Los Angeles board approves $604 million plan to rebuild schools damaged in Palisades fire

The Los Angeles school board has approved a $604 million plan to rebuild schools that were destroyed or sustained significant damage in the Palisades fire earlier this year.

LAist reports that the district expects Marquez Charter Elementary School, Palisades Charter Elementary School and Palisades Charter High School to be rebuilt by the end of 2028.

The projected cost is lower than the $725 million that Superintendent Alberto Carvalho's February estimate. 

The money will come from a $9 billion bond issues voters approved in November; the district hopes to recoup most of those funds through insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The fires that swept through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in January burned Marquez Elementary to the ground and destroyed classrooms and facilities at the other two campuses.

Carvalho says the district is moving quickly to get ahead of rising construction prices that may result from tariffs. He also said that potential changes to FEMA could lower reimbursement rates.

"The longer we wait, the higher the possibility that the reimbursement will be reduced," he said. " We are very, very hopeful that we will be able to recoup the lion's share of the initial investment."

Will students come back once the schools are rebuilt?  

"My fear is that I don't know who's moving back to the Palisades," School board president Scott Schmerelson said. " I just want to make sure that we're not building a school that'll be empty."

Andres Chait, the district's chief of school operations, says the district considered these questions when planning the rebuild.

" There's a belief that there are families, landowners, that are moving out who may not be interested in an extended rebuild process, and this in turn, may bring in younger families with school-aged children," he says.