Bill Text: FL S0012 | 2017 | Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: School District Capital Outlay Funding
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-06-09 - Died, not introduced [S0012 Detail]
Download: Florida-2017-S0012-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2017 SB 12-A By Senator Farmer 34-00042-17A 201712A__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to school district capital outlay 3 funding; amending s. 1011.71, F.S.; increasing the 4 millage school boards are authorized to levy for 5 school purposes upon a specified vote; providing 6 requirements for the distribution of such funds to 7 charter schools; amending s. 1013.738, F.S.; 8 conforming a provision to changes made by the act; 9 providing for construction of the act in pari materia 10 with laws enacted during the 2017 Regular Session of 11 the Legislature; providing an effective date. 12 13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 14 15 Section 1. Subsections (2) and (3) of section 1011.71, 16 Florida Statutes, are amended, and subsection (10) is added to 17 that section, to read: 18 1011.71 District school tax.— 19 (2) In addition to the maximum millage levy as provided in 20 subsection (1), each school board may levy not more than 2.01.521 mills against the taxable value for school purposes for district 22 schools, including charter schools at the discretion of the 23 school board. If the school board chooses to raise the millage 24 above 1.5 mills, such a decision must be made by a two-thirds 25 vote of its members. The tax revenues from the levy may be used,26 to fund: 27 (a) New construction and remodeling projects, as set forth 28 in s. 1013.64(3)(b) and (6)(b) and included in the district’s 29 educational plant survey pursuant to s. 1013.31, without regard 30 to prioritization, sites and site improvement or expansion to 31 new sites, existing sites, auxiliary facilities, athletic 32 facilities, or ancillary facilities. 33 (b) Maintenance, renovation, and repair of existing school 34 plants or of leased facilities to correct deficiencies pursuant 35 to s. 1013.15(2). 36 (c) The purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of school buses. 37 (d) The purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of new and 38 replacement equipment; computer hardware, including electronic 39 hardware and other hardware devices necessary for gaining access 40 to or enhancing the use of electronic content and resources or 41 to facilitate the access to and the use of a school district’s 42 digital classrooms plan pursuant to s. 1011.62, excluding 43 software other than the operating system necessary to operate 44 the hardware or device; and enterprise resource software 45 applications that are classified as capital assets in accordance 46 with definitions of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, 47 have a useful life of at least 5 years, and are used to support 48 districtwide administration or state-mandated reporting 49 requirements. 50 (e) Payments for educational facilities and sites due under 51 a lease-purchase agreement entered into by a district school 52 board pursuant to s. 1003.02(1)(f) or s. 1013.15(2), not 53 exceeding, in the aggregate, an amount equal to three-fourths of 54 the proceeds from the millage levied by a district school board 55 pursuant to this subsection. The three-fourths limit is waived 56 for lease-purchase agreements entered into before June 30, 2009, 57 by a district school board pursuant to this paragraph. 58 (f) Payment of loans approved pursuant to ss. 1011.14 and 59 1011.15. 60 (g) Payment of costs directly related to complying with 61 state and federal environmental statutes, rules, and regulations 62 governing school facilities. 63 (h) Payment of costs of leasing relocatable educational 64 facilities, of renting or leasing educational facilities and 65 sites pursuant to s. 1013.15(2), or of renting or leasing 66 buildings or space within existing buildings pursuant to s. 67 1013.15(4). 68 (i) Payment of the cost of school buses when a school 69 district contracts with a private entity to provide student 70 transportation services if the district meets the requirements 71 of this paragraph. 72 1. The district’s contract must require that the private 73 entity purchase, lease-purchase, or lease, and operate and 74 maintain, one or more school buses of a specific type and size 75 that meet the requirements of s. 1006.25. 76 2. Each such school bus must be used for the daily 77 transportation of public school students in the manner required 78 by the school district. 79 3. Annual payment for each such school bus may not exceed 80 10 percent of the purchase price of the state pool bid. 81 4. The proposed expenditure of the funds for this purpose 82 must have been included in the district school board’s notice of 83 proposed tax for school capital outlay as provided in s. 84 200.065(10). 85 (j) Payment of the cost of the opening day collection for 86 the library media center of a new school. 87 (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), if the revenue from 2.0 881.5mills is insufficient to meet the payments due under a 89 lease-purchase agreement entered into before June 30, 2009, by a 90 district school board pursuant to paragraph (2)(e), or to meet 91 other critical district fixed capital outlay needs, the board, 92 in addition to the 2.01.5mills, may levy up to 0.25 mills for 93 fixed capital outlay in lieu of levying an equivalent amount of 94 the discretionary mills for operations as provided in the 95 General Appropriations Act. Millage levied pursuant to this 96 subsection is subject to the provisions of s. 200.065 and, 97 combined with the 2.01.5mills authorized in subsection (2), 98 may not exceed 2.251.75mills. If the district chooses to use 99 up to 0.25 mills for fixed capital outlay, the compression 100 adjustment pursuant to s. 1011.62(5) shall be calculated for the 101 standard discretionary millage that is not eligible for transfer 102 to capital outlay. 103 (10) If a school board chooses to share with charter 104 schools in the school district a portion of the levied millage 105 authorized under subsection (2), all of the following 106 requirements must be met: 107 (a) A charter school’s total capital outlay funding 108 allocation may not exceed one-eighth of the discretionary 109 millage value. 110 (b) The chair of the governing board and the chief 111 administrative officer of the charter school that receives such 112 funds shall annually certify under oath that the funds will be 113 used solely and exclusively for constructing, renovating, or 114 improving charter school facilities that are: 115 1. Owned by a school district, political subdivision of the 116 state, municipality, Florida College System institution, or 117 state university; or 118 2. Owned by an organization, qualified as an exempt 119 organization under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, 120 whose articles of incorporation specify that upon the 121 organization’s dissolution, the subject property will be 122 transferred to a school district, political subdivision of the 123 state, municipality, Florida College System institution, or 124 state university. 125 Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 126 1013.738, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 127 1013.738 High Growth District Capital Outlay Assistance 128 Grant Program.— 129 (2) In order to qualify for a grant, a school district must 130 meet the following criteria: 131 (a) The district must have levied the full 2.01.5mills of 132 nonvoted discretionary capital outlay millage authorized in s. 133 1011.71(2) for each of the past 4 fiscal years. 134 Section 3. If any law amended by this act was also amended 135 by a law enacted during the 2017 Regular Session of the 136 Legislature, such laws shall be construed as if they had been 137 enacted during the same session of the Legislature and full 138 effect shall be given to each if possible. 139 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017, or upon 140 becoming a law, whichever occurs later.