FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 194
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR SINGLETON.
Pre-filed December 29, 1998, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
S0020.03I
AN ACT
To repeal section 165.011, RSMo Supp. 1998, relating to transfers of school funds, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject, with an emergency clause.
Section A. Section 165.011, RSMo Supp. 1998, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 165.011, to read as follows:
165.011. 1. The following funds are created for the accounting of all school moneys: teachers' fund, incidental fund, free textbook fund, capital projects fund and debt service fund. The treasurer of the school district shall open an account for each fund specified in this section, and all moneys received from the county school fund and all moneys derived from taxation for teachers' wages shall be placed to the credit of the teachers' fund. All tuition fees, state moneys received under sections 162.975, RSMo, and 163.031, RSMo, and all other moneys received from the state except as herein provided shall be placed to the credit of the teachers' and incidental funds at the discretion of the district board of education. The portion of state aid received by the district pursuant to section 163.031, RSMo, based upon the portion of the tax rate in the debt service or capital projects [funds] fund, respectively, which is included in the operating levy for school purposes pursuant to section 163.011, RSMo, shall be placed to the credit of the debt service fund or capital projects fund, respectively. Money received from other districts for transportation, and money derived from taxation for incidental expenses shall be credited to the incidental fund. Money apportioned for free textbooks shall be credited to the free textbook fund. All money derived from taxation or received from any other source for the erection of buildings or additions thereto and the remodeling or reconstruction of buildings and the furnishing thereof, for the payment of lease purchase obligations, for the purchase of real estate, or from sale of real estate, schoolhouses or other buildings of any kind, or school furniture, from insurance, from sale of bonds other than refunding bonds shall be placed to the credit of the capital projects fund. All moneys derived from the sale or lease of sites, buildings, facilities, furnishings and equipment by a school district as authorized under section 177.088, RSMo, shall be credited to the capital projects fund. Money derived from taxation for the retirement of bonds and the payment of interest thereon shall be credited to the debt service fund which shall be maintained as a separate bank account. Receipts from delinquent taxes shall be allocated to the several funds on the same basis as receipts from current taxes, except that where the previous years' obligations of the district would be affected by such distribution, the delinquent taxes shall be distributed according to the tax levies made for the years in which the obligations were incurred. All refunds received shall be placed to the credit of the fund from which the original expenditures were made. Money donated to the school districts shall be placed to the credit of the fund where it can be expended to meet the purpose for which it was donated and accepted. Money received from any other source whatsoever shall be placed to the credit of the fund or funds designated by the board.
2. The school board may expend from the incidental fund the sum that is necessary for the ordinary repairs of school property and an amount not to exceed the sum of expenditures for classroom instructional capital outlay, as defined by the department of elementary and secondary education by rule, in state-approved area vocational-technical schools and .06 dollars per one hundred dollars equalized assessed valuation multiplied by the guaranteed tax base for the second preceding year multiplied by the number of resident and nonresident eligible pupils educated in the district for the second preceding year for classroom instructional capital outlay, including but not limited to payments authorized pursuant to section 177.088, RSMo. Any and all payments authorized under section 177.088, RSMo, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, for the purchase or lease of sites, buildings, facilities, furnishings and equipment and all other expenditures for capital outlay shall be made from the capital projects fund. If a balance remains in the free textbook fund after books are furnished to pupils as provided in section 170.051, RSMo, it shall be transferred to the teachers' fund. The board may transfer the portion of the balance remaining in the incidental fund to the teachers' fund that is necessary for the total payment of all contracted obligations to teachers. If a balance remains in the debt service fund, after the total outstanding indebtedness for which the fund was levied is paid, the board may transfer the unexpended balance to the capital projects fund. If a balance remains in the bond proceeds after completion of the project for which the bonds were issued, the balance shall be transferred from the incidental or capital projects fund to the debt service fund. After making all placements of interest otherwise provided by law, a school district may transfer from the capital projects fund to the incidental fund the interest earned from undesignated balances in the capital projects fund. A school district may borrow from one of the following funds: teachers' fund, incidental fund or capital projects fund, as necessary to meet obligations in another of those funds; provided that the full amount is repaid to the lending fund within the same fiscal year.
