ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 373
(By Senators Kessler (Acting President) and Hall, By Request of the
Executive)
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[Passed March 12, 2011; to take effect July 1, 2011.]
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AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9D-4c; to amend
and reenact §18-9D-15 of said Code; and to amend said code by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9D-19a, all
relating to funding and financing comprehensive middle schools
and other School Building Authority projects and expenditures;
providing the School Building Authority the ability to
temporarily finance project costs and expenditures for public
schools through loans, notes or other financing; limiting the
amount of outstanding loans, notes or other financing;
providing that principal, interest and premium on loans, notes
or other financing must be paid from certain sources;
allowing, upon application by a county board of education, the
School Building Authority to allocate and expend certain moneys for school major improvement projects for vocational
programs at comprehensive middle schools; providing
legislative findings; providing for definition of
"comprehensive middle high school" by state board rule;
providing minimum contents of rule; requiring the authority,
when planning the construction of a middle or junior high
school, to provide funding for a comprehensive middle school
that includes comprehensive career technical education
facilities to be located, when feasible, on the same site as
the middle or junior high school under certain conditions;
requiring the authority, upon application of a county board to
construct comprehensive career technical education facilities
that would allow an existing middle or junior high school to
become a comprehensive middle school, to provide technical
assistance to the county in developing a plan for construction
of the comprehensive career technical education facility; and
requiring, upon development of the plan, the authority to
consider funding based on certain criteria.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9D-4c; that §18-9D-
15 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-9D-19a, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9D. SCHOOL BUILDING AUTHORITY.
§18-9D-4c. School Building Authority authorized to temporarily
finance projects through the issuance of loans,
notes or other evidences of indebtedness.
The School Building Authority may by resolution, in accordance
with the provisions of this article, temporarily finance the cost
of projects and other expenditures permitted under this article for
public schools, including, but not limited to, comprehensive high
schools and comprehensive middle schools as defined in this
article, in this state through the issuance of loans, notes or
other evidences of indebtedness: Provided, That the principal
amount of loans, notes or other evidences of indebtedness
outstanding at any one time shall not exceed $16 million: Provided,
however, That the principal of, interest and premium, if any, on
and fees associated with any such temporary financing shall be
payable solely from the sources from which the principal of,
interest and premium, if any, on bonds is payable under this
article or from the proceeds of bonds.
§18-9D-15. Legislative intent; allocation of money among
categories of projects; lease-purchase options;
limitation on time period for expenditure of
project allocation; county maintenance budget
requirements; project disbursements over period of
years; preference for multicounty arrangements; submission of project designs; set-aside to
encourage local participation.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to empower the School
Building Authority to facilitate and provide state funds and to
administer all federal funds provided for the construction and
major improvement of school facilities so as to meet the
educational needs of the people of this state in an efficient and
economical manner. The authority shall make funding determinations
in accordance with the provisions of this article and shall assess
existing school facilities and each facility's school major
improvement plan in relation to the needs of the individual
student, the general school population, the communities served by
the facilities and facility needs statewide.
(b) An amount that is not more than three percent of the sum
of moneys that are determined by the authority to be available for
distribution during the then current fiscal year from:
(1) Moneys paid into the School Building Capital Improvements
Fund pursuant to section ten, article nine-a of this chapter;
(2) The issuance of revenue bonds for which moneys in the
School Building Debt Service Fund or the Excess Lottery School
Building Debt Service Fund are pledged as security;
(3) Moneys paid into the School Construction Fund pursuant to
section six of this article; and
(4) Any other moneys received by the authority, except moneys paid into the School Major Improvement Fund pursuant to section six
of this article and moneys deposited into the School Access Safety
Fund pursuant to section five, article nine-f of this chapter, may
be allocated and may be expended by the authority for projects
authorized in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen of
this article that service the educational community statewide or,
upon application by the state board, for educational programs that
are under the jurisdiction of the state board. In addition, upon
application by the state board or the administrative council of an
area vocational educational center established pursuant to article
two-b of this chapter, the authority may allocate and expend under
this subsection moneys for school major improvement projects
authorized in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen of
this article proposed by the state board or an administrative
council for school facilities under the direct supervision of the
state board or an administrative council, respectively.
