H. B. 2300
(By Delegates Douglas, Hutchins, Miller, Osborne,
Anderson, Doyle and Leach)
[Introduced January 31, 1995; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article nine-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to county
basic foundation programs; adjustments; county tax credits;
county tax collection; county receiving payments or
contributions in lieu of property taxes; support
predispositional detention centers; and state board
certification of state aid.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
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 ten of this article. On the first working
day of July in 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 section eleven of this
article except as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
(b) The allocated state aid share shall be adjusted in the
following circumstances in the following manner: Provided, That
prior to such the adjustment, the state tax commissioner shall
provide the state board, by the fifteenth day of January of each
year, a certified listing of those counties in which such the
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 section eleven of this article is not reflective of local
funds available because the county is under a final court order
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 section eleven
of this article, plus the amount of property tax the county is
unable to collect or must refund due to the final court order:
Provided, That said the adjustment shall may 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 may be construed to require or mandate any level of funding
by the Legislature.
(2) In those instances where the local share as computed
under section eleven of this article 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 the adjustment shall may 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 may 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 eleven 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 shall 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 the adjustment shall may 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 section eleven of this article,
plus any amounts added pursuant to subsection (b) of this section
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 the contribution or payment in lieu of taxes, each county commission shall provide to
the state tax commissioner, by the first day of January of each
year, the total amount of such the 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 then provide the state
board, by the fifteenth day of January 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) The allocated state aid share shall be adjusted to
support the education programs provided by the county boards
responsible for the education of juveniles placed in the state's
predispositional detention centers. These counties shall receive
an amount equal to the previous year's per pupil expenditure for
instruction for the maximum number of pupils that can be served
at any one time.
(d) (e) Total basic state aid to the county shall be the
computed state share of basic foundation support. After such the
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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to adjust the school aid
formula to allocate funding to county school districts which
provide educational services in predispositional detention
centers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.