The School Facilities Aid Program provides financing to local educational agencies for K-12 school facility-related activities such as school construction, deferred maintenance, and emergency repairs.

The Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, Chapter 407 of the Statutes of 1998 (SB 50), created the School Facility Program (SFP) to streamline school construction funding. Proposition 1D, approved in November 2006, provided State General Obligation Bonds of $5.2 billion to local educational agencies for new construction and modernization projects. Further, Proposition 1D provided $500 million for the Career Technical Education Facilities Program, to create and equip facilities so that students can acquire high-demand skills necessary for the technical careers of today and tomorrow; and provided $100 million for the High Performance Incentive Grant Program which promotes the use of high performance attributes in new construction and modernization projects. High performance attributes include using designs and materials that promote energy and water efficiency, maximize the use of natural lights, improve indoor air quality, and utilize recycled materials. The SFP also contains provisions for Charter Schools, Overcrowding Relief, Critically Overcrowded Schools, Joint-Use, Seismic Mitigation, and Small High Schools.

The State School Deferred Maintenance Program, established by Chapter 282 of the Statutes of 1979 (AB 8), traditionally provides state matching funds, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, to assist local educational agencies with expenditures for major repair or replacement of school building components, such as roofing, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical systems, interior/exterior painting, and floor systems. Chapter 12 of the Statutes of 2009 of the third extraordinary session (X3 SB 4) requires the Office of Public School Construction to distribute program funds for the 2008-09 fiscal year through the 2012-13 fiscal year proportionate to the amount of program funds a local educational agency received for the 2008-09 fiscal year. X3 SB 4 also provides local educational agencies with the flexibility to use program funds for any educational purpose through 2012-13. The program traditionally provides funds for critical hardship projects where the work must be completed within one year. However, Chapter 2 of the Statutes of 2009 of the fourth extraordinary session (X4 SB 2) suspended the extreme hardship project provisions until July 1, 2013. X4 AB 2 also suspended the requirement for local educational agencies to match state funds on a dollar-for-dollar basis from 2008-09 through 2012-13.

As a part of the Williams vs. State of California settlement, Chapter 899, Statutes of 2004 (SB 6) established the Emergency Repair Program (ERP). In order to help meet emergency repair costs, the School Facilities Emergency Repair Account is funded from the Proposition 98 Reversion Account until a total of $800 million has been disbursed for the purpose of addressing emergency facilities needs at school sites in deciles 1 through 3 based on the 2006 Academic Performance Index. As a continuation of the provisions of the settlement, Chapter 704, Statutes of 2006 (AB 607) adopts and encourages participation in the ERP by providing grant funding as well as funding to reimburse applicants for emergency repairs, and provides for a permanent state standard of good repair. To date the state has provided over $338 million for the ERP.