The 2025-26 Budget

California Military Department—
STARBASE Classroom Building

Background

STARBASE Is a Federal Education Program for Children. The STARBASE program is a U.S. Department of Defense-authorized educational program designed to provide elementary- and secondary-aged students with supplemental education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art and design, and mathematics (STEAM). The program uses real-world, experiential learning to motivate children to explore educational opportunities in the STEAM fields.

The California Military Department (CMD) Offers a STARBASE Program at the Joint Forces Training Base Complex in Los Alamitos. California has several STARBASE programs directly facilitated by CMD, some of which are located on CMD military facilities. Established in 2012, STARBASE Los Alamitos is such a program. It serves students in the Southern California region, including students from the Cypress Unified and Los Angeles Unified school districts. Students attend the program in classrooms at the CMD Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base complex. Participating students learn Computer Assisted Design, robotics, and physics, and launch high-powered rockets and high-altitude weather balloons. As of 2023, STARBASE Los Alamitos had three authorized classrooms for the over 3,500 students a year who visit. However, CMD reports it cannot serve all interested students and there is currently a waitlist for the program.

CMD Seeks New Classroom Building for STARBASE Los Alamitos in Order to Expand Services. CMD asserts that a new, bigger educational space could serve as many as 900 additional students annually. The department indicates that a new classroom building could accommodate approximately 50 STARBASE classes during the school year, which would effectively eliminate the typical annual program waitlist.

Project First Approved by Legislature in 2018-19. The 2018-19 budget provided $1.7 million General Fund for all phases of a project to construct a new classroom building for STARBASE Los Alamitos. The project was expected to be completed in April 2020. However, for various reasons—including a shift of management of the project from CMD to the Department of General Services (DGS), the expiration of certain funding provided for the project, and delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic—CMD was only able to complete the preliminary plans phase.

Governor’s Proposal

Additional Funds to Pay for Working Drawings. The Governor’s proposed budget includes $419,000 General Fund to complete the working drawings phase of the STARBASE Los Alamitos classroom building project. These funds are in addition to $368,000 in existing authority for working drawings. The total cost of the project has been revised from $1.7 million to $6.3 million General Fund, which includes preliminary plans ($68,000), working drawings ($787,000), and construction ($5,468,000). The increase in total project costs appears largely driven by increases in construction costs. CMD indicates that the additional funding for the working drawings phase would incorporate certain earthquake safety requirements and provide fees for DGS to manage the project. CMD estimates that working drawings will be completed and construction will commence in November 2026, and that the project will be completed in February 2028.

Assessment

Expanding STARBASE Los Alamitos Would Likely Come at a Cost to Baseline Service Levels in Other Programs. Given the state’s current fiscal position—with a budget that is only roughly balanced in 2025-26 and notable deficits projected in the out-years—the state does not have capacity for projects that expand services, which this proposal is designed to do. As a result, the $5.5 million that would be required to construct the STARBASE Los Alamitos classroom building project in 2026-27 would likely require reduced spending from existing budget commitments. Accordingly, if the Legislature wants to pursue the project—but does not want to impact other programs—it may want to delay it to a time when the state has budget capacity.

Working Drawings Could Ultimately Go Unused. If construction is delayed for too long after the completion of working drawings, the working drawings may not be able to be reused. This is because construction codes change over time, which means that working drawings produced in one year may not meet building standards in a future year. Accordingly, the proposal puts the state at risk of unnecessarily funding working drawing that ultimately go unused. This would happen if the multiyear deficits facing the state result in the delay of the construction phase of the project to a time when the working drawings are no longer usable.

Recommendation

Reject Without Prejudice. We recommend that the Legislature reject this proposal without prejudice and reconsider constructing a classroom building to expand service at STARBASE Los Alamitos in the future when doing so will not likely come at the cost of existing budget commitments.