LAUSD approves $604 million plan to rebuild schools destroyed in Palisades Fire

There's now a roadmap for rebuilding three public schools destroyed or damaged by the Palisades Fire in January.

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education approved a $604 million plan Tuesday to rebuild Marquez Charter Elementary School, Palisades Charter Elementary School and Palisades Charter High School by the end of 2028.

The cost is down from the $725 million Superintendent Alberto Carvalho estimated the rebuild would cost in February, less than a month after the Palisades Fire burned Marquez Elementary to the ground and destroyed classrooms and facilities at the other two campuses.

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

At Tuesday's meeting, Carvalho said that the board was moving quickly to get ahead of rising construction prices due to tariffs. He also said the board was wary of potential changes to FEMA that 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."

What is the plan?

The rebuild plan will significantly reduce capacity at Marquez Elementary, which had seen a 37% drop in enrollment in the five years before the fire. Previously, the elementary school had 37 classrooms. The district plans to rebuild just 22.

The district will also reduce the number of classrooms at Palisades Elementary from 26 to 24. That location has also seen a decline in enrollment.

Nick Melvoin, the school board member representing the Palisades, told LAist that the board considered rebuilding one of the elementary schools as a middle school, but decided to keep both locations as elementary schools after months of community meetings.

" We do think there'll be enough enrollment to sustain two public elementary schools, and so we're gonna build for that," he said.

Palisades High will rebuild all 22 classrooms lost in the fire.

Will families return to fill the schools?

One looming question at the board meeting was whether kids will come back once the schools are rebuilt. School board president Scott Schmerelson said he was concerned about investing in rebuilding while enrollment across LAUSD declines.

"My fear is that I don't know who's moving back to the Palisades," Schmerelson said to the board. " 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, told the board that 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 told the school board.

School board staff also noted that the two elementary schools can enroll students from outside the Palisades because they are district-affiliated charter schools.

What about current students?

All three schools are slated to finish new building construction by the end of 2028. Palisades High and Marquez Elementary will see removal of temporary buildings and further construction of playgrounds and sports facilities in 2029.

That timeline means that most students displaced by the fires won't return to those campuses. For now, Palisades High will continue to operate out of a former Sears building in Santa Monica, and Palisades Elementary students who were relocated to Brentwood Sciences Magnet will stay there.

Marquez Elementary will be the first to reopen next school year with temporary classrooms set up on-site. Those students are currently sharing a campus with Nora Sterry Elementary School in Sawtelle.

Carlos Torres, LAUSD's director of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, said there is ongoing indoor and outdoor environmental testing.

“ Is it ready for our students? Does it smell like smoke? All those questions have to be addressed before we'll allow students to be back there,” Torres said.

K-12 senior reporter Mariana Dale contributed to this report.