ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 532
(By Senators Craigo, Jackson and Wooton)
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported April 1, 1997.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article nine-d,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the school
building authority; and empowering the authority to administer
all federal funds provided for the construction and major
improvement of school facilities.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, article nine-d, 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 9D. SCHOOL BUILDING AUTHORITY.
§18-9D-15. Legislative intent; distribution of money.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to empower the school
building authority to facilitate and provide state funds
and to administer all federal funds provided for the construction and
major improvement of school facilities so as to meet the
educational needs of the people of this state in an efficient and
economical manner. The authority shall make funding determinations
in accordance with the provisions of this article and shall assess
existing school facilities and each facility's school major
improvement plan in relation to the needs of the individual
student, the general school population, the communities served by
the facilities and facility needs statewide.
(b) An amount that is no more than three percent of the sum of
moneys that are determined by the authority to be available for
distribution during the then current fiscal year from: (1) Moneys
paid into the school building capital improvements fund pursuant to
section ten, article nine-a of this chapter; (2) the issuance of
revenue bonds for which moneys in the school building debt service
fund are pledged as security; (3) moneys paid into the school
construction fund pursuant to section six of this article; and (4)
any other moneys received by the authority, except moneys paid into
the school major improvement fund pursuant to section six of this
article, may be allocated and may be expended by the authority for
projects that service the educational community statewide or, upon
application by the state board, for educational programs that are
under the jurisdiction of the state board. In addition, upon
application by the state board or the administrative council of an
area vocational educational center established pursuant to article two-b of this chapter, the authority may allocate and expend under
this section moneys for school major improvement projects proposed
by the state board or an administrative council for school
facilities under the direct supervision of the state board or an
administrative council, respectively:
Provided, That the authority
may not expend any moneys for a school major improvement project
proposed by the state board or the administrative council of an
area vocational educational center unless the state board or an
administrative council has submitted a ten-year school major
improvement plan, to be updated annually, pursuant to section
sixteen of this article:
Provided, however, That the authority
shall, before allocating any moneys to the state board or the
administrative council of an area vocational educational center for
a school improvement project, consider all other funding sources
available for the project.
(c) An amount that is no more than two percent of the moneys
that are determined by the authority to be available for
distribution during the current fiscal year from: (1) Moneys paid
into the school building capital improvements fund pursuant to
section ten, article nine-a of this chapter; (2) the issuance of
revenue bonds for which moneys in the school building debt service
fund are pledged as security; (3) moneys paid into the school
construction fund pursuant to section six of this article; and (4)
any other moneys received by the authority, except moneys deposited into the school major improvement fund, shall be set aside by the
authority as an emergency fund to be distributed in accordance with
the guidelines adopted by the
school building authority.
(d) The remaining moneys determined by the authority to be
available for distribution during the then current fiscal year
from: (1) Moneys paid into the school building capital
improvements fund pursuant to section ten, article nine-a of this
chapter; (2) the issuance of revenue bonds for which moneys in the
school building debt service fund are pledged as security; (3)
moneys paid into the school construction fund pursuant to section
six of this article; and (4) any other moneys received by the
authority, except moneys deposited into the school major
improvement fund, shall be allocated and expended on the basis of
need and efficient use of resources, the basis to be determined by
the authority in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen
of this article.
(e) If a county board of education proposes to finance a
project that is approved pursuant to section sixteen of this
article through a lease with an option to purchase leased premises
upon the expiration of the total lease period pursuant to an
investment contract, the authority may allocate no moneys to the
county board in connection with the project:
Provided, That the
authority may transfer moneys to the state board of education,
which, with the authority, shall lend the amount transferred to the county board to be used only for a one-time payment due at the
beginning of the lease term, made for the purpose of reducing
annual lease payments under the investment contract, subject to the
following conditions:
(1) The loan shall be secured in the manner required by the
authority, in consultation with the state board, and shall be
repaid in a period and bear interest at a rate as determined by the
state board and the authority and shall have such terms and
conditions as are required by the authority, all of which shall be
set forth in a loan agreement among the authority, the state board
of education and the county board;
(2) The loan agreement shall provide for the state board and
the authority to defer the payment of principal and interest upon
any loan made to the county board during the term of the investment
contract, and annual renewals of the investment contract, among the
state board, the authority,
such the county board and a lessor:
Provided, That in the event a county board
of education, which has
received a loan from the
state building authority for a one-time
payment at the beginning of the lease term, does not renew the
subject lease annually until performance of the investment contract
in its entirety is completed,
the county board is in default and
the principal of the loan, together with all unpaid interest
accrued to the date of the default, shall at the option of the
authority, in consultation with the state board, become due and payable immediately or subject to renegotiation among the state
board, the authority and the county board:
Provided, however, That
if a county board renews the lease annually through the performance
of the investment contract in its entirety, the county board shall
exercise its option to purchase the leased premises:
Provided
further, That the failure of the county board to make a scheduled
payment pursuant to the investment contract
shall constitute
constitutes an event of default under the loan agreement:
And
provided further, That upon a default by a county board, the
principal of the loan, together with all unpaid interest accrued to
the date of the default, shall at the option of the authority, in
consultation with the state board, become due and payable
immediately or subject to renegotiation among the state board, the
authority and the county board:
And provided further, That if the
loan becomes due and payable immediately, the authority, in
consultation with the state board, shall use all means available
under the loan agreement and law to collect the outstanding
principal balance of the loan, together with all unpaid interest
accrued to the date of payment of the outstanding principal
balance; and
(3) The loan agreement shall provide for the state board and
the authority to forgive all principal and interest of the loan
upon the county board purchasing the leased premises pursuant to
the investment contract and performance of the investment contract in its entirety.