Furthermore, upon application by a county board, the authority may
allocate and expend under this subsection moneys for school major
improvement projects for vocational programs at comprehensive high
schools, vocational programs at comprehensive middle schools,
vocational schools cooperating with community and technical college
programs, or any combination of the three. Each county board is
encouraged to cooperate with community and technical colleges in
the use of existing or development of new vocational technical facilities. All projects eligible for funds from this subsection
shall be submitted directly to the authority which shall be solely
responsible for the project's evaluation, subject to the following:
(A) The authority may not expend any moneys for a school major
improvement project proposed by the state board or the
administrative council of an area vocational educational center
unless the state board or an administrative council has submitted
a ten-year facilities plan; and
(B) The authority shall, before allocating any moneys to the
state board or the administrative council of an area vocational
educational center for a school improvement project, consider all
other funding sources available for the project.
(c) An amount that is not more than two percent of the moneys
that are determined by the authority to be available for
distribution during the current fiscal year from:
(1) Moneys paid into the School Building Capital Improvements
Fund pursuant to section ten, article nine-a of this chapter;
(2) The issuance of revenue bonds for which moneys in the
School Building Debt Service Fund or the Excess Lottery School
Building Debt Service Fund are pledged as security;
(3) Moneys paid into the School Construction Fund pursuant to
section six of this article; and
(4) Any other moneys received by the authority, except moneys
deposited into the School Major Improvement Fund and moneys deposited into the School Access Safety Fund pursuant to section
five, article nine-f of this chapter, shall be set aside by the
authority as an emergency fund to be distributed in accordance with
the guidelines adopted by the authority.
(d) An amount that is not more than five percent of the moneys
that are determined by the authority to be available for
distribution during the current fiscal year from:
(1) Moneys paid into the School Building Capital Improvements
Fund pursuant to section ten, article nine-a of this chapter;
(2) The issuance of revenue bonds for which moneys in the
School Building Debt Service Fund or the Excess Lottery School
Building Debt Service Fund are pledged as security;
(3) Moneys paid into the School Construction Fund pursuant to
section six of this article; and
(4) Any other moneys received by the authority, except moneys
deposited into the School Major Improvement Fund and moneys
deposited into the School Access Safety Fund pursuant to section
five, article nine-f of this chapter, may be reserved by the
authority for multiuse vocational-technical education facilities
projects that may include post-secondary programs as a first
priority use. The authority may allocate and expend under this
subsection moneys for any purposes authorized in this article on
multiuse vocational-technical education facilities projects,
including equipment and equipment updates at the facilities, authorized in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen of
this article. If the projects approved under this subsection do
not require the full amount of moneys reserved, moneys above the
amount required may be allocated and expended in accordance with
other provisions of this article. A county board, the state board,
an administrative council or the joint administrative board of a
vocational-technical education facility which includes post-
secondary programs may propose projects for facilities or
equipment, or both, which are under the direct supervision of the
respective body: Provided, That the authority shall, before
allocating any moneys for a project under this subsection, consider
all other funding sources available for the project.
(e) The remaining moneys determined by the authority to be
available for distribution during the then current fiscal year
from:
(1) Moneys paid into the School Building Capital Improvements
Fund pursuant to section ten, article nine-a of this chapter;
(2) The issuance of revenue bonds for which moneys in the
School Building Debt Service Fund or the Excess Lottery School
Building Debt Service Fund are pledged as security;
(3) Moneys paid into the School Construction Fund pursuant to
section six of this article; and
(4) Any other moneys received by the authority, except moneys
deposited into the School Major Improvement Fund and moneys deposited into the School Access Safety Fund pursuant to section
five, article nine-f of this chapter, shall be allocated and
expended on the basis of need and efficient use of resources for
projects funded in accordance with the provisions of section
sixteen of this article.
