HB 380
Elementary and Secondary Budget Summary
as amended by HB 557
SEEK
Base: Provides funding for a SEEK base of $3,508 in FY 07 and $3,822 in FY 08 (Current base is $3445).
Salaries – certified and classified: Requires a 2% increase in FY 07 and $3000 in FY 08 for certified employees. Requires a 2% in FY 07 and 5% in FY 08 for classified employees, but no employee shall receive more than a $2500 increase. All salary increases are in addition to increases provided for changes in rank or additional experience.
Instructional Days: Requires that the school term for fiscal year 2007-2008 include the equivalent of 177 instructional days and no less than two additional six-hour instructional days in addition to the six-hour instructional days included in the 2005-2006 school calendar as approved by the Department of Education. Districts shall not be required to exceed 177 six-hour instructional days. Provides $32.6M for this purpose in FY 08.
Limited English Proficiency: Provides a weight of .075 in FY 07 and adds $1.25M in FY 08 to increase the weight to .096.
National Board certified teacher salary supplement: Provides an additional $246,000 in FY 07 and $646,000 in FY 08 to meet anticipated growth.
Equalized Growth Levy: Provides equalization funding for a district that levied a growth nickel as of January 1, 2006; met the growth requirements in fiscal 2005-2006; and levied an additional growth nickel by January 1, 2006.
Equalized Facility Funding: Provides equalization funding for a district that has levied at least a ten cent equivalent tax rate for building purposes or has debt service of at least a ten cent equivalent tax rate as of February 24, 2005; the district has not received equalized growth or other equalization facility funding; and the district has received approval by the Commissioner of Education.
Retroactive Equalized Facility Funding: Provides equalized facility funding to districts meeting the following eligibility requirements: A local board of education that levied a tax rate subject to recall prior to January 1, 2006 in addition to the five cents levied pursuant to KRS 157.440(1)(b) and that committed the receipts to debt service, new facilities, or major renovations of existing facilities shall be eligible for equalization funds from the state at 150 percent of the statewide average per pupil assessment. The equalization funds shall be used as provided in KRS 157.440(1)(b).
Categorical Programs
Preschool: Increases the current funding for preschool and requires districts to serve students whose family income is up to 150% of the federal poverty level - $23,502,300 in FY 07 and FY 08. Requires each local district to work with Head Start and other existing preschool programs to avoid duplication of services and programs, to avoid supplanting federal funds, to maximize Head Start funds in order to serve as many four year old children as possible, and maintain certification from the Head Start director that the Head Start Program is fully utilized. If a local district fails to comply with the requirements of this section, the Commissioner of the Department of Education shall withhold preschool funding for an amount equal to the number of Head Start eligible children served in the district who would have been eligible to be served by Head Start under the full utilization certification required under this section. The Commissioner of the Department of Education is to resolve any disputes and make a determination of the district's compliance with the full utilization requirement.
Technology: Provides bonding for:
Kentucky Education Network based on a P-16 coordinated implementation plan:
Student information system; and ·
Education Technology pool for modern workstations, stationary or mobile. ($50M based upon five-year bonds)
School Technology in Coal Counties: Provides $5,000,000 in each fiscal year from the Local Government Economic Development Multi-County Fund for the purpose of enhancing education technology in local school districts within coal-producing counties.
The Commissioner of the Department of Education is authorized to use up to $1,000,000 of the above $5,000,000 appropriation in each fiscal year to make offers of assistance to qualifying local school districts in coal-producing counties to fund technology projects; to be eligible for these offers of assistance, local school districts may be required to provide a match of not more than two to one from any of their other funding sources.
The Commissioner of the Department of Education shall use $2,500,000 of the above $5,000,000 appropriation to continue the Coal County Computing program.
The Commissioner of the Department of Education shall distribute the remainder of the above $5,000,000 appropriation to coal-producing counties in a manner consistent with distributions to local school districts from the Kentucky Education Technology System; these funds shall be in addition to any regular distribution to coal-producing counties from the Kentucky Education Technology System.
Education Technology Program: Included in the General Fund appropriation is $19,500,000 in each fiscal year.
Read to Achieve: Provides additional General Funds to expand the reading program - $9,458,100 in FY 07 and $12,458,100 in FY 08.
State Agency Children: Provides additional support for the education of children in state agency programs - $500,000 in FY 07 and FY 08.
Safe Schools Program: Provides additional funds for the Safe Schools program – $250,000 in FY 07 and FY 08.
Mathematics Achievement Fund: Provides funds for training early intervention teachers and for school mathematics grants - an additional $3,000,000 in FY 08. ($3.9M for school districts as the Mathematics Center appropriation is now separate.)
ACT and WorkKeys: Provides funds for ACT and WorkKeys testing for high school students - $1,400,000 in FY 08.
Specialized Tutoring Program: Provides funds to establish, at a state university, a specialized tutoring program for students with learning disabilities - $100,000 in FY 07 and FY 08.
Community Education: Included in the General Fund appropriation is $300,000 in each fiscal year to support the establishment of 15 additional community education programs.
Partnership for Student Success: Included in the General Fund appropriation is $430,000 in fiscal year 2007-2008 for the Partnership for Student Success Program. These funds shall be expended to develop pilot programs to demonstrate effective strategies to increase community and parental involvement in K-12 education by providing additional tools for educators to improve instruction and promote student health and wellness.
Family Resource and Youth Service Centers: Included in the General Fund appropriation is $1,522,600 in fiscal year 2006-2007 and $3,045,200 in fiscal year 2007-2008 to provide an allocation rate increase to $204 per eligible child in fiscal year 2006-2007, and return to the original allocation rate of $210 per eligible child in fiscal year 2007-2008. Also included in the General Fund appropriation is $1,060,800 to expand the program to serve 25 additional schools in fiscal year 2006-2007 and $2,373,000 to expand the program to serve 29 additional schools in fiscal year 2007-2008. (Included in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services budget)
Vocational Facilities: Provides debt service for Rockcastle County Vocational and Technical Center and the Letcher County Central Vocational Center.
School Facilities Construction Commission
Debt Service: Provides $1,688,000 in fiscal year 2006-2007 and $8,439,000 in fiscal year 2007-2008 for debt service on $150,000,000 in bonds.
Growth Nickel Levy: The Facilities Support Program of Kentucky is fully funded in the 2006-2008 fiscal biennium. Notwithstanding KRS 157.621(3), local school districts may exercise authority expressed in KRS 157.621(1) and (2).
School Facility Revenue: A local board of education may commit an equivalent tax rate not to exceed five cents in addition to the taxes levied in KRS 157.440(1)(b). Receipts from the levy shall be committed to debt service, new facilities, or major renovations of existing school facilities. The tax rate levied by the local board of education under this provision shall be made no later than October 1 of each odd-numbered year and shall not be equalized with state funding. The levy shall be subject to recall.
Urgent Need School Trust Fund: The Urgent Need School Trust Fund is established in the Finance and Administration Cabinet for the purpose of assisting school districts that have urgent and critical construction needs. The Urgent Need School Trust Fund shall be administered by the School Facilities Construction Commission. The fund may receive state appropriations, contributions, and grants from any source which shall be credited to the trust fund and invested until needed. All interest earned on the fund shall be retained in the trust fund. Notwithstanding KRS 45.229, moneys in the trust fund shall not lapse, but shall carry forward at the end of each fiscal year. The Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet, the Commissioner of Education, and the Executive Director of the School Facilities Construction Commission shall jointly establish an Urgent Need School Trust Fund Advisory Committee to develop guidelines for the distribution of funds and to advise the School Facilities Construction Commission on the distribution of funds from this trust fund. Funds may be distributed to local school districts to address anomalies in the existing school construction funding formulas as direct grants, loans, matching funds, additional offers of assistance to address districts' unmet needs, or as equalization funds in situations where school districts have levied additional taxes for school construction purposes. The guidelines developed for distribution of funds from this trust fund shall be developed and presented to the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue and the Interim Joint Committee on Education no later than September 31, 2006. Area Vocational Centers shall be eligible to participate in the Urgent Need School Trust Fund. Included in the appropriation is $5,000,000 in fiscal year 2007-2008 for the Urgent Need School Trust Fund that may be distributed after July 1, 2007. In addition, offers of assistance may be distributed to local school districts based on the guidelines developed by the Urgent Need School Trust Fund Advisory Committee after July 1, 2007.
Offers of Assistance: Notwithstanding KRS 157.622, a local school district may accumulate credit, subject to the availability of funds, for its unused state allocation for a period not to exceed eight years.
Additional Offers of Assistance: The School Facilities Construction Commission is authorized to make an additional $100,000,000 in offers of assistance during the 2006-2008 biennium in anticipation of debt service availability during the 2008-2010 biennium. No bonded indebtedness based on the above amount is to be incurred during the 2006-2008 biennium.
School Facilities Evaluation: The Kentucky Department of Education, in partnership with the School Facilities Construction Commission, shall conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the current facilities planning process, the process for categorizing schools for planning and funding purposes, major plant maintenance planning and implementation, the process used to determine unmet school facility needs, and the degree of equity in the distribution of state capital funds. The department shall involve local superintendents, finance officers, facility managers and other local school personnel, consultants who are knowledgeable in school facilities planning and construction, and others as deemed appropriate.
The evaluation shall consider:
(a) The feasibility of adding weights for special needs or situations, including but not limited to student growth, inadequate classroom space, student accommodations, health and safety needs, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, school district size, and overall building condition as certified by the Department of Education, in the calculation of unmet needs;
(b) The adequacy of long-range planning for plant maintenance, procedures for improving long-range planning, and the appropriate level of monitoring by local and state officials;
(c) Measurable, objective criteria for categorizing schools for local planning purposes and for the distribution of state capital funds;
(d) A waiver system to accommodate special facility needs;
(e) The level of technical assistance and training that is necessary to ensure that local school district personnel are knowledgeable of the facility planning process, capital construction funding mechanisms, and long-range planning and examine the most effective methods for proving technical assistance and training; and
(f) A detailed review of all capital funding sources, and a study of local effort, to include an examination of the individual and cumulative effect of multiple funding sources on the equitable distribution of state capital construction funds and the effects of permitting individual school districts to levy additional taxes for construction purposes based on special or unique circumstances in that school district.
Notwithstanding KRS 157.622, the School Facilities Construction Commission , in cooperation with the Urgent Need School Trust Fund Advisory Committee, shall incorporate the findings and recommendations of this evaluation in determining the 2006 Offers of Assistance to local school districts. The School Facilities Construction Commission is authorized to make the 2006 Offers of Assistance prior to completion of this evaluation if sufficient data and other information is available.
A preliminary report shall be made to the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue no later than September 15, 2006, and a final report, including recommendations for regulatory or statutory change, shall be made no later than September 30, 2006.
Use of Local District Capital Outlay Funds: Notwithstanding