§36-32  State educational facilitiesimprovement special fund.  (a)  There is created in the treasury of theState the state educational facilities improvement special fund, into whichshall be deposited a portion of all general excise tax revenues collected bythe department of taxation under section 237-31.  The special fund shall beused solely to plan, design, acquire lands for, and to construct public schoolfacilities and to provide equipment and technology infrastructure to improvepublic schools and other facilities under the jurisdiction of the department ofeducation, except public libraries.  In addition, activities of the departmentof education intended to eliminate the gap between the facility needs ofschools and available resources shall be eligible for funding from the specialfund.  Expenditures from the special fund shall be limited to projectsauthorized by the legislature and shall be subject to sections 37-31, and 37-33through 37-40.  Appropriations or authorizations from the special fund shall beexpended by the superintendent of education.

(b)  There is established within the stateeducational facilities improvement special fund a separate account, to be knownas the lease payments for schools account, for lease payments required by financingagreements entered into by the department of education pursuant to this sectionand sections 37D-2 and 302A-1506.  The lease payments for schools account shallbe funded by legislative appropriations and expended by the superintendent ofeducation.  Expenditures from the lease payments for schools account shall beexempt from chapters 103 and 103D and are restricted to lease payments on newschools included within the department of education's current six year capitalimprovement programs and for which:

(1)  The legislature adopted a concurrent resolutiondirecting the department of education to:

(A)  Build a new school ina specific geographic area using the design-build method; and

(B)  Pursue the use of a financing agreement tobuild the new school; or

(2)  The legislature appropriated planning and designfunds and specified that the remainder of the costs necessary to complete theproject are eligible for funding through a financing agreement;

provided that any school to which the legislature hasappropriated planning and design funds prior to July 1, 2007 and for which aprivate developer is willing to enter into a lease-purchase agreement with thedepartment of education within twelve months of July 1, 2007 is exempt from therequirements of [paragraphs] (1) and (2).

(c)  The department of education shall submitan annual report to the legislature that shall include a financial statement ofthe special fund, the lease payments for schools account established undersubsection (b), and the status of projects undertaken pursuant to this section,no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session. [L1989, c 368, §2; am L 1993, c 364, §24; am L 1994, c 272, §32; am L 2005, c189, §2; am L 2007, c 220, §2]

 

Revision Note

 

  "July 1, 2007" substituted for "the effectivedate of this Act".