Florida Senate - 2014 SB 736
By Senator Sobel
33-00559B-14 2014736__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to discretionary education funding;
3 providing a short title; amending s. 1011.71, F.S.;
4 increasing the maximum millage a district school board
5 may levy for capital outlay purposes; amending ss.
6 1013.64 and 1013.738, F.S.; conforming provisions to
7 changes made by the act; providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Reinventing Our
12 Schools Act.”
13 Section 2. Subsection (2) and paragraph (a) of subsection
14 (3) of section 1011.71, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
15 1011.71 District school tax.—
16 (2) In addition to the maximum millage levy as provided in
17 subsection (1), each school board may levy up to 1.75 not more
18 than 1.5 mills against the taxable value for school purposes for
19 district schools, including charter schools at the discretion of
20 the school board, to fund:
21 (a) New construction and remodeling projects, as set forth
22 in s. 1013.64(3)(b) and (6)(b) and included in the district’s
23 educational plant survey pursuant to s. 1013.31, without regard
24 to prioritization, sites and site improvement or expansion to
25 new sites, existing sites, auxiliary facilities, athletic
26 facilities, or ancillary facilities.
27 (b) Maintenance, renovation, and repair of existing school
28 plants or of leased facilities to correct deficiencies pursuant
29 to s. 1013.15(2).
30 (c) The purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of school buses.
31 (d) The purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of new and
32 replacement equipment; computer hardware, including electronic
33 hardware and other hardware devices necessary for gaining access
34 to or enhancing the use of electronic content and resources or
35 for facilitating to facilitate the access to and the use of a
36 school district’s local instructional improvement electronic
37 learning management system pursuant to s. 1006.281, excluding
38 software other than the operating system necessary to operate
39 the hardware or device; and enterprise resource software
40 applications that are classified as capital assets in accordance
41 with definitions of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board,
42 have a useful life of at least 5 years, and are used to support
43 districtwide administration or state-mandated reporting
44 requirements.
45 (e) Payments for educational facilities and sites due under
46 a lease-purchase agreement entered into by a district school
47 board pursuant to s. 1003.02(1)(f) or s. 1013.15(2), not
48 exceeding, in the aggregate, an amount equal to three-fourths of
49 the proceeds from the millage levied by a district school board
50 pursuant to this subsection. The three-fourths limit is waived
51 for lease-purchase agreements entered into before June 30, 2009,
52 by a district school board pursuant to this paragraph.
53 (f) Payment of loans approved pursuant to ss. 1011.14 and
54 1011.15.
55 (g) Payment of costs directly related to complying with
56 state and federal environmental statutes, rules, and regulations
57 governing school facilities.
58 (h) Payment of costs of leasing relocatable educational
59 facilities, of renting or leasing educational facilities and
60 sites pursuant to s. 1013.15(2), or of renting or leasing
61 buildings or space within existing buildings pursuant to s.
62 1013.15(4).
63 (i) Payment of the cost of school buses when a school
64 district contracts with a private entity to provide student
65 transportation services if the district meets the requirements
66 of this paragraph.
67 1. The district’s contract must require that the private
68 entity purchase, lease-purchase, or lease, and operate and
69 maintain, one or more school buses of a specific type and size
70 which that meet the requirements of s. 1006.25.
71 2. Each such school bus must be used for the daily
72 transportation of public school students in the manner required
73 by the school district.
74 3. Annual payment for each such school bus may not exceed
75 10 percent of the purchase price of the state pool bid.
76 4. The proposed expenditure of the funds for this purpose
77 must have been included in the district school board’s notice of
78 proposed tax for school capital outlay as provided in s.
79 200.065(10).
80 (j) Payment of the cost of the opening day collection for
81 the library media center of a new school.
