HLS 19RS-197 ORIGINAL
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 393
BY REPRESENTATIVE LEGER
Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana.
SCHOOLS/FINANCE: Provides relative to the school facilities preservation and
systemwide needs programs in certain school districts
1 AN ACT
2To amend and reenact R.S. 17:100.11 and to enact R.S. 17:100.12, relative to school
3 facilities and needs in certain school districts; to provide relative to funds dedicated
4 to providing, preserving, and improving school facilities; to provide for the
5 systemwide needs program and for the purposes, funding, and operation of such
6 program; and to provide for related matters.
7Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
8 Section 1. R.S. 17:100.11 is hereby amended and reenacted and R.S. 17:100.12 is
9hereby enacted to read as follows:
10 §100.11. School facilities preservation; certain districts
11 A.(1) There is hereby established for each school district as defined in
12 Subsection H of this Section a school facilities preservation program. The program
13 shall be funded, structured, and operated as provided in this Section and policies
14 adopted by the school board in accordance with this Section.
15 (2) Proceeds of the following taxes, hereafter referred to in this Section as
16 "facility funds", shall be used to fund the school facilities preservation program:
17 (a) The proceeds of local sales taxes at a rate equivalent to the rate being
18 used as of July 1, 2014, by the school board to pay school facility debt of thirteen-
19 hundredths percent. However, from these proceeds the school board shall continue
20 to make payments for school facility debt that existed on July 1, 2014, until the debt
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1 is fully paid. Upon payment of such debt, all of the proceeds of the local sales tax
2 dedicated by this Subparagraph shall be used for purposes of this Section.
3 (b) The proceeds from property taxes dedicated to capital outlay and
4 authorized by voters after July 1, 2014, to support the purposes of this Section.
5 (3) The proceeds of property taxes dedicated by voters for payment of bonds
6 held by the school board and in existence as of July 1, 2014, shall not be considered
7 and not otherwise administered as facility funds under the provisions of this Section.
8 Additionally, the school board shall not refinance bonds that are outstanding on
9 July 1, 2014, nor shall it take any action that would delay the retirement of such
10 bonds. It is the intention of this Paragraph that such bonds be paid in full no later
11 than the dates specified by the payment schedule in existence on July 1, 2014.
12 B. Each year, the school board shall transfer to the Recovery School District
13 a proportion of facility funds equal to the proportion of students attending school on
14 campuses that are in the school district and that are controlled by the Recovery
15 School District to the total number of students attending school on campuses that are
16 in the school district and that are controlled by either the school board or the
17 Recovery School District, based on the February first total student enrollment counts.
18 The amounts, by source, of facility funds, revolving loan fund funds, and capital
19 improvement fund funds the amount retained by the school board, the amount
20 transferred to the Recovery School District, and the per campus student counts used
21 in calculations pursuant to this Subsection shall be included as a schedule to the
22 annual financial statements of the school board, audited by its certified public
23 accountant, and submitted to the state Department of Education, all in a manner
24 substantially similar to that provided in R.S. 17:1990(C)(2)(a)(iii)(dd).
25 C.(1) The operator of each school in the school district shall maintain a
26 school facility repair and replacement account for each campus; such accounts are
27 referred to in this Section as "school facility accounts".
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1 (2) Beginning with the year following the retirement of all bonds referenced
2 in Paragraph (A)(3) of this Section, the school board shall annually deposit into each
3 school facility account amounts as follows:
4 (a) Eight hundred dollars per student for a school that is in a facility that was
5 constructed prior to September 1, 2005, and that has not received a renovation
6 exceeding half the value of the facility's replacement cost since that date.
7 (b) Five hundred dollars per student for a school that does not meet the
8 criteria established in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph.
9 (3) Except as provided in Paragraph (7) of this Subsection, the school facility
10 accounts shall be segregated, and funds therein shall not be commingled with other
11 school funds. Funds in such an account shall be used only for the benefit of the
12 campus for which it was established. The school board shall adopt investment
13 policies governing school facility accounts. The provisions of R.S. 33:2955 and R.S.