(f) If a county board proposes to finance a project that is
authorized in accordance with section sixteen of this article
through a lease with an option to purchase leased premises upon the
expiration of the total lease period pursuant to an investment
contract, the authority may not allocate moneys to the county board
in connection with the project: Provided, That the authority may
transfer moneys to the state board which, with the authority, shall
lend the amount transferred to the county board to be used only for
a one-time payment due at the beginning of the lease term, made for
the purpose of reducing annual lease payments under the investment
contract, subject to the following conditions:
(1) The loan shall be secured in the manner required by the
authority, in consultation with the state board, and shall be
repaid in a period and bear interest at a rate as determined by the
state board and the authority and shall have any terms and
conditions that are required by the authority, all of which shall
be set forth in a loan agreement among the authority, the state
board and the county board;
(2) The loan agreement shall provide for the state board and the authority to defer the payment of principal and interest upon
any loan made to the county board during the term of the investment
contract, and annual renewals of the investment contract, among the
state board, the authority, the county board and a lessor, subject
to the following:
(A) In the event a county board which has received a loan from
the authority for a one-time payment at the beginning of the lease
term does not renew the lease annually until performance of the
investment contract in its entirety is completed, the county board
is in default and the principal of the loan, together with all
unpaid interest accrued to the date of the default, shall, at the
option of the authority, in consultation with the state board,
become due and payable immediately or subject to renegotiation
among the state board, the authority and the county board;
(B) If a county board renews the lease annually through the
performance of the investment contract in its entirety, the county
board shall exercise its option to purchase the leased premises;
(C) The failure of the county board to make a scheduled
payment pursuant to the investment contract constitutes an event of
default under the loan agreement;
(D) Upon a default by a county board, the principal of the
loan, together with all unpaid interest accrued to the date of the
default, shall, at the option of the authority, in consultation
with the state board, become due and payable immediately or subject to renegotiation among the state board, the authority and the
county board; and
(E) If the loan becomes due and payable immediately, the
authority, in consultation with the state board, shall use all
means available under the loan agreement and law to collect the
outstanding principal balance of the loan, together with all unpaid
interest accrued to the date of payment of the outstanding
principal balance; and
(3) The loan agreement shall provide for the state board and
the authority to forgive all principal and interest of the loan
upon the county board purchasing the leased premises pursuant to
the investment contract and performance of the investment contract
in its entirety.
(g) To encourage county boards to proceed promptly with
facilities planning and to prepare for the expenditure of any state
moneys derived from the sources described in this section, any
county board or other entity to whom moneys are allocated by the
authority that fails to expend the money within three years of the
allocation shall forfeit the allocation and thereafter is
ineligible for further allocations pursuant to this section until
it is ready to expend funds in accordance with an approved
facilities plan: Provided, That the authority may authorize an
extension beyond the three-year forfeiture period not to exceed an
additional two years. Any amount forfeited shall be added to the total funds available in the School Construction Fund of the
authority for future allocation and distribution. Funds may not be
distributed for any project under this article unless the
responsible entity has a facilities plan approved by the state
board and the School Building Authority and is prepared to commence
expenditure of the funds during the fiscal year in which the moneys
are distributed.
(h) The remaining moneys that are determined by the authority
to be available for distribution during the then current fiscal
year from moneys paid into the School Major Improvement Fund
pursuant to section six of this article shall be allocated and
distributed on the basis of need and efficient use of resources for
projects authorized in accordance with the provisions of section
sixteen of this article, subject to the following:
(1) The moneys may not be distributed for any project under
this section unless the responsible entity has a facilities plan
approved by the state board and the authority and is to commence
expenditures of the funds during the fiscal year in which the
moneys are distributed;
(2) Any moneys allocated to a project and not distributed for
that project shall be deposited in an account to the credit of the
project, the principal amount to remain to the credit of and
available to the project for a period of two years; and
(3) Any moneys which are unexpended after a two-year period shall be redistributed on the basis of need from the School Major
Improvement Fund in that fiscal year.
(i) Local matching funds may not be required under the
provisions of this section. However, this article does not negate
the responsibilities of the county boards to maintain school
facilities. To be eligible to receive an allocation of school
major improvement funds from the authority, a county board must
have expended in the previous fiscal year an amount of county
moneys equal to or exceeding the lowest average amount of money
included in the county board's maintenance budget over any three of
the previous five years and must have budgeted an amount equal to
or greater than the average in the current fiscal year: Provided,
That the state board shall promulgate rules relating to county
boards' maintenance budgets, including items which shall be
included in the budgets.
(j) Any county board may use moneys provided by the authority
under this article in conjunction with local funds derived from
bonding, special levy or other sources. Distribution to a county
board, or to the state board or the administrative council of an
area vocational educational center pursuant to subsection (b) of
this section, may be in a lump sum or in accordance with a schedule
of payments adopted by the authority pursuant to guidelines adopted
by the authority.
(k) Funds in the School Construction Fund shall first be transferred and expended as follows:
(1) Any funds deposited in the School Construction Fund shall
be expended first in accordance with an appropriation by the
Legislature.