3. Tuition shall be paid from either the teachers' or incidental funds.
4. Other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the school board of a school district that satisfies the criteria specified in subsection 5 of this section may transfer from the incidental fund to the capital projects fund an amount not to exceed the greater of zero or the sum of .18 dollars per one hundred dollars equalized assessed valuation multiplied by the guaranteed tax base for the second preceding year multiplied by the number of resident and nonresident eligible pupils educated in the district for the second preceding year and the amount to be expended for transportation equipment that is considered an allowable cost under state board of education rules for transportation reimbursements during the current year and any amount necessary to satisfy obligations of the capital projects fund for state-approved area vocational-technical schools and an amount not to exceed .06 dollars per one hundred dollars equalized assessed valuation multiplied by the guaranteed tax base for the second preceding year multiplied by the number of resident and nonresident eligible pupils educated in the district for the second preceding year less any amount transferred pursuant to subsection 7 of this section, provided that any amount transferred pursuant to this subsection shall only be transferred as necessary to satisfy obligations of the capital projects fund less any amount expended from the incidental fund for classroom instructional capital outlay pursuant to subsection 2 of this section. For the purposes of this subsection, the guaranteed tax base and a district's count of resident and nonresident eligible pupils educated in the district shall not be less than their respective values calculated from data for the 1992-93 school year.
5. In order to transfer funds pursuant to subsection 4 of this section, a school district shall:
(1) Meet the minimum criteria for state aid and for increases in state aid for the current year established pursuant to section 163.021, RSMo;
(2) Not incur a total debt, including short-term debt and bonded indebtedness in excess of ten percent of the guaranteed tax base for the preceding payment year multiplied by the number of resident and nonresident eligible pupils educated in the district in the preceding year;
(3) Set tax rates pursuant to section 164.011, RSMo;
(4) First apply any voluntary rollbacks or reductions to the total tax rate levied to the teachers' and incidental funds;
(5) In order to be eligible to transfer funds for paying lease purchase obligations:
(a) Incur such obligations, except for obligations for lease purchase for school buses, prior to January 1, 1997;
(b) Limit the term of such obligations to no more than twenty years;
(c) Limit annual installment payments on such obligations to an amount no greater than the amount of the payment for the first full year of the obligation, including all payments of principal and interest, except that the amount of the final payment shall be limited to an amount no greater than two times the amount of such first-year payment;
(d) Limit such payments to leasing nonathletic, classroom, instructional facilities as defined by the state board of education through rule; and
(e) Not offer instruction at a higher grade level than was offered by the district on July 12, 1994.
6. A school district shall be eligible to transfer funds pursuant to subsection 7 of this section if:
(1) Prior to August 28, 1993:
(a) The school district incurred an obligation for the purpose of funding payments under a lease purchase contract authorized under section 177.088, RSMo;
(b) The school district notified the appropriate local election official to place an issue before the voters of the district for the purpose of funding payments under a lease purchase contract authorized under section 177.088, RSMo; or
(c) An issue for funding payments under a lease purchase contract authorized under section 177.088, RSMo, was approved by the voters of the district; or
(2) Prior to November 1, 1993, a school board adopted a resolution authorizing an action necessary to comply with subsection 9 of section 177.088, RSMo. Any increase in the operating levy of a district above the 1993 tax rate resulting from passage of an issue described in paragraph (b) of subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be considered as part of the 1993 tax rate for the purposes of subsection 1 of section 164.011, RSMo.
7. Prior to transferring funds pursuant to subsection 4 of this section, a school district may transfer, pursuant to this subsection, from the incidental fund to the capital projects fund an amount as necessary to satisfy an obligation of the capital projects fund that satisfies at least one of the conditions specified in subsection 6 of this section, but not to exceed its payments authorized under section 177.088, RSMo, for the purchase or lease of sites, buildings, facilities, furnishings, equipment, and all other expenditures for capital outlay, plus the amount to be expended for transportation equipment that is considered an allowable cost under state board of education rules for transportation reimbursements during the current year plus any amount necessary to satisfy obligations of the capital projects fund for state-approved area vocational-technical schools. A school district with a levy for school purposes no greater than the minimum levy specified in section 163.021, RSMo, and an obligation in the capital projects fund that satisfies at least one of the conditions specified in subsection 6 of this section, may transfer from the incidental fund to the capital projects fund the amount necessary to meet the obligation plus the transfers pursuant to subsection 4 of this section.
