CS/HB 511

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to school district flexibility; amending
3	ss. 200.065 and 1011.71, F.S.; including property and
4	casualty insurance premium costs as authorized uses of
5	school district millage; limiting the use of certain
6	operating revenues made available through payment of
7	certain insurance premiums from certain optional district
8	school tax revenues; specifying nonapplication of certain
9	expenditure restrictions to school districts meeting
10	certain class size reduction requirements and financial
11	and audit criteria; providing an effective date.
12
13	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15	Section 1.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (9) of section
16	200.065, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
17	200.065  Method of fixing millage.--
18	(9)(a)  In addition to the notice required in subsection
19	(3), a district school board shall publish a second notice of
20	intent to levy additional taxes under s. 1011.71(2). Such notice
21	shall specify the projects or number of school buses anticipated
22	to be funded by such additional taxes and shall be published in
23	the size, within the time periods, adjacent to, and in
24	substantial conformity with the advertisement required under
25	subsection (3). The projects shall be listed in priority within
26	each category as follows: construction and remodeling;
27	maintenance, renovation, and repair; motor vehicle purchases;
28	new and replacement equipment; payments for educational
29	facilities and sites due under a lease-purchase agreement;
30	payments for renting and leasing educational facilities and
31	sites; payments of loans approved pursuant to ss. 1011.14 and
32	1011.15; payment of costs of compliance with environmental
33	statutes and regulations; payment of premiums for property and
34	casualty insurance necessary to insure the educational plants of
35	the school district; payment of costs of leasing relocatable
36	educational facilities; and payments to private entities to
37	offset the cost of school buses pursuant to s. 1011.71(2)(i).
38	The additional notice shall be in the following form, except
39	that if the district school board is proposing to levy the same
40	millage under s. 1011.71(2) which it levied in the prior year,
41	the words "continue to" shall be inserted before the word
42	"impose" in the first sentence, and except that the second
43	sentence of the second paragraph shall be deleted if the
44	district is advertising pursuant to paragraph (3)(e):
45
46	NOTICE OF TAX FOR SCHOOL
47	CAPITAL OUTLAY
48
49	The   (name of school district)   will soon consider a
50	measure to impose a   (number)   mill property tax for the
51	capital outlay projects listed herein.
52	This tax is in addition to the school board's proposed tax
53	of   (number)   mills for operating expenses and is proposed
54	solely at the discretion of the school board. THE PROPOSED
55	COMBINED SCHOOL BOARD TAX INCREASE FOR BOTH OPERATING EXPENSES
56	AND CAPITAL OUTLAY IS SHOWN IN THE ADJACENT NOTICE.
57	The capital outlay tax will generate approximately $
58	(amount)  , to be used for the following projects:
59
60	(list of capital outlay projects)
61
62	All concerned citizens are invited to a public hearing to
63	be held on   (date and time)   at   (meeting place)  .
64	A DECISION on the proposed CAPITAL OUTLAY TAXES will be
65	made at this hearing.
66	Section 2.  Paragraph (j) is added to subsection (2) of
67	section 1011.71, Florida Statutes, and subsection (5) of that
68	section is amended, to read:
69	1011.71  District school tax.--
70	(2)  In addition to the maximum millage levy as provided in
71	subsection (1), each school board may levy not more than 2 mills
72	against the taxable value for school purposes for district
73	schools, including charter schools at the discretion of the
74	school board, to fund:
75	(j)  Payment of premiums for property and casualty
76	insurance necessary to insure the educational plants of the
77	school district.
78
79	Violations of these expenditure provisions shall result in an
80	equal dollar reduction in the Florida Education Finance Program
81	(FEFP) funds for the violating district in the fiscal year
82	following the audit citation.
83	(5)(a)  It is the intent of the Legislature that, by July
84	1, 2003, revenue generated by the millage levy authorized by
85	subsection (2) should be used only for the costs of
86	construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, and repair of
87	the educational plant; for the purchase, lease, or lease-
88	purchase of equipment, educational plants, and construction
89	materials directly related to the delivery of student
90	instruction; for the rental or lease of existing buildings, or
91	space within existing buildings, originally constructed or used
92	for purposes other than education, for conversion to use as
93	educational facilities; for payment of premiums for property and
94	casualty insurance necessary to insure the educational plants of
95	the school district; for the opening day collection for the
96	library media center of a new school; for the purchase, lease-
97	purchase, or lease of school buses or the payment to a private
98	entity to offset the cost of school buses pursuant to paragraph
99	(2)(i); and for servicing of payments related to certificates of
100	participation issued for any purpose prior to the effective date
101	of this act. Costs associated with the lease-purchase of
102	equipment, educational plants, and school buses may include the
103	issuance of certificates of participation on or after the
104	effective date of this act and the servicing of payments related
105	to certificates so issued. For purposes of this section,
106	"maintenance and repair" is defined in s. 1013.01. Each year
107	operating revenues are made available through the payment of
108	property and casualty insurance premiums from revenues generated
109	under this subsection or subsection (2), such operating revenues
110	may be expended only for nonrecurring, operational expenditures
111	of the school district.
112	(b)  For purposes not delineated in paragraph (a) for which
113	proceeds received from millage levied under subsection (2) may
114	be legally expended, a district school board may spend no more
115	than the following percentages of the amount the district spent
116	for these purposes in fiscal year 1995-1996:
117	1.  In fiscal year 2000-2001, 40 percent.
118	2.  In fiscal year 2001-2002, 25 percent.
119	3.  In fiscal year 2002-2003, 10 percent.
120	(c)  Beginning July 1, 2003, revenue generated by the
121	millage levy authorized by subsection (2) must be used only for
122	the purposes delineated in paragraph (a).
123	(d)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this
124	subsection, if through its adopted educational facilities plan a
125	district has clearly identified the need for an ancillary plant,
126	has provided opportunity for public input as to the relative
127	value of the ancillary plant versus an educational plant, and
128	has obtained public approval, the district may use revenue
129	generated by the millage levy authorized by subsection (2) for
130	the acquisition, construction, renovation, remodeling,
131	maintenance, or repair of an ancillary plant.
132
133	A district that violates these expenditure restrictions shall
134	have an equal dollar reduction in funds appropriated to the
135	district under s. 1011.62 in the fiscal year following the audit
136	citation. The expenditure restrictions do not apply to any
137	school district that has met the reduction requirements
138	regarding class size for the current year pursuant to s.
139	1003.03, has received an unqualified opinion on its financial
140	statements for the preceding 3 years, has no material weaknesses
141	or instances of material noncompliance noted in an audit for the
142	preceding 3 years, and certifies to the Commissioner of
143	Education that all of the district's instructional space needs
144	for the next 5 years can be met from capital outlay sources that
145	the district reasonably expects to receive during the next 5
146	years or from alternative scheduling or construction, leasing,
147	rezoning, or technological methodologies that exhibit sound
148	management.
149	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.