Are California schools quake-resistant?

Law passed after 1933 Long Beach earthquake

California Watch investigation reveals serious flaws in California state agency enforcement of earthquake regulations for public schools.

By Corey G. Johnson, California Watch

BERKELEY, CA (California Watch) April 11, 2011 -- A team of California Watch reporters and researchers spent the last 19 months investigating how the state enforces the Field Act, a strict seismic safety law that is supposed to protect school children at public schools. Among the findings be presented in a three-part series:

• At least 20,000 projects -- from minor fire alarm upgrades to major construction of new classrooms -- were completed without receiving a final safety certification required by law. A California Watch analysis determined that roughly six out of every 10 public schools in the state has at least one uncertified building project.
  
  
• The state architect's office has allowed building inspectors hired by school districts to work on complex and expensive jobs despite complaints of incompetence. Some inspectors have failed to show up at construction sites at key moments.
  
  
• The state's top regulators at times have appeared more concerned with caseload management than enforcing the Field Act. To clear caseloads, one state architect ordered what was dubbed "Close-O-Rama" -- a mad dash to approve projects as Field Act safe. Even now, the state architect's office has been reclassifying hundreds of projects as simply missing paperwork -- without visiting the schools to verify if fixes were made.
  
  
• A separate state seismic inventory created nearly a decade ago shows more than 7,500 older school buildings as potentially dangerous. But restrictive rules have prevented schools from accessing a special $200 million fund for seismic repairs. Only two have tapped the money. The vast majority of the buildings remain unfixed, and the money unused.
  
  
• As the state architect's office relaxed its oversight, the office became closely aligned with the industry it regulates. Government officials became dues-paying members of a lobbying group for school construction firms; mingled at conferences, golf tournaments and dinners; and briefed the lobbying group's clients at monthly meetings. Taxpayers even footed the bill for the membership dues.
  
  
• The California Geological Survey redrew the state's official earthquake hazard maps decades ago amid pressure from property owners, real estate agents and local government officials who feared property values would decline inside these seismic hot spots. As the maps shifted, some schools were located in hazard zones one day and out the next.

To read the full report, On Shaky Ground: A Look at Seismic Safety in California Schools, visit www.CaliforniaWatch.org/earthquakes.