(2) To the extent that funds are available in the School
Construction Fund in excess of that amount appropriated in any
fiscal year, the excess funds may be expended for projects
authorized in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen of
this article.
(l) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage county
boards to explore and consider arrangements with other counties
that may facilitate the highest and best use of all available
funds, which may result in improved transportation arrangements for
students or which otherwise may create efficiencies for county
boards and the students. In order to address the intent of the
Legislature contained in this subsection, the authority shall grant
preference to those projects which involve multicounty arrangements
as the authority shall determine reasonable and proper.
(m) County boards shall submit all designs for construction of
new school buildings to the School Building Authority for review
and approval prior to preparation of final bid documents. A vendor
who has been debarred pursuant to the provisions of sections
thirty-three-a through thirty-three-f, inclusive, article three,
chapter five-a of this code may not bid on or be awarded a contract under this section.
(n) The authority may elect to disburse funds for approved
construction projects over a period of more than one year subject
to the following:
(1) The authority may not approve the funding of a school
construction project over a period of more than three years;
(2) The authority may not approve the use of more than fifty
percent of the revenue available for distribution in any given
fiscal year for projects that are to be funded over a period of
more than one year; and
(3) In order to encourage local participation in funding
school construction projects, the authority may set aside limited
funding, not to exceed $500,000, in reserve for one additional year
to provide a county the opportunity to complete financial planning
for a project prior to the allocation of construction funds. Any
funding shall be on a reserve basis and converted to a part of the
construction grant only after all project budget funds have been
secured and all county commitments have been fulfilled. Failure of
the county to solidify the project budget and meet its obligations
to the state within eighteen months of the date the funding is set
aside by the authority will result in expiration of the reserve and
the funds shall be reallocated by the authority in the succeeding
funding cycle.
§18-9D-19a. Comprehensive middle schools.
(a) The Legislature finds the following:
(1) Students learn more through hands on, applied learning
activities;
(2) Career technical education students have a much higher
graduation rate than other students;
(3) Although thirty-seven percent of West Virginia middle and
junior high school students are enrolled in a form of career
technical education, the number has been dropping by approximately
three thousand students per year; and
(4) As the benefits of career technical education have
increased as academics have become more embedded in career
technical education, it is important that career technical
education opportunities be increased at the middle and junior high
school level.
(b) "Comprehensive middle school" means a middle or junior
high school that meets the definition of a comprehensive middle
school established by the state board. The definition of a
comprehensive middle school shall be established by the state board
in a legislative rule promulgated in accordance with article three-
b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The definition shall
include at least the following:
(1) A comprehensive curriculum that:
(A) Includes the core subjects in English/language arts,
mathematics, science, social studies;
(B) Provides students with engaging learning opportunities
where students are provided connections between what they are
learning and what they will learn in high school and beyond;
(C) Establishes the foundation for college and career
readiness;
(D) Embeds career exploration and project based career
activities where possible to provide all student with comprehensive
career development and counseling;
(E) Provides career technical options for students that are
integrated with academic course requirements where possible; and
(F) Provides authentic opportunities in the visual and
performing arts, health and wellness, physical education, world
languages and career technical activities;
(2) Harnessing the power of technology to provide personalized
learning twenty-four hours per day and seven days per week and
produce a digital individualized student portfolio of student
mastery and progression; and
(3) A seamless integration with the secondary school
curriculum that enables students to further explore their options
and further pursue their career interests at the secondary and
post-secondary levels.
(c) When planning the construction of a middle or junior high
school which has been approved by the authority and which meets the
required authority efficiencies, the authority shall provide funding for a comprehensive middle school that includes
comprehensive career technical education facilities to be located,
when feasible, on the same site as the middle or junior high
school.
(d) Upon application of a county board to construct
comprehensive career technical education facilities that would
allow an existing middle or junior high school to become a
comprehensive middle school, the authority will provide technical
assistance to the county in developing a plan for construction of
the comprehensive career technical education facility. Upon
development of the plan, the authority shall consider funding based
on the following criteria:
(1) The ability of the county board to provide local funds for
the construction of the comprehensive career technical education
facilities;
(2) The size of the existing middle and junior high schools;
(3) The age and physical condition of the existing career
technical education facilities;
(4) The potential for improving in the graduation rate; and
(5) Such other criteria as the authority shall consider
appropriate.
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