14 49:321 are applicable to such accounts. Investment and interest earnings generated
15 on funds in a school facility account shall be credited to the account and shall not be
16 transferred to another account or used for purposes other than those allowable for
17 funds in the school facility account. A school facility account shall be audited
18 annually in accordance with monitoring policies developed by the school board,
19 which shall include verification that the proper amounts were deposited into the
20 school facility account and invested and used according to law and policy.
21 (4) The funds in the school facility account may be used only for the costs
22 of capital repairs, improvements, and replacement, including debt service and other
23 financing costs associated therewith. All expenditures shall be in accordance with
24 law and policies developed by the school board. The school board shall develop
25 policies defining an emergency and the protocol a school must follow in expending
26 funds in the school facility account for emergency repairs. Expenditures for planned
27 capital repairs, improvements, and replacements and finance costs associated with
28 such expenditures shall be approved in advance by the charter school's board if the
29 school is a charter school and the school board. Expenditures for planned capital
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1 repairs and replacements shall reflect the appropriate priorities as reflected in the
2 school's long-term capital plan developed pursuant to Paragraph (5) of this
3 Subsection.
4 (5) The school board and each school shall develop, for each campus, a long-
5 term capital plan that meets minimum requirements established by the school board.
6 Such plans shall include but need not be limited to identifying key building
7 components and when they will likely need to be repaired or replaced and the
8 estimated cost of doing so.
9 (6) A school shall comply with all applicable school board policies regarding
10 projects funded through its school facility account including but not limited to
11 disadvantaged business enterprises policies.
12 (7) A charter operator may make a loan to a school facility account. The
13 loan shall be made only from excess fund balances or other funds not designated for
14 instructional purposes from the school holding the school facility account or another
15 school under the same operator. All such loans shall be interest-free. If the school
16 tenant of a campus with an outstanding loan to the school facility account changes,
17 the new school tenant must pay back the loan under the same terms as the prior
18 tenant. If a school is lending money to the school facility account, the loan can be
19 repaid with funds from the school facility account, just as if the school had borrowed
20 money from the revolving loan fund, as provided for in Subsection F of this Section.
21 (8) If a school does not follow the legal and policy requirements for the
22 school facility account, the school board may suspend or terminate a school's
23 authority to use and control the funds in the school facility account. Prior to any
24 such action, the school board shall give formal notice to the school and provide an
25 opportunity for it to remedy the deficiency, all in accordance with policies governing
26 such procedures.
27 (9) Funds in a school facility account are the property of the school board.
28 A school facility account is campus-specific and remains with the campus should the
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1 school tenant of the campus change or should the school tenant no longer occupy the
2 campus.
3 C.(1) D.(1) The school board and the Recovery School District shall each
4 create a facilities office. From annual facility funds each receives, it shall use fifteen
5 twenty dollars per pupil attending school at a campus it controls in the school district
6 or whatever lesser amount is available after payments pursuant to Subsection C of
7 this Section to fund the facilities office. The school board and the Recovery School
8 District may adjust this per pupil amount on an annual basis by the lesser of the most
9 recent annual increase in the Consumer Price Index published by the United States
10 Department of Labor or in the minimum foundation program funds.
11 (2) To the extent that facility funds are available pursuant to Paragraph (1)
12 of this Subsection, the facilities office shall perform the following functions:
13 (a) Inspect and monitor facilities to ensure that they are being maintained
14 and that each campus is in compliance with maintenance and inspection
15 requirements. If a school is not properly maintaining its campus as required in the
16 lease agreement, the remedies available to the school board or Recovery School
17 District as applicable are to may suspend or terminate use of the school facility
18 account funds as provided in Paragraph (F)(10) (C)(8) of this Section or to perform
19 necessary maintenance, repair, or replacement work and charge the school the costs
20 of such work plus a service fee. Prior to performing any such work, the school board
21 or Recovery School District shall give formal notice to the school and provide an
22 opportunity for it to remedy the deficiency, all in accordance with policies governing
23 such procedures.
24 (b) Manage building leases, handle emergency repairs, and administer the
25 revolving facility loan fund, the capital improvement fund, and school facility repair
26 and replacement accounts, all as provided for by this Section, and assist schools in
27 the development of capital improvement plans as provided for in Paragraph (C)(5)
28 of this Section.
