HCS/SCS/SB 1170 – This act creates the Rebuild Missouri Schools Program. The State Board of Education will distribute no-interest funding to school districts that have had one or more school facility severely damaged or destroyed due to an act of God or extreme weather event as described in the act. Such facilities must be located in an area declared a disaster area by the Governor or President. An eligible school district applying for funding must enter into an agreement with the state board of education that specifies the following: the funding will only be used for the costs of an emergency project under the act; the school district will pay no interest for the funding; the school district must repay, subject to annual appropriation, the amount of the funding in annual installments, not more than twenty years from the date the funding is received by the school district; any repayment by the school district is annually subject to appropriation, which may be from the district's incidental fund or capital projects fund; and a pledge to the State Board of Education from the district of the use and occupancy of the school facilities that constitute the emergency project for a period ending not earlier than the date the repayment will be completed.
An eligible school district must repay the funding over a twenty-year period pursuant to an annual appropriation by the school district for repayment. Any funding awarded by the State Board of Education cannot exceed the cost of the emergency project minus the amount of any insurance proceeds or other moneys received. If a school district receives any insurance proceeds or other moneys after receiving funding, it must pay to the state board of education the amount by which the sum of the funding under the program plus insurance proceeds and other moneys exceeds the cost of the project as described in the act. If the Rebuild Missouri Schools Fund is no longer in existence, a school district must pay any payments into the General Revenue Fund.
Funding provided under this act, and a repayment obligation, will not be considered a constitutional or statutory debt limitation applicable to a school district.
The State Board of Education must promulgate rules and regulations but must not do so in a way to exclude a public school district that received severe damage after April 1, 2006 from participating in the program.
The provisions of this section will expire in six years unless reauthorized.
This section contains an emergency clause. (Section 160.459)
LEASE-PURCHASE AGREEMENTS: Current law places a twenty-year limitation on lease-purchase agreements on the boards of educational institutions. This act increases the statutory limitation from twenty years to twenty-five years. (Section 177.088)
MICHAEL RUFF