82 (3)(a) Notwithstanding subsection (2), if the revenue from
83 1.75 1.5 mills is insufficient to meet the payments due under a
84 lease-purchase agreement entered into before June 30, 2009, by a
85 district school board pursuant to paragraph (2)(e), or to meet
86 other critical district fixed capital outlay needs, the board,
87 in addition to the 1.75 1.5 mills, may levy up to 0.25 mills for
88 fixed capital outlay in lieu of levying an equivalent amount of
89 the discretionary mills for operations as provided in the
90 General Appropriations Act. Millage levied pursuant to this
91 subsection is subject to the provisions of s. 200.065 and,
92 combined with the 1.75 1.5 mills authorized in subsection (2),
93 may not exceed 2 1.75 mills. If the district chooses to use up
94 to 0.25 mills for fixed capital outlay, the compression
95 adjustment pursuant to s. 1011.62(5) shall be calculated for the
96 standard discretionary millage that is not eligible for transfer
97 to capital outlay.
98 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and paragraph
99 (b) of subsection (6) of section 1013.64, Florida Statutes, are
100 amended to read:
101 1013.64 Funds for comprehensive educational plant needs;
102 construction cost maximums for school district capital
103 projects.—Allocations from the Public Education Capital Outlay
104 and Debt Service Trust Fund to the various boards for capital
105 outlay projects shall be determined as follows:
106 (2)(a) The department shall establish, as a part of the
107 Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund, a
108 separate account, in an amount determined by the Legislature, to
109 be known as the “Special Facility Construction Account.” The
110 Special Facility Construction Account shall be used to provide
111 necessary construction funds to school districts that which have
112 urgent construction needs but that which lack sufficient
113 resources at present, and cannot reasonably anticipate
114 sufficient resources within the period of the next 3 years, for
115 these purposes from currently authorized sources of capital
116 outlay revenue. A school district requesting funding from the
117 Special Facility Construction Account shall submit one specific
118 construction project, not to exceed one complete educational
119 plant, to the Special Facility Construction Committee. A No
120 district may not shall receive funding for more than one
121 approved project in any 3-year period. The first year of the 3
122 year period shall be the first year a district receives an
123 appropriation. The department shall encourage a construction
124 program that reduces the average size of schools in the
125 district. The request must meet the following criteria to be
126 considered by the committee:
127 1. The project must be deemed a critical need and must be
128 recommended for funding by the Special Facility Construction
129 Committee. Prior to developing plans for the proposed facility,
130 the district school board must request a preapplication review
131 by the Special Facility Construction Committee or a project
132 review subcommittee convened by the committee to include two
133 representatives of the department and two staff from school
134 districts not eligible to participate in the program. Within 60
135 days after receiving the preapplication review request, the
136 committee or subcommittee shall must meet in the school district
137 to review the project proposal and existing facilities. To
138 determine whether the proposed project is a critical need, the
139 committee or subcommittee shall consider, at a minimum, the
140 capacity of all existing facilities within the district as
141 determined by the Florida Inventory of School Houses; the
142 district’s pattern of student growth; the district’s existing
143 and projected capital outlay full-time equivalent student
144 enrollment as determined by the department; the district’s
145 existing satisfactory student stations; the use of all existing
146 district property and facilities; grade level configurations;
147 and any other information that may affect the need for the
148 proposed project.
149 2. The construction project must be recommended in the most
150 recent survey or surveys by the district under the rules of the
151 State Board of Education.
152 3. The construction project must appear on the district’s
153 approved project priority list under the rules of the State
154 Board of Education.
155 4. The district must have selected and had approved a site
156 for the construction project in compliance with s. 1013.36 and
157 the rules of the State Board of Education.
158 5. The district must shall have developed a district
159 school-board-adopted district school board adopted list of
160 facilities that do not exceed the norm for net square feet
161 occupancy requirements under the State Requirements for
162 Educational Facilities, using all possible programmatic
163 combinations for multiple use of space to obtain maximum daily
164 use of all spaces within the facility under consideration.
165 6. Upon construction, the total cost per student station,
166 including change orders, may must not exceed the cost per
167 student station as provided in subsection (6).
168 7. There shall be an agreement signed by The district
169 school board shall sign an agreement stating that it will
170 advertise for bids within 30 days of receipt of its encumbrance
171 authorization from the department.
