HB 0656

HB 656-FN-LOCAL - AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

AN ACT relative to the formula for distributing school building aid grants.

SPONSORS: Rep. Alger, Graf 9; Rep. Letourneau, Rock 13; Rep. Ward, Graf 1; Sen. Johnson, Dist 3

This bill creates an optional school building aid grant formula which shall be available to school districts beginning in the 2003-2004 school year.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

AN ACT relative to the formula for distributing school building aid grants.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Purpose; Intent. An alternative school building aid program shall be offered to any duly organized school district, any city maintaining a school department within its corporate organization, any cooperative school district as defined in RSA 195:1, any receiving district operating an area school as defined in RSA 195-A:1, or any schools engaged in a joint maintenance agreement under RSA 194:21 as an alternative to the method of obtaining school building aid available under RSA 198:15-a through 198:15-h.

2 School Money; School Building Aid Annual Grant Amended. Amend RSA 198:15-a to read as follows:

198:15-a Annual Grant for the Payment of Debt Service for School Construction. To aid local school districts in meeting the costs of the payment of debt for school buildings and educational administration buildings, including office facilities for school administrative units, the state board of education shall, from funds appropriated by the general court to carry out the provisions of this subdivision, pay annually to the school districts of the state, sums in accordance with the provisions of this subdivision or the alternative school building aid provisions under RSA 198:15-u through RSA 198:15-w, depending on which option a school district elects.

3 New Subdivision; Alternative School Building Aid. Amend RSA 198 by inserting after section 15-t the following new subdivision:

I. "Median family income" means that income for each municipality using the most recent data available from the United States Bureau of the Census. For the purposes of this subdivision, median family income shall be recalculated at each decennial census.

II. "Equalized valuation per pupil" means the average equalized valuation within the school district over the most recent 5 years divided by the current number of pupils within the school district expressed as an average from the most recent 5 years of available data collected by the department of education.

I.(a) The amount of the annual grant to any school district duly organized, any city maintaining a school department within its corporate organization, any cooperative school district as defined in RSA 195:1, or any receiving district operating an area school as defined in RSA 195-A:1, shall be determined as follows:

(1) Determine each municipality's equalized valuation per pupil by dividing the municipality's equalized valuation by the average daily membership in residence within each municipality. Assign each municipality a rank beginning with the municipality having the lowest equalized valuation per pupil ranked as number one, and continuing therefrom.

(2) Determine each municipality's median family income, and assign each municipality a rank beginning with the municipality having the lowest median family income ranked as number one and continuing therefrom.

(3) Add the rankings assigned in subparagraphs I(a)(1) and I(a)(2) and divide the sum by 2 to yield the building aid factor.

II. The amount of the annual grant in this subdivision shall be a sum equal to a percentage of the amount of the annual payment of principal on all outstanding borrowings of the school district, city, cooperative school district, joint maintenance agreement, or receiving district, heretofore or hereafter incurred, for the cost of construction or purchase of school buildings and school administrative unit facilities, to the extent approved by the state board of education according to the following table:

III. A cooperative school district or area school's grant amount shall be determined by calculating the percentage of the average daily membership in residence represented by each municipality within the cooperative school district and multiplying this percentage by each municipality's percentage of annual building aid awarded under subparagraph I(b) of this section. The resulting product shall be multiplied by the projected cost of the building project. The sum of the individual municipality's entitlement of annual building aid shall be the annual grant for the cooperative school district.

198:15-w Alternative School Building Aid Grants; Procedures. The provisions of RSA 198:15-c through 198:15-h shall apply to any grant made under this subdivision.

4 Applicability. The provisions of sections 1-3 of this act shall apply to the total of approved costs of construction of school buildings for which loans are approved as of July 1, 2003 and thereafter.

AN ACT relative to the formula for distributing school building aid grants.

The Department of Education indicates this bill, as amended by the House (Amendment #0310h), will increase state expenditures and local revenue by $150,202 in FY 2004 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state and county revenue or county and local expenditures.

The Department computed the increase in state expenditures and local revenue by applying the terms of this bill to building aid data for FY 1998, 1999 and 2000. The changes in each year resulting from the provisions in this bill were averaged, and the result was the increase in state expenditures and local revenue of $150,202.