Program
This year-long, intensive program provides professional training to current and future school facility leaders in areas including modernization, new construction and maintenance of the community’s public schools. The Academy will begin with a 3-day Institute in March 2026. Thereafter, classes are held on Friday afternoons – Saturday afternoons, generally once a month. The Academy will meet in Sacramento and Ontario. Students are required to attend all classes. The 16th cohort of the Academy will receive their certificates of completion during a graduation ceremony at the CASH Annual Conference in February 2027.
The Academy is distinguished by the following major elements:
- Each participant is teamed with a mentor
- Mentors frequently interact and evaluate participants’ progress
- Participants develop and respond frequently to self and group assessments
- Participants are expected to lead, assist and follow within their selected teams
- Frequent team and individual presentations are required, as well as monthly homework assignments
About CASH
The Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH) was founded in 1978 to advocate for K-12 facilities funding and improve school facilities in California. CASH began as a coalition of existing statewide organizations and a few dozen school districts. Over the years, CASH evolved into a single organization that has grown to more than one thousand public and private sector members making it the largest statewide premier organization focused exclusively on school facilities issues. The number one priority of CASH is to ensure state funding exists to help build new and modernize existing K-12 public school facilities. To that end, CASH has sponsored and supported over $61 billion in statewide school bonds since its inception.
CASH provides education to its members through monthly membership meetings, web-shops, and annual conference in late February/March, and a fall conference in mid-October in Southern California. CASH also provides leadership training through the CASH Maintenance and Operations Leadership Academy (CMOLA) and the CASH School Facilities Leadership Academy (CSFLA).
About FCMAT
The mission of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) is to help California’s local educational agencies fulfill their financial and management responsibilities by providing fiscal advice, management assistance, training and other related school business services. The Kern County Superintendent of Schools office exists as the administrative and fiscal agent for FCMAT which currently operates within the context of several areas of the California Education Code, primarily those sections having to do with AB 1200 and AB 2756 oversight (EC 42127.1-.8, EC 41326, EC 41327). FCMAT reports to a board of directors comprised of one county superintendent and one district superintendent from each of the state’s 11 service regions. A representative of the California Department of Education is also on the board. Assembly Bill 1200 (AB1200) created FCMAT in 1991. The team can assist county offices of education in understanding their fiscal monitoring duties as required by AB 1200, sometimes suggesting specific methods of carrying out the oversight responsibilities. FCMAT also provides management studies for school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and community colleges that request them. FCMAT coordinates statewide professional development efforts for school business officials.
Purpose
California’s investment in public school facilities represents an acknowledgment of the key role buildings play in education, as well as an enormous ongoing challenge in management and maintenance. Since the inception of the School Facility Program in 1998, State and local communities have spent billions on new construction, modernization, and deferred maintenance of school facilities. To fulfill the trust of California’s taxpayers and to meet the expectations of parents, teachers, and students, the CASH School Facilities Leadership Academy gives tomorrow’s school facilities leaders the opportunity to learn from today’s experts. The program’s instructors are experts on the subjects they teach. The scope of what needs to be learned ranges from project bidding and construction management, to facility maintenance and repair, to school board and public relations. Graduates of the CASH School Facilities Leadership Academy will be prepared to deliver exceptional services in school facilities leadership management.