8. Beginning in the 1995-96 school year, the department of elementary and secondary education shall deduct from a school district's state aid calculated pursuant to section 163.031, RSMo, an amount equal to the amount of any transfer of funds from the incidental fund to the capital projects fund performed during the previous year in violation of this section; except that no such deduction shall be made pursuant to this subsection for any transfer of funds from the incidental fund to the capital projects fund made prior to the 1999-2000 school year by a district which has an area of greater than four hundred square miles and an assessed valuation per pupil of less than thirty thousand dollars and which has had an enrollment increase of at least fifty percent from the fifth school year preceding the year of the transfer to the year of the transfer.
9. On or before June 30, 1999, a school district may transfer to the capital projects fund from the balances of the teachers' and incidental funds any amount, but only to the extent that the amount transferred is equal to or less than the amount that the teachers' and incidental [fund] funds' unrestricted balances on June 30, 1995, exceeded eight percent of expenditures from the teachers' and incidental funds for the year ending June 30, 1995.
10. (1) Other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, a school district which satisfies all conditions specified in subdivision (2) of this subsection may make the transfer allowed in subdivision (3) of this subsection.
(2) To make the transfer allowed under subdivision (3) of this subsection, a school district shall:
(a) Have a membership count for school year 1997-98 which is at least sixteen percent greater than the district's membership count for the 1991-92 school year; and
(b) Have passed a full waiver of Proposition C tax rate rollback pursuant to section 164.013, RSMo, or approved an increase to the district's tax rate ceiling on or after June 1, 1994; and
(c) Be in compliance or have paid all penalties required pursuant to section 165.016, RSMo, for the 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years without waiver or adjustment of the base school year certificated salary percentage; and
(d) After all transfers, have a remaining balance on June 30, 1998, in the combined teachers' and incidental funds which is no less than ten percent of the combined expenditures from those funds for the 1997-98 school year.
(3) A district which satisfies all of the criteria specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subdivision (2) of this subsection may, on or before June 30, 1998, make a one-time combined transfer from the teachers' and incidental funds to the capital projects fund of an amount no greater than the sum of the following amounts:
(a) The product of the district's equalized assessed valuation for 1994 times the difference of the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1994 minus the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1993;
(b) The product of the district's equalized assessed valuation for 1995 times the difference of the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1995 minus the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1993;
(c) The product of the district's equalized assessed valuation for 1996 times the difference of the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1996 minus the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1993;
(d) The product of the district's equalized assessed valuation for 1997 times the difference of the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1997 minus the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes for 1993;
provided that the remaining balance in the incidental fund shall be no less than twelve percent of the total expenditures during that fiscal year from the incidental fund.
(4) A district which makes a transfer pursuant to subdivision (3) of this subsection shall be subject to compliance with the requirements of section 165.016, RSMo, for fiscal years 1999, 2000 and 2001, without the option to request a waiver or an adjustment of the base school year certificated salary percentage.
(5) Other provisions of section 165.016 to the contrary notwithstanding, the transfer of an amount of funds from either the teachers' or incidental funds to the capital projects fund pursuant to subdivision (3) of this subsection shall not be considered an expenditure from the teachers or incidental fund for the purpose of determining compliance with the provisions of subsections 1 and 2 of section 165.016.
11. In addition to other transfers authorized under subsections 1 to 9 of this section, a district may transfer from the teachers' and incidental funds to the capital projects fund the amount necessary to repay costs of one or more guaranteed energy savings performance contracts to renovate buildings in the school district; provided that the contract is only for energy conservation measures, as defined in section 640.651, RSMo, and provided that the contract specifies that no payment or total of payments shall be required from the school district until at least an equal total amount of energy and energy-related operating savings and payments from the vendor pursuant to the contract have been realized by the school district.
Section B. Because of the need to ensure continued financial solvency of certain school districts this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.