Bond & Facilities
A facility master plan that sits on a shelf is worse than no plan at all — it gives boards false confidence and gets weaponized in the next bond debate. School Leaders builds master plans that work as decision-making instruments: tied to LCAP, demographics, and the real funding cycles California districts operate in — and delivered with a live, community-facing webapp so the plan stays usable long after adoption.
Our approach
What you get
Outcomes
Master plans that survive board turnover, drive the next 2–3 bond measures, and stay legible to the community through a live webapp the district owns.
New · Unified facility-planning platform · Free
The one-source online platform for California school facility planning. Four steps in one workflow: Vision (district profile) → Compose (kit-of-parts builder) → 3D Render (real WebGL massing) → AI Analyze (streamed master-plan brief grounded in CA statute and 2025 SFP rates). Free, no login.
Powered by School Leaders · Three.js / WebGL · California-grounded
What it ties together
Cutting-edge deliverable
Most California master plans end as a 170-page PDF on a shelf. Ours don't. Alongside the Prop 2- and OPSC-ready document, we build, host, and maintain an interactive Master Plan Explorer — a real, public-facing webapp the board, the cabinet, and the community can use any day of the year. Below is a working demo built from the Yosemite Unified School District 2025 plan. Try filtering by site, priority, and category — the cost rollups and state-match math update in real time.
Yosemite Unified School District
Filter by site, priority, and category to see the projects shaping our schools through 2031.
YHS · CES · RES
Stable base
6-year capital
Pre-escalation
Projects shown
36
of 36 in the plan
Estimated cost
$48.9M
$48,881,000
Prop 2 / SFP state match (est.)
$9.3M
Local match ≈ $39.6M
Security fencing & single-point-of-entry gates at campus frontage
$300K
Est.
Safety & security surveillance camera system (30+ cameras)
$225K
Est.
ADA-compliant parking at 900 building
$180K
Est.
Upgraded building & ADA signage with wayfinding kiosks
$120K
Est.
Roof replacement — gymnasium, kitchen & 1500 building
$960K
Est.
Roof replacement — wrestling, locker rooms & pool complex
$675K
Est.
Metal decking panel replacement — Ansel Adams 1500 classroom building
$2.5M
Est.
Sloped metal roof panel replacement — 900/200/100/300/500/400/700/800 buildings
$1.9M
Est.
26 split-system HVAC units — 1500 building (104 tons)
$1.0M
Est.
19 HVAC package units — 900/300/100/200/400/700/ed. opts. (96 tons)
$960K
Est.
Window glazing replacement — Title 24 compliance, 6 original buildings + 1500
$600K
Est.
Carpet replacement — 1500/music/200/300/700 buildings (40,000 sf)
$1.0M
Est.
Culinary Arts classroom industry-standards upgrade
$400K
Est.
Badger Stadium repairs & ADA upgrades (aisles, restrooms, scoreboard)
$1.5M
Est.
Badger Stadium field-turf installation & track resurfacing
$1.5M
Est.
Pool deck & pool-wall reconstruction (500,000-gal complex)
$7.0M
Est.
New District Educational Options Support Center (10,000 sf)
$5.0M
Est.
New Agricultural Science & Mechanics classroom center
$1.3M
Est.
Industrial Technology classroom project-development spaces
$975K
Est.
Five new classrooms to replace 35-year-old obsolete portables (50,000 sf)
$2.5M
Est.
Water filtration system — magnesium, iron, arsenic remediation (DSA in progress)
$600K
Est.
Single-point-of-entry control upgrades & perimeter fencing
$450K
Est.
Roof replacement — 200/400 classrooms, cafeteria/multipurpose, restroom building
$1.4M
Est.
18 HVAC package units & 14 Bard heat-pump portable units replacement
$1.4M
Est.
New library building + outdoor learning shade structure (replaces obsolete amphitheatre risers)
$1.8M
Est.
New band & music building (instrument storage, practice, performance)
$1.4M
Est.
Classroom modernization — 13 site-built + 9 portable, ADA sink access
$950K
Est.
Campus perimeter fencing & gate controls — single point of entry
$380K
Est.
Roof replacement — primary classroom buildings (Phase 1)
$1.6M
Est.
HVAC package-unit replacement — 22 units across portable & site-built classrooms
$1.6M
Est.
Classroom modernization — flooring, casework, window glazing per Title 24
$1.8M
Est.
Playfield drainage & turf renovations (TK–8 outdoor learning)
$320K
Est.
New multipurpose / cafeteria expansion (utilization capacity boost)
$4.2M
Est.
Outdoor learning environments + shade structures (4 sites)
$280K
Est.
ADA ramps, kitchen modernization, accessibility upgrades
$83K
Est.
Accessible restroom building + parking & pathway repairs
$133K
Est.
Phasing of filtered projects
This is an interactive demo of the live community-facing webapp School Leaders built for YUSD — part of the deliverable, alongside the published Facility Master Plan. Project list and cost estimates drawn from the 2025 YUSD Facility Master Plan Needs Assessment (Section VIII).
Yosemite USD was the first district to receive the live webapp deliverable. The model is portable to any California district.
New · Generative AI · Free
Even before the formal Master Plan engagement begins, boards and superintendents need a way to test concepts in front of their community. So we built one. Pick eight inputs — school level, enrollment, site context, climate zone, programmatic priorities, design language, sustainability target, bond budget — and the platform streams back a full conceptual campus plan in about fifteen seconds. Vision narrative, programmatic space matrix per CDE loading standards, May 2026 California construction-cost range, phasing recommendation, Prop 2 / OPSC funding map with per-pupil entitlements computed, and a risk-callout list covering DSA, CEQA, Field Act, prevailing wage, and Title 24 climate-zone-specific considerations. Free. No login. Try it below.
