LAUSD outlines plan to modernize facility rentals and add a "student benefit" rate to expand community access

District staff presented a broad overhaul of Los Angeles Unified's community-use rules May 12, proposing a new "student benefit rate" for nonprofit youth-serving programs, differentiated facility fees and a two-year phased increase in rates aimed at reducing an estimated $8 million annual cost the district currently absorbs for facility use.

Isam Dadul, director of facilities planning and development, told the Board the policy updates would streamline internal processing, reduce repetitive permit work for recurring users, and modernize digital systems. Staff said they will issue an RFP for an external online booking platform and for a document-management tool for internal workflows.

Key policy changes include: extending license agreement terms to 364 days for repeat users and allowing up to five-year terms for certain multi-year license agreements; reducing license categories from five to two (market rate and "student benefit" rate, plus civic center permits); and setting differentiated fees by facility type rather than one flat civic-center rate.

The proposed student-benefit rate would be available to verified 501(c)(3) nonprofits providing youth programs, early-childhood providers and official department events that do not charge students or families to participate; staff said the aim is to preserve access for programs that serve students directly. Civic-center rules tied to state law (such as the $60/month threshold for youth sports leagues) remain outside district control.

Staff also presented cost-recovery analysis showing a large gap between existing rates and the estimated cost to the district for field maintenance, custodial services and supervision; case-study figures showed the district now charges $38/hour civic center for a representative field use while the true cost could be many times higher. The proposal would phase in increases, covering roughly half the civic cost by 2028—29 and CPI-adjust market rates over the same period.

Board members pushed staff on customer service capacity (six staff currently process applications), school revenue shares (62% of license revenue goes to schools), outreach and the impact on small, recurring community users such as boosters and PTAs; staff said PTAs and boosters would continue to be processed under civic-center rules and the district would maintain the long-standing fee waivers for those groups. Staff estimated the rate updates could increase revenue by roughly $2 million toward the identified $8 million gap.

No vote was taken; staff said the policy is expected to return in fall 2026 with formal board action and that rate changes would roll out over two school years beginning 2027-28 to allow stakeholder outreach and mitigation.