WEST virginia legislature

2019 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 2593

By Delegate Rohrbach

[Introduced January 22, 2019; Referred
to the Committee on Education then Finance.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §18-9A-12 of the Code of West Virginia,1931, as amended, relating to limiting the increase or decrease of state funding to a county board of education to no more than two percent.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.

§18-9A-12. County basic foundation; total basic state aid allowance.

(a) The basic foundation program for each county for the fiscal year shall be the sum of the amounts computed in accordance with the provisions of sections four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and 10 of this article. On July 1 each year, the state board shall determine the basic foundation program for each county for that fiscal year. Data used in the computations relating to net and adjusted enrollment, and the number of professional educators, shall be for the second month of the prior school term. Transportation expenditures used in these computations shall be for the most recent year in which data are available. The allocated state aid share of the county's basic foundation program shall be the difference between the cost of its basic foundation program and the county's local share as determined in §18-9A-11 of this code except as provided in §18-9A-12(b) of this code.

(b) The allocated state aid share shall be adjusted in the following circumstances in the following manner: Provided, That prior to such adjustment, the State Tax Commissioner shall provide the state board, by January 15 of each year, a certified listing of those counties in which such adjustment shall be made pursuant to this subsection, together with the amount of revenue which will not be available to each county board in the ensuing fiscal year as a result of the circumstance:

(1) In those instances where the local share as computed under §18-9A-11 of this code is not reflective of local funds available because the county is under a final court order, or a final decision of a board of assessment appeals under §11-3-24b, of this code, to refund or credit property taxes paid in prior years, the allocated state aid share shall be the county's basic foundation program, minus the local share as computed under §18-9A-11 of this code, plus the amount of property tax the county is unable to collect or must refund due to the final court order or final decision of a board of assessment appeals: Provided, That said adjustment shall not be made or shall only be made proportionately when the Legislature fails to fund or funds only in part the public school basic foundation support plan state share at a level sufficient to cover the reduction in state share: Provided, however, That nothing herein provided shall be construed to require or mandate any level of funding by the Legislature.

(2) In those instances where the local share as computed under §18-9A-11 of this code is not reflective of local funds available because the county is collecting tax based upon an assessed value which is less than that determined by the Tax Commissioner in the most recent published survey of property valuations in the state due to an error in the published survey, which error is certified to by the Tax Commissioner, the allocated state aid share shall be the county's basic foundation program, minus the local share as computed under section eleven of this article, plus the amount of property tax the county is unable to collect based on differences in the assessed valuation between those in the most recent published survey of valuation and the corrected assessed value actually levied upon by the county: Provided, That said adjustment shall not be made or shall only be made proportionately when the Legislature fails to fund or funds only in part the public school basic foundation support plan state share at a level sufficient to cover the reduction in state share: Provided, however, That nothing herein provided shall be construed to require or mandate any level of funding by the Legislature.

(3) In instances where a county is unable to collect property taxes from a taxpayer during the pendency of any court proceeding, the allocated state aid share shall be the county's basic foundation program minus the local share as computed under section 11 of this article, plus the amount the county is unable to collect as a result of the pending court proceedings as certified by the Tax Commissioner: Provided, That the county is required to reimburse the amount of allocated state aid share attributable to the amount of property tax it later receives upon completion of court proceedings, which shall be paid into the General Revenue Fund of the state: Provided, however, That said adjustment shall not be made or shall only be made proportionately when the Legislature fails to fund or funds only in part the public school basic foundation support plan state share at a level sufficient to cover the reduction in state share: Provided further, That nothing herein provided shall be construed to require or mandate any level of funding by the Legislature.

(c) The allocated state aid share shall be adjusted in any county receiving payments or contributions in lieu of property taxes. In instances where a county receives payments or contributions in lieu of property taxes, the allocated state aid share shall be the county's basic foundation program minus the local share as computed under §18-9A-11 of this code, plus any amounts added pursuant to §18-9A-11(b) of this code minus the payments or contributions in lieu of property taxes which are distributed by the sheriff to the county board of education. In determining the amount of such contribution or payment in lieu of taxes, each county commission shall provide to the State Tax Commissioner, by January 1 of each year, the total amount of such payments or contributions paid to the county and the proportion of the total amount that has been or will be distributed to the county board of education. The State Tax Commissioner then shall provide the state board, by January 15 of each year, a certified listing of those counties in which an adjustment pursuant to this section shall be made, together with the amount of revenue which will be available to each county board in the ensuing fiscal year as a result of contribution or payment in lieu of taxes.

(d) Total basic state aid to the county shall be the computed state share of basic foundation support. After such computation is completed, the state board shall immediately certify to each county board the amount of state aid allocated to the county for that fiscal year, subject to any qualifying provisions of this article.

(e) The increase or decrease of state funding to any particular county as computed under this section may not exceed two percent of the amount the county received the prior year.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to limit the increase or decrease of state school funding to any county to 2 percent of what the funding was the previous year.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.