AI-native facility planning
Pick eight planning inputs. Get an AI-generated campus concept — vision, programmatic space matrix, cost range, Prop 2 / OPSC funding map, and risk callouts — in about 15 seconds. For board and community conversation, not architectural design.
1 = North Coast · 12 = Central Valley · 14 = Desert · 16 = Sierra
Selected: 3
Ready when you are
~15 seconds to stream a full concept · 3 priorities selected
Concept site plan · AI parametric
Schematic massing diagram only — not architectural design.
For planning conversation only. This tool generates conceptual planning material with AI. It is not architectural design. All California K-12 construction requires a licensed Architect of Record under the California Architects Practice Act, DSA approval under the Field Act (Ed Code §17280+), CEQA review, and compliance with Title 24, AB 2226, and prevailing wage law. Outputs must be validated by licensed professionals before any design, scope, or funding decisions.
Conceptual planning aid. Not architectural design. All California K-12 construction requires a licensed Architect of Record, DSA approval, and validation by district facilities professionals.
New · Kit-of-parts modular designer · Free
When modular makes sense — replacing obsolete portables, post-disaster rebuild, capacity expansion on a tight bond budget, modernization phasing — districts need a way to test compositions before procuring. So we built one. Click building modules from the palette to compose a campus; the site canvas auto-arranges your composition; live rollups show gross SF, classroom capacity, modular cost band, and the savings versus equivalent site-built delivery (typically 25–40%). When you're ready, stream a full AI analysis covering DSA Pre-Checked Plans pathway, program viability, configuration gaps, sustainability strategy for prefab, and sequencing. Free. No login.
Kit-of-parts modular designer
Compose a school campus from modular building modules. Live cost, capacity, and SF rollups; modular-vs-site-built savings; streamed AI analysis covering DSA Pre-Checked-Plans pathway, program viability, and sequencing.
Module palette · click to add
Instructional
Common spaces
Support
Outdoor
Site composition · auto-arranged
Empty site — add modules to begin
Modules
0
Empty layout
Gross SF
0
Sum of module SF
Classroom capacity
0
Students
Modular cost
$0–$0
Add modules to see savings
AI analysis
~15 seconds · DSA pathway · cost compare · gaps · sequencing
Planning aid only. This is an AI-generated kit-of-parts planning tool, not architectural design. California modular K-12 construction still requires DSA review under the Field Act (Ed Code §17280+), CEQA, Title 24 compliance, prevailing wage (Labor Code §1771), and a licensed Architect of Record under the California Architects Practice Act. DSA Pre-Checked (PC) Plans pathways exist but still require Inspector of Record and site-specific approvals.
Conceptual planning aid. DSA review, CEQA, Title 24, prevailing wage, and a licensed Architect of Record still apply to any real California modular K-12 project.
Frequently asked
Yes — every facility master plan we deliver now ships with a live, public-facing webapp alongside the published document. Yosemite USD was the first; the model is portable to any California district. The webapp lets board members, parents, teachers, and community stakeholders filter the project portfolio by site, priority, and category, with live cost rollups and state-match (Prop 2 / SFP) math. It runs on any device, with no login. When the master plan refreshes — at the recommended three-year mid-cycle review or before the next bond measure — the webapp updates with it. View the live demo on our Yosemite USD case study.
A 170-page PDF is necessary but not sufficient. Boards adopt it, cabinets reference it, but community members rarely read it cover-to-cover — and the engagement gap between the published plan and the people who live in the schools every day is where most master plans quietly lose legitimacy. A live webapp solves three structural problems PDFs cannot: community access (a parent will spend ten minutes filtering an interactive app, never download a 170-page PDF), board operational use (the fastest way to see what Priority 1 projects haven't been funded is filtering by priority in real time during a meeting), and bond campaign readiness (when the District goes to voters, the webapp becomes the spine of community engagement, with every dollar mapped to a real project at a real school).
Every 3–5 years for the full plan, with annual refresh on the financial model and priority list. The Office of Public School Construction expects current master planning evidence for many funding applications, and demographics shift fast enough that a 7-year-old plan is often dangerously stale. Under Proposition 2 (Nov 2024) and AB 247, every district participating in the School Facility Program must file a board-approved five-year School Facilities Master Plan.
The board sets the success criteria upfront (LCAP priorities, equity goals, fiscal posture), reviews scenarios as they emerge, and ultimately adopts the prioritized project list as policy. Boards that aren't engaged early end up rejecting recommendations late, which kills momentum. Most successful master plans run a board workshop at the start, mid-project, and adoption.
4–6 months for a typical mid-sized district. The pacing constraints are usually demographic data collection (CALPADS pulls, vendor forecasts) and community engagement cycles, not the analysis itself. The Yosemite USD engagement closed in six months across three main schools, two satellite facilities, $74.8M in identified capital needs, and a fully built interactive webapp.
Some master planning activities qualify for OPSC funding under specific programs, but most planning costs are funded from the district's general fund or carved out of a bond program's soft-cost budget. We help districts structure planning costs to maximize reimbursement where possible.
From our team
Meet Joe Dixon, founder of School Leaders and a 40-year veteran of transforming educational environments. From starting at the bottom of Capistrano Unified in 1984 to leading Prop 51's passage for California school funding, Joe's journey proves that great schools create great communities — sometimes one lunch table at a time.
30 minutes with one of our advisors. We'll listen first, share where we've seen this play out, and tell you honestly whether we can help.
