San Marcos Unified to study facilities‑use fees, schedule community engagement on policy update

San Marcos Unified School District staff announced a planned comprehensive review of the district’s facilities‑use policy and fee schedule at the June 12 board meeting, citing an expired joint‑use agreement with the city, internal scheduling conflicts that cancel approved requests, and rising operations and capital costs.

Ted Norman, identified as executive director of maintenance and operations, told trustees that the district currently hosts about 160 outside users and that four weekend religious services at four campuses account for roughly half of the current revenue from facility permits. Norman said year‑to‑date permit approvals approached $300,000 for the district and that cancelled requests because of scheduling conflicts amounted to about $234,000. He said youth‑sports groups using district fields under the old city agreement produced roughly 2,352 hours of use that generated no facility fee reimbursement; at a typical community‑field rate of about $25 per hour, Norman estimated roughly $60,000 of potential annual reimbursement not currently collected.

Norman explained the state’s Civic Center Act allows districts to charge an amount not to exceed direct cost — a combination of operational expenses (custodial overtime, utilities, supplies) and capital costs (wear and tear, amortized replacement value for non‑classroom space). He described recent expenditures the maintenance department has charged to facilities use revenue: roughly $60,000 on seed, fertilizer and field renovation materials this fiscal year; more than $120,000 on custodial equipment; and about $300,000 reinvested districtwide in grounds and custodial equipment and capital projects tied to facility upkeep.

District staff outlined a timeline: community engagement in the fall (a series of stakeholder meetings from September through November), development of revised administrative regulations and a fee schedule, and a planned policy recommendation to the board in January 2026. Staff indicated a phased rollout to begin in fiscal year 2026–27 may be necessary depending on the final cost calculations. Trustees asked for periodic updates and a full list of current outside users; staff agreed to share permit data and to provide regular Friday updates during the review.

Norman said the district will use a CDE‑compatible calculator and the district’s actual 2024–25 cost data to compute operational and amortized capital direct costs and to model nonprofit and for‑profit fee rates. He said classroom‑based instructional users would be charged only operational direct costs (per Civic Center Act limits on capital cost recovery for classroom space). The board did not adopt a policy June 12; the presentation was informational and intended to start stakeholder engagement prior to drafting a formal policy for later consideration.