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1 (3) The facilities office may provide additional facility services to charter
2 schools, including emergency and capital repairs or replacements, procurement
3 services, and technical assistance, and charge fees for such services pursuant to a
4 written agreement with the school.
5 D. E.(1) Until all bonds referenced in Paragraph (A)(3) of this Section are
6 retired, the school board and the Recovery School District shall use facility funds
7 remaining after the allocation provided for in Subsection C D of this Section for
8 emergency repairs and replacements in accordance with policies each it adopts for
9 such purpose and for providing assistance to schools in the development of their
10 capital plans as provided for in Paragraph (C)(5) of this Section.
11 (2) In the school year following the retirement of such bonds, except as
12 provided in Paragraph (3) of this Subsection, the school board and the Recovery
13 School District shall transfer unused funds received pursuant to this Subsection
14 remaining facility funds to its respective the revolving loan fund, as is provided for
15 in Subsection E F of this Section, and to the capital improvement fund as is provided
16 for in Subsection G of this Section, according to the following allocation schedule:
17 (a) If the revolving loan fund is funded at less than fifty million dollars, all
18 such funds shall be deposited into the revolving loan fund.
19 (b) If the revolving loan fund is funded at fifty million dollars or more but
20 less than seventy-five million dollars, half of such funds shall be deposited to the
21 revolving loan fund and half to the capital improvement fund.
22 (c) If the revolving loan fund is funded at seventy-five million dollars or
23 more, twenty-five percent of such funds shall be deposited to the revolving loan fund
24 and seventy-five percent to the capital improvement fund.
25 (3) If the school board has borrowed money to make emergency repairs, all
26 such funds shall be used to repay any outstanding debt incurred for such purpose..
27 E.(1) F.(1) The school board and the Recovery School District shall each
28 establish a revolving loan fund and make loans from the fund to schools that are in
29 campuses controlled by each respectively it controls and that are in the school district
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1 to finance emergency or planned capital repairs and replacements, all in accordance
2 with this Subsection.
3 (2) Beginning with the year following the retirement of bonds referenced in
4 Paragraph (A)(3) of this Section and continuing for twenty years, the school board
5 and the Recovery School District shall annually deposit facility funds available, after
6 funds are allocated to the facilities office as provided in Subsection C of this Section
7 and in the amount established by this Paragraph or whatever lesser amount is
8 available, into its respective revolving loan fund. The annual amount to be deposited
9 by the school board or the Recovery School District shall be the sum of all per
10 campus contributions. A per campus contribution shall be one hundred fifty dollars
11 per student attending school at that campus or seventeen percent of the per-campus
12 share of facility funds, whichever is greater, if the school is in a facility that was
13 constructed prior to September 1, 2005, and that has not received a renovation
14 exceeding half the value of the facility's replacement cost since that date, or three
15 hundred dollars per student attending school at that campus or thirty-five percent of
16 the per-campus share of facility funds, whichever is greater, for all other schools.
17 The "replacement cost" of a facility that was constructed prior to September 1, 2005,
18 means the replacement cost of the facility as of July 1, 2014.
19 (3) The school board and the Recovery School District shall each establish
20 policies governing the following: eligible repairs and replacements, how schools are
21 to handle emergency repairs, approval of loan applications, maintenance of a
22 minimum balance in the loan fund, priorities for granting loans, and any other aspect
23 of administering the loan fund and loans made from it.
24 (4) (3) A school shall be eligible for a loan only if the balance in its school
25 facility account is below seventy-five thousand dollars. However, if a school will
26 use funds from the school facility account to fund a portion of a repair or
27 replacement project, it may receive a loan for that project if its budgeted
28 expenditures for the project will result in a balance in its school facility account
29 below seventy-five thousand dollars.
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1 (5) (4) A loan application from a charter school shall be approved by the
2 charter school's board prior to submission to the school board or the Recovery
3 School District, whichever entity controls the campus, for approval.
4 (6) (5) Loans shall be interest-free; however, the school board and the
5 Recovery School District may charge a loan origination fee not exceeding five
6 percent of the value of the loan or thirty thousand dollars per loan, whichever is less.
7 (7) (6) Schools shall repay loans in accordance with the terms of the loan
8 agreement from funds to be deposited to its school facility account, as provided for
9 in Subsection F C of this Section.
