| 1 | The Education Appropriations Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to uses of the district school tax; |
| 7 | amending ss. 200.065 and 1011.71, F.S.; including health, |
| 8 | property, and casualty insurance costs as authorized uses |
| 9 | of school district millage; specifying nonapplication of |
| 10 | certain expenditure restrictions to school districts |
| 11 | meeting certain class size requirements; providing an |
| 12 | effective date. |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (9) of section |
| 17 | 200.065, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 18 | 200.065 Method of fixing millage.-- |
| 19 | (9)(a) In addition to the notice required in subsection |
| 20 | (3), a district school board shall publish a second notice of |
| 21 | intent to levy additional taxes under s. 1011.71(2). Such notice |
| 22 | shall specify the projects or number of school buses anticipated |
| 23 | to be funded by such additional taxes and shall be published in |
| 24 | the size, within the time periods, adjacent to, and in |
| 25 | substantial conformity with the advertisement required under |
| 26 | subsection (3). The projects shall be listed in priority within |
| 27 | each category as follows: construction and remodeling; |
| 28 | maintenance, renovation, and repair; motor vehicle purchases; |
| 29 | new and replacement equipment; payments for educational |
| 30 | facilities and sites due under a lease-purchase agreement; |
| 31 | payments for renting and leasing educational facilities and |
| 32 | sites; payments of loans approved pursuant to ss. 1011.14 and |
| 33 | 1011.15; payment of costs of compliance with environmental |
| 34 | statutes and regulations; payment of health, property, and |
| 35 | casualty insurance costs of the school district; payment of |
| 36 | costs of leasing relocatable educational facilities; and |
| 37 | payments to private entities to offset the cost of school buses |
| 38 | pursuant to s. 1011.71(2)(i). The additional notice shall be in |
| 39 | the following form, except that if the district school board is |
| 40 | proposing to levy the same millage under s. 1011.71(2) which it |
| 41 | levied in the prior year, the words "continue to" shall be |
| 42 | inserted before the word "impose" in the first sentence, and |
| 43 | except that the second sentence of the second paragraph shall be |
| 44 | deleted if the district is advertising pursuant to paragraph |
| 45 | (3)(e): |
| 46 |
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| 47 | NOTICE OF TAX FOR SCHOOL |
| 48 | CAPITAL OUTLAY |
| 49 |
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| 50 | The (name of school district) will soon consider a |
| 51 | measure to impose a (number) mill property tax for the |
| 52 | capital outlay projects listed herein. |
| 53 | This tax is in addition to the school board's proposed tax |
| 54 | of (number) mills for operating expenses and is proposed |
| 55 | solely at the discretion of the school board. THE PROPOSED |
| 56 | COMBINED SCHOOL BOARD TAX INCREASE FOR BOTH OPERATING EXPENSES |
| 57 | AND CAPITAL OUTLAY IS SHOWN IN THE ADJACENT NOTICE. |
| 58 | The capital outlay tax will generate approximately $ |
| 59 | (amount) , to be used for the following projects: |
| 60 |
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| 61 | (list of capital outlay projects) |
| 62 |
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| 63 | All concerned citizens are invited to a public hearing to |
| 64 | be held on (date and time) at (meeting place) . |
| 65 | A DECISION on the proposed CAPITAL OUTLAY TAXES will be |
| 66 | made at this hearing. |
| 67 | Section 2. Paragraph (j) is added to subsection (2) of |
| 68 | section 1011.71, Florida Statutes, and subsection (5) of that |
| 69 | section is amended, to read: |
| 70 | 1011.71 District school tax.-- |
| 71 | (2) In addition to the maximum millage levy as provided in |
| 72 | subsection (1), each school board may levy not more than 2 mills |
| 73 | against the taxable value for school purposes to fund: |
| 74 | (j) Health, property, and casualty insurance costs of the |
| 75 | school district. |
| 76 |
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| 77 | Violations of these expenditure provisions shall result in an |
| 78 | equal dollar reduction in the Florida Education Finance Program |
| 79 | (FEFP) funds for the violating district in the fiscal year |
| 80 | following the audit citation. |
| 81 | (5)(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that, by July |
| 82 | 1, 2003, revenue generated by the millage levy authorized by |
| 83 | subsection (2) should be used only for the costs of |
| 84 | construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, and repair of |
| 85 | the educational plant; for the purchase, lease, or lease- |
| 86 | purchase of equipment, educational plants, and construction |
| 87 | materials directly related to the delivery of student |
| 88 | instruction; for the rental or lease of existing buildings, or |
| 89 | space within existing buildings, originally constructed or used |
| 90 | for purposes other than education, for conversion to use as |
| 91 | educational facilities; for the opening day collection for the |
| 92 | library media center of a new school; for the purchase, lease- |
| 93 | purchase, or lease of school buses or the payment to a private |
| 94 | entity to offset the cost of school buses pursuant to paragraph |
| 95 | (2)(i); and for servicing of payments related to certificates of |
| 96 | participation issued for any purpose prior to the effective date |
| 97 | of this act. Costs associated with the lease-purchase of |
| 98 | equipment, educational plants, and school buses may include the |
| 99 | issuance of certificates of participation on or after the |
| 100 | effective date of this act and the servicing of payments related |
| 101 | to certificates so issued. For purposes of this section, |
| 102 | "maintenance and repair" is defined in s. 1013.01. |
| 103 | (b) For purposes not delineated in paragraph (a) for which |
| 104 | proceeds received from millage levied under subsection (2) may |
| 105 | be legally expended, a district school board may spend no more |
| 106 | than the following percentages of the amount the district spent |
| 107 | for these purposes in fiscal year 1995-1996: |
| 108 | 1. In fiscal year 2000-2001, 40 percent. |
| 109 | 2. In fiscal year 2001-2002, 25 percent. |
| 110 | 3. In fiscal year 2002-2003, 10 percent. |
| 111 | (c) Beginning July 1, 2003, revenue generated by the |
| 112 | millage levy authorized by subsection (2) must be used only for |
| 113 | the purposes delineated in paragraph (a). |
| 114 | (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this |
| 115 | subsection, if through its adopted educational facilities plan a |
| 116 | district has clearly identified the need for an ancillary plant, |
| 117 | has provided opportunity for public input as to the relative |
| 118 | value of the ancillary plant versus an educational plant, and |
| 119 | has obtained public approval, the district may use revenue |
| 120 | generated by the millage levy authorized by subsection (2) for |
| 121 | the acquisition, construction, renovation, remodeling, |
| 122 | maintenance, or repair of an ancillary plant. |
| 123 |
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| 124 | A district that violates these expenditure restrictions shall |
| 125 | have an equal dollar reduction in funds appropriated to the |
| 126 | district under s. 1011.62 in the fiscal year following the audit |
| 127 | citation. The expenditure restrictions do not apply to any |
| 128 | school district that has met the current year class size |
| 129 | reduction requirements of s. 1003.03 and certifies to the |
| 130 | Commissioner of Education that all of the district's |
| 131 | instructional space needs for the next 5 years can be met from |
| 132 | capital outlay sources that the district reasonably expects to |
| 133 | receive during the next 5 years or from alternative scheduling |
| 134 | or construction, leasing, rezoning, or technological |
| 135 | methodologies that exhibit sound management. |
| 136 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |