§36-32 - State educational facilities improvement special fund.
§36-32 State educational facilities improvement special fund. (a) There is created in the treasury of the State the state educational facilities improvement special fund, into which shall be deposited a portion of all general excise tax revenues collected by the department of taxation under section 237-31. The special fund shall be used solely to plan, design, acquire lands for, and to construct public school facilities and to provide equipment and technology infrastructure to improve public schools and other facilities under the jurisdiction of the department of education, except public libraries. In addition, activities of the department of education intended to eliminate the gap between the facility needs of schools and available resources shall be eligible for funding from the special fund. Expenditures from the special fund shall be limited to projects authorized by the legislature and shall be subject to sections 37-31, and 37-33 through 37-40. Appropriations or authorizations from the special fund shall be expended by the superintendent of education.
(b) There is established within the state educational facilities improvement special fund a separate account, to be known as the lease payments for schools account, for lease payments required by financing agreements entered into by the department of education pursuant to this section and sections 37D-2 and 302A-1506. The lease payments for schools account shall be funded by legislative appropriations and expended by the superintendent of education. Expenditures from the lease payments for schools account shall be exempt from chapters 103 and 103D and are restricted to lease payments on new schools included within the department of education's current six year capital improvement programs and for which:
(1) The legislature adopted a concurrent resolution directing the department of education to:
(A) Build a new school in a specific geographic area using the design-build method; and
(B) Pursue the use of a financing agreement to build the new school; or
(2) The legislature appropriated planning and design funds and specified that the remainder of the costs necessary to complete the project are eligible for funding through a financing agreement;
provided that any school to which the legislature has appropriated planning and design funds prior to July 1, 2007 and for which a private developer is willing to enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the department of education within twelve months of July 1, 2007 is exempt from the requirements of [paragraphs] (1) and (2).
(c) The department of education shall submit an annual report to the legislature that shall include a financial statement of the special fund, the lease payments for schools account established under subsection (b), and the status of projects undertaken pursuant to this section, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session. [L 1989, c 368, §2; am L 1993, c 364, §24; am L 1994, c 272, §32; am L 2005, c 189, §2; am L 2007, c 220, §2]
Revision Note
"July 1, 2007" substituted for "the effective date of this Act".