10 (8) (7) No school may use proceeds of a loan for operating expenses,
11 maintenance, or insurance costs.
12 (9) (8) If a school vacates a campus for which a loan is outstanding and
13 another school becomes the tenant in that campus, the new school shall assume the
14 debt.
15 F.(1) The operator of each school in the school district shall establish and
16 maintain a school facility repair and replacement account for each campus; such
17 accounts are referred to in this Section as "school facility accounts".
18 (2) Beginning with the year following the retirement of all bonds referenced
19 in Paragraph (A)(3) of this Section, the school board and the Recovery School
20 District shall annually deposit into each school facility account the per-campus share
21 of facility funds less any portion of such funds deposited, in accordance with
22 Subsection E of this Section, into the revolving loan fund.
23 (3) Except as provided in Paragraph (9) of this Subsection, the school facility
24 accounts shall be segregated, and funds therein shall not be commingled with other
25 school funds. Funds in such an account shall be used only for the benefit of the
26 campus for which it was established. The school board and Recovery School District
27 shall each adopt investment policies governing school facility accounts. The
28 provisions of R.S. 33:2955 and R.S. 49:321 are applicable to such accounts.
29 Investment and interest earnings generated on funds in a school facility account shall
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1 be credited to the account and shall not be transferred to another account or used for
2 purposes other than those allowable for funds in the school facility account. A
3 school facility account shall be audited annually in accordance with monitoring
4 policies developed by the school board and the Recovery School District, which shall
5 include verification that the proper amounts were deposited into the school facility
6 account and invested and used according to law and policy.
7 (4) The funds in the school facility account may be used only for emergency
8 or planned capital repairs and replacements as outlined in law and in policies
9 developed by the school board and the Recovery School District.
10 (5) Each school shall develop, for each campus, a long-term capital plan that
11 meets minimum requirements established by the school board or Recovery School
12 District as applicable. Such plans shall include but need not be limited to identifying
13 key building components and when they will likely need to be repaired or replaced
14 and the estimated cost of doing so.
15 (6) Nonemergency expenditures from the school facility account shall be
16 approved in advance by the charter school's board if the school is a charter school,
17 and the school board or Recovery School District, as applicable, and shall reflect the
18 appropriate priorities as reflected in the school's long-term capital plan developed
19 pursuant to Paragraph (5) of this Subsection.
20 (7) The school board and the Recovery School District shall each develop
21 policies defining an emergency and the protocol a school must follow in expending
22 funds in the school facility account for emergency repairs.
23 (8) A school shall comply with all applicable school board or Recovery
24 School District policies regarding projects funded through its school facility account
25 including but not limited to disadvantaged business enterprises policies.
26 (9) A charter operator may make a loan to a school facility account. The
27 loan shall be made only from excess fund balances or other funds not designated for
28 instructional purposes from the school holding the school facility account or another
29 school under the same operator. All such loans shall be interest-free. If the school
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1 tenant of a campus with an outstanding loan to the school facility account changes,
2 the new school tenant must pay back the loan under the same terms as the prior
3 tenant. If a school is lending money to the school facility account, the loan can be
4 repaid with funds from the school facility account, just as if the school had borrowed
5 money from the revolving loan fund, as provided for in Subsection E of this Section.
6 (10) If a school does not follow the legal and policy requirements for the
7 school facility account, the remedy available to the school board or Recovery School
8 District as applicable is to suspend or terminate a school's authority to use and
9 control the funds in the school facility account. Prior to any such action, the school
10 board or Recovery School District shall give formal notice to the school and provide
11 an opportunity for it to remedy the deficiency, all in accordance with policies
12 governing such procedures.
13 (11) Funds in a school facility account are the property of the school board
14 or the Recovery School District, whichever entity controls the campus. A school
15 facility account is campus-specific and remains with the campus should the school
16 tenant of the campus change or should the school tenant no longer occupy the
17 campus.
18 G.(1) The school board shall establish a capital improvement fund and make
19 grants from the fund to schools that are in campuses that it controls and that are in
20 the school district to finance preservation, improvements, capital repairs,
21 construction, and replacement of facilities that were constructed prior to
22 September 1, 2005, and that have not received a renovation exceeding half the value
23 of the facility's replacement cost since that date, all in accordance with this
24 Subsection.
25 (2) The school board shall adopt polices and procedures governing the
26 expenditure of money in the capital improvement fund, including policies setting
27 criteria for determining when grants are made from the fund. The superintendent
28 shall administer the fund in accordance with such policies and make annual reports
29 to the school board on fund activity.
