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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESFifty-fifth Legislature First Regular Session |
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HB 2179: new school facilities; additional funding
S/E new school facilities; base costs
Sponsor: Representative Udall, LD 25
Committee on Education
Summary of the Strike-Everything Amendment to HB 2179
Overview
Permits the School Facilities Board (SFB) to modify the base costs per square foot for particular school districts who are defined as a state-aid dependent district when distributing monies from the New School Facilities (NSF) Fund.
History
SFB is instructed by statute to administer the NSF Fund and distribute monies to school districts to construct new school facilities and for permitted contracted expenses. School districts must submit enrollment projections to SFB that are then used to justify disbursements for schools to meet the minimum school facility adequacy requirements.
If an enrollment projection indicates that additional space or a new school facility will be needed to meet the minimum school facility adequacy requirements, statute outlines formulas SFB must follow when determining the amounts to provide to eligible school districts. Currently, SFB may only modify the statutory base costs per square foot for additional space or a new school facility for particular schools based on geographic or site conditions (A.R.S. 15-2041).
SFB is required to adopt rules establishing minimum school facility guidelines. These guidelines provide the minimum quality and quantity of school buildings, facilities and equipment necessary for students to achieve academic standards. These guidelines are detailed in SFB's rules (A.A.C. Title 7, Chapter 6, Article 2).
Equalization assistance is the amount of money that the state provides to school districts when the qualifying tax rate (QTR) (a school district's local property tax levy) and the state equalization tax rate (SETR) are inadequate to fully fund a district's equalization base (the district's spending limit). If the QTR is sufficient to cover the equalization base, a school district does not receive equalization assistance. However, if the equalization base is greater than the amount generated by the QTR, the district first receives funds generated by the SETR. If the SETR is insufficient to cover the remaining equalization base amount, the school district will receive Basic State Aid which is funded through the state General Fund (A.R.S. 15-971).
Provisions
1. Allows SFB to modify the base cost per square foot, when providing NSF Fund monies to a school district eligible for funding for additional space or for new school buildings, only for particular schools and for the following reasons:
a) Geographic or site conditions; or
b) The cost per square foot of funding is inadequate to cover the total contracted costs of the new school construction and the school district is a state-aid dependent district. (Sec. 1)
2. Prohibits SFB, when modifying the base cost per square foot under the specified circumstances, from increasing the cost per square foot above the amount necessary to meet the minimum school facility adequacy guidelines. (Sec. 1)
3. Defines state-aid dependent district as a district that:
a) Is eligible for state aid for equalization assistance equal to 90% or more of its equalization assistance for education; and
b) Has a secondary net assessed value per pupil of less than $100,000. (Sec. 1)
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HB 2179
Initials CH Page 0 Education
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