple by the government of the United States may, for all purposes of this chapter, be deemed a purchase of land by the district and to vest title and ownership in the district.

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