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1 (3) The school board shall establish policies defining the maximum grant for
2 a single project.
3 H.(1) The Neither the school board nor the Recovery School District shall
4 not charge rent or any other fee to a charter school in the school district for the
5 occupancy, use, or repair of a campus it controls other than as authorized by this
6 Section. The Recovery School District or the school board may, however, require
7 a charter school to pay for maintenance, insurance, utilities, and other costs related
8 to the operation and upkeep of a campus, as outlined in the lease agreement for
9 occupancy of the campus. Except as provided in this Paragraph, this Section does
10 not authorize a school board or the Recovery School District to require a charter
11 school to expend funds on emergency or planned capital repairs or replacements in
12 excess of funds available for such purposes pursuant to this Section.
13 (2) The school board and the Recovery School District shall annually prepare
14 and issue a public report that includes all of the following: the amount of funds in
15 its respective the revolving facility loan fund and all loans made therefrom, the
16 amount of funds in the capital improvement fund and all grants made therefrom, the
17 amount of facility funds distributed to each campus by the Recovery School District
18 or the school board, the amount allocated to fund the respective facility office of
19 each, and the cost and type of each emergency repair made by the facilities office if
20 applicable. The Recovery School District shall submit its report to the State Board
21 of Elementary and Secondary Education.
22 (3) This Section shall not be construed as a limitation on any authority or
23 responsibility of a school board to seek or to expend funds on facility repairs,
24 replacements, and improvements as otherwise provided by law including but not
25 limited to the provisions of R.S. 17:59, 17:81, and 17:98.
26 H. I. For purposes of this Section, the following terms shall have the
27 meaning ascribed:
28 (1) "Campus" means a school building owned by the school board and
29 controlled by either the school board or the Recovery School District and all
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1 facilities otherwise part of the school, recognized as part of the facilities, and
2 typically available to the school, its students, faculty, and staff. A single campus
3 may include more than one neighboring school building. Generally, a single campus
4 includes all facilities sharing a single legal address. In some cases, more than one
5 school may occupy a single campus, and in other cases, a single school may occupy
6 more than one campus.
7 (2) "Per campus share of facility funds" means an amount calculated
8 annually by dividing the annual amount of facility funds of the school board or
9 Recovery School District, less amounts allocated to the respective facilities office,
10 by the total number of students attending school on campuses controlled by the
11 school board or the Recovery School District as applicable multiplied by the number
12 of students attending school at the particular campus as of the most recent February
13 first total student enrollment counts.
14 (3) "School" means any public school with a unique site code assigned by
15 the department.
16 (4) (3) "School board" means the elected school board that governs schools
17 in a school district.
18 (5) (4) "School district" means all schools within the geographic jurisdiction
19 of a local school board within which schools have been transferred to the Recovery
20 School District pursuant to R.S. 17:10.7.
21 I.(1) Prior to July 1, 2017, the provisions of this Section shall be
22 implemented in accordance with a plan or agreement between the school board and
23 the Recovery School District.
24 (2) Beginning on July 1, 2017, the provisions of this Section shall be
25 implemented in accordance with the plan approved pursuant to R.S. 17:10.7.1.
26 §100.12. Systemwide needs program
27 A.(1) There is hereby established for each school district as defined in R.S.
28 17:100.11(I) a systemwide needs program. The program shall be funded, structured,
29 and operated as provided in this Section and polices adopted by the school board.
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1 (2) The purpose of the program is to direct initiatives that will result in
2 districtwide improvements in areas that cannot be addressed efficiently or effectively
3 at the school level. Such initiatives may include teacher recruitment, teacher
4 preparation, professional development shared among schools, and non-recurring
5 costs related to improving instructional materials and the use of such materials.
6 B. The school district shall create a special fund for the purpose of
7 dedicating money to the program. The district shall annually deposit into the fund
8 one hundred twenty dollars per student in the district less the district's expenditures
9 that year for costs identified in RS 17:1990(C)(2)(a)(iii)(aa)(I) through (IV).