172 8. The district must shall, at the time of the request and
173 for a continuing period of 3 years, levy the maximum millage
174 against its their nonexempt assessed property value as allowed
175 in s. 1011.71(2) or must shall raise an equivalent amount of
176 revenue from the school capital outlay surtax authorized under
177 s. 212.055(6). Any district with a new or active project that
178 is, funded under the provisions of this subsection, shall be
179 required to budget up to no more than the value of 1.75 1.5
180 mills per year to the project to satisfy the annual
181 participation requirement in the Special Facility Construction
182 Account.
183 9. If a contract has not been signed 90 days after the
184 advertising of bids, the funding for the specific project must
185 shall revert to the Special Facility New Construction Account to
186 be reallocated to other projects on the list. However, an
187 additional 90 days may be granted by the commissioner.
188 10. The department must shall certify the inability of the
189 district to fund the survey-recommended project over a
190 continuous 3-year period using projected capital outlay revenue
191 derived from s. 9(d), Art. XII of the State Constitution, as
192 amended, paragraph (3)(a) of this section, and s. 1011.71(2).
193 11. The district must shall have on file with the
194 department an adopted resolution acknowledging its 3-year
195 commitment of all unencumbered and future revenue acquired from
196 s. 9(d), Art. XII of the State Constitution, as amended,
197 paragraph (3)(a) of this section, and s. 1011.71(2).
198 12. Final phase III plans must be certified by the board as
199 complete and in compliance with the building and life safety
200 codes prior to August 1.
201 (6)
202 (b)1. A district school board may must not use funds from
203 the following sources: the Public Education Capital Outlay and
204 Debt Service Trust Fund; the School District and Community
205 College District Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund;
206 Classrooms First Program funds provided in s. 1013.68; the
207 nonvoted 1.75-mill 1.5-mill levy of ad valorem property taxes
208 provided in s. 1011.71(2); Classrooms for Kids Program funds
209 provided in s. 1013.735; District Effort Recognition Program
210 funds provided in s. 1013.736; or High Growth District Capital
211 Outlay Assistance Grant Program funds provided in s. 1013.738
212 for any new construction of educational plant space with a total
213 cost per student station, including change orders, which that
214 equals more than:
215 a. $17,952 for an elementary school;,
216 b. $19,386 for a middle school;, or
217 c. $25,181 for a high school,
218
219 (January 2006) as adjusted annually to reflect increases or
220 decreases in the Consumer Price Index.
221 2. A district school board may must not use funds from the
222 Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund or
223 the School District and Community College District Capital
224 Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund for any new construction of
225 an ancillary plant which that exceeds 70 percent of the average
226 cost per square foot of new construction for all schools.
227 Section 4. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) and
228 paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 1013.738, Florida
229 Statutes, are amended to read:
230 1013.738 High Growth District Capital Outlay Assistance
231 Grant Program.—
232 (2) In order to qualify for a grant, a school district must
233 meet the following criteria:
234 (a) The district must have levied the maximum full 2 mills
235 of nonvoted discretionary capital outlay millage authorized in
236 s. 1011.71(2) for each of the past 4 fiscal years.
237 (b) Fifty percent of the revenue derived from the maximum
238 2-mill nonvoted discretionary capital outlay millage authorized
239 in s. 1011.71(2) for the past 4 fiscal years, when divided by
240 the district’s growth in capital outlay FTE students over this
241 period, produces a value that is less than the average cost per
242 student station calculated pursuant to s. 1013.64(6)(b)1., and
243 weighted by statewide growth in capital outlay FTE students in
244 elementary, middle, and high schools for the past 4 fiscal
245 years.
246 (3) The funds provided in the General Appropriations Act
247 shall be allocated pursuant to the following methodology:
248 (a) For each eligible district, the Department of Education
249 shall calculate the value of 50 percent of the revenue derived
250 from the maximum 2-mill nonvoted discretionary capital outlay
251 millage authorized in s. 1011.71(2) for the past 4 fiscal years
252 divided by the increase in capital outlay FTE students for the
253 same period.
254 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.