(f) To encourage county boards to proceed promptly with
facilities planning and to prepare for the expenditure of any state
moneys derived from the sources described in this subsection, any
county board failing to expend money within three years of the
allocation to the county board shall forfeit the allocation and
thereafter
shall be is ineligible for further allocations pursuant
to this subsection until the county board is ready to expend funds
in accordance with an approved facilities plan:
Provided, That the
authority may authorize an extension beyond the three-year
forfeiture period not to exceed an additional two years. Any
amount forfeited shall be added to the total funds available in the
school construction fund of the authority for future allocation and
distribution.
(f) (g) The remaining moneys that are determined by the
authority to be available for distribution during the then current
fiscal year from moneys paid into the school major improvement fund
pursuant to section six of this article shall be allocated and
distributed on the basis of need and efficient use of resources,
the basis to be determined by the authority in accordance with the
provisions of section sixteen of this article:
Provided, That the
moneys may not be distributed to any county board that does not
have an approved school major improvement plan or to any county
board that is not prepared to commence expenditures of the funds during the fiscal year in which the moneys are distributed:
Provided, however, That any moneys allocated to a county board and
not distributed to that county board shall be deposited in an
account to the credit of that county board, the principal amount to
remain to the credit of and available to the county board for a
period of two years. Any moneys which are unexpended after a two- year period shall be redistributed on the basis of need from the
school major improvement fund in that fiscal year.
(g) (h) No local matching funds may be required under the
provisions of this section. However, the responsibilities of the
county boards of education to maintain school facilities
shall are
be negated by the provisions of this article.
and therefore, to To
be eligible to receive an allocation of school major improvement
funds from the authority, a county board must have expended in the
previous fiscal year an amount of county moneys equal to or
exceeding the lowest average amount of money included in the county
board's maintenance budget over any three of the previous five
years and must have budgeted an amount equal to or greater than the
average in the current fiscal year:
Provided, That the state board
of education shall promulgate rules relating to county boards'
maintenance budgets, including items which shall be included in the
budgets.
(h) (i) Any county board may use moneys provided by the
authority under this article in conjunction with local funds derived from bonding, special levy or other sources. Distribution
to a county board, or to the state board or the administrative
council of an area vocational educational center pursuant to
subsection (b) of this section, may be in a lump sum or in
accordance with a schedule of payments adopted by the authority
pursuant to
such guidelines
as it shall adopt adopted by the
authority.
(i) (j) Funds in the school construction fund shall first be
transferred and expended as follows:
Any funds deposited in the school construction fund shall be
expended first in accordance with an appropriation by the
Legislature. To the extent that funds are available in the school
construction fund in excess of that amount appropriated in any
fiscal year, the excess funds may be expended in accordance with
the provisions of this article. Any projects which the authority
identified and announced for funding on or before the first day of
August, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, or identified and
announced for funding on or before the thirty-first day of
December, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, shall be funded by
the authority in an amount which is not less than the amount
specified when the project was identified and announced.
(j) (k) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
county boards to explore and consider arrangements with other
counties that may facilitate the highest and best use of all
available funds, which may result in improved transportation arrangements for students, or which otherwise may create
efficiencies for county boards and the students. In order to
address the intent of the Legislature contained in this subsection,
the authority shall grant
such preference to those projects which
involve multi-county arrangements as the authority shall determine
reasonable and proper.