10 Expenditures may be made from the fund by the district superintendent only to
11 implement a plan for improvement in one or more particular areas of focus as
12 provided in this Section.
13 C. The superintendent shall:
14 (1) Develop and propose plans for improvement in particular areas of focus.
15 The superintendent shall develop such plans in collaboration with school leaders in
16 the school district as more specifically provided by school board policy.
17 (2) Include related performance objectives and a proposed level of funding
18 in any plan for improvement in an area of focus.
19 (3) Submit such plans to the school board for approval. The superintendent
20 shall demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the school board, that an area of focus will
21 impact at least fifty percent of the public school students or fifty percent of the public
22 schools over the course of the funding cycle for the area of focus.
23 (4) Consider how the expenditures from the fund could be coordinated with
24 other funds in order to increase the effectiveness of the program.
25 (5) Annually report to the school board on the performance objectives and
26 the expenditure of funds for the program.
27 D. The school board may approve a plan and appropriate expenditures from
28 the fund therefor. An approved area of focus shall be funded for a period of not less
29 than three years based on cost estimates developed by the superintendent.
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1 E.(1) The superintendent shall implement an approved plan by awarding
2 funds through a competitive process. Funds may be awarded to:
3 (a) A school for the purpose of procuring materials or services from district-
4 approved organizations or vendors.
5 (b) An organization or vendor that either provides services directly to
6 schools, educators, or students or coordinates support by providing subgrants to
7 schools or contracting with organizations to provide goods or services to schools,
8 educators, or students, or any combination thereof.
9 (2) An applicant for funds shall demonstrate how the proposed good or
10 service will contribute to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the approved
11 plan.
12 (3) An applicant for funds shall demonstrate that at least twenty-five percent
13 of the funds it will expend to achieve its proposal are from sources other than this
14 program.
15 (4) Funding applications shall be approved according to school board policy.
16 No expenditure shall be made from the fund except as provided in this Subsection.
17 No expenditure of funds shall be made in excess of the amount approved by the
18 school board for a particular area of focus.
19 Section 2. Nothing in R.S. 17:100.11 as amended by this Act shall be construed to
20mitigate the applicability of R.S. 17:3995(A)(1)(c).
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 393 Original 2019 Regular Session Leger
Abstract: Provides relative to the school facilities preservation and the systemwide needs
programs in certain public school districts.
Present law establishes a school facilities preservation program in school districts in which
failing schools were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Recovery School District (RSD)
in accordance with a specified provision of present law. Proposed law retains present law.
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Present law provides that the provisions for the school facilities preservation program apply
to both the applicable school board and to the RSD. Proposed law removes references to the
RSD from present law.
Present law provides for dedication of certain local tax revenues to the purposes of the
program; those tax revenues are referred to in this digest as "facility funds" and are the
proceeds of:
(1)Sales taxes at a rate equivalent to the rate being used as of July 1, 2014, by the school
board to pay school facility debt.
(2)Property taxes dedicated to capital outlay and authorized by voters after July 1, 2014,
to support the purposes of present law.
Proposed law changes the amount of sales tax dedicated to the program to .13%. Requires
continued use of a portion of such funds to pay school facility debt, in the same amounts
being paid on July 1, 2014, until such debt is retired. Otherwise retains present law.
Present law prohibits the school board from refinancing or delaying repayment of bonds that
are outstanding on July 1, 2014. Proposed law retains present law.
Facilities Office
Present law requires the school board to create a facilities office. Dedicates $15 per pupil
to funding the office. Proposed law changes the per pupil amount to $20.
Present law provides that to the extent such funds are available, the facilities office shall:
(1)Inspect and monitor facilities to ensure that they are being maintained and that each
campus is in compliance with maintenance and inspection requirements. Provides
remedies available if a school is not properly maintained.
(2)Manage building leases, handle emergency repairs, and administer the revolving
facility loan fund and school facility repair and replacement accounts.
Proposed law further requires the office to manage the capital improvement funds created
by proposed law (described below) and to assist schools in the development of capital plans
which are required by proposed law.
Present law authorizes a facilities office to provide additional facilities services to charter
schools, including emergency and capital repairs or replacements, procurement services, and
technical assistance, and to charge fees for such services pursuant to a written agreement
with the school. Proposed law retains present law.
Present law and proposed law provide for different priorities in uses of facility funds during
the period prior to the retirement of bonds of the school board that are outstanding on July 1,
2014, and the period after retirement of such bonds. Present law provides that funding the
facilities office (described immediately above) is the highest priority on the use of facility
funds. Proposed law retains this priority until bonds are retired, after which the school
facilities accounts (described immediately below) become the highest priority.
School Facilities Accounts
Present law requires the operator of each school to maintain a school facility repair and
replacement account (school facilities account) for each campus.
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Present law provides that facility funds remaining after all other priorities are funded are
used for school facilities accounts. Proposed law provides instead that the following
amounts shall be deposited annually into these accounts:
(1)$800 per student for a school in a facility that was constructed prior to Sept. 1, 2005,
and that has not received a renovation exceeding half the value of the facility's
replacement cost since that date.
(2)$500 per student for other schools.
Present law provides further with respect to such accounts and the use of the funds in them.
Authorizes use of funds in such accounts for capital repairs and replacements. Proposed law
authorizes use of funds in such accounts for capital repairs, improvements, and replacement,
including debt service and other financing costs associated therewith.
Revolving Loan Fund
Present law requires the school board to establish a revolving loan fund and make loans from
the fund to schools to finance capital repairs and replacements. Provides further with respect
to the loan fund and loans made from it.
Present law requires annual deposits of facility funds to the revolving loan funds for 20 years
following the retirement of the bonds outstanding on July 1, 2014. Provides for a per
campus amount or per campus share of facility funds to be deposited. Per campus amounts
and shares differ for schools that were constructed prior to Sept. 1, 2005, and that have not
received a renovation exceeding half the value of the facility's replacement cost since that
date and all other schools. Proposed law removes present law.
Proposed law provides as follows with respect to the funding of the revolving loan fund
(described immediately above) and the capital improvements fund (described immediately
below) from facility funds remaining after funds are provided for the facilities office and the
school facility accounts:
(1)If the revolving loan fund is funded at less than $50 million, all remaining funds
shall be deposited into the revolving loan fund.
(2)If the revolving loan fund is funded at $50 million or more but less than $75 million,
half of such funds shall be deposited to the revolving loan fund and half to the capital
improvement fund.
(3)If the revolving loan fund is funded at $75 million or more, 25% of remaining funds
shall be deposited to the revolving loan fund and 75% to the capital improvement
fund.
Capital Improvement Fund
Proposed law requires the school board to establish the capital improvement fund from
which it may make grants to schools to finance preservation, improvements, capital repairs,
construction, and replacement of facilities that were constructed prior to September 1, 2005,
and that have not received a renovation exceeding half the value of the facility's replacement
cost since that date. Requires the school board to adopt polices and procedures governing
the expenditure of money in the fund. Requires the superintendent to administer the fund in
accordance with such policies and make annual reports to the school board on fund activity.
Systemwide Needs Program
Proposed law establishes a systemwide needs program in school districts in which failing
schools were transferred to the jurisdiction of the RSD to direct initiatives that will result in
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districtwide improvements in areas that cannot be addressed efficiently or effectively at the
school level.
Requires the school district to create a special fund to dedicate money to the program.
Provides for the annual deposit into the fund of $120 per student in the district less the
district's expenditures that year for costs identified in present law (relative to certain legacy
expenses). Limits expenditures from the fund by the district superintendent only to
implement a plan for improvement in one or more particular areas of focus. Requires the
district superintendent to submit such plans to the school board for approval.
Provides that funds to implement plans approved by the school board shall be awarded,
through a competitive process, to schools to procure materials or services from district-
approved organizations or vendors and to organizations or vendors that either provide
services directly to schools, educators, or students or coordinate support by providing
subgrants to schools or contracting with organizations to provide goods or services to
schools, educators, or students, or any combination thereof.
Provides that funding applications shall be approved according to school board policy.
Prohibits expenditures from the fund except as provided in proposed law. Prohibits
expenditures from the fund in excess of the amount approved by the school board for a
particular area of focus.
(Amends R.S. 17:100.11; Adds R.S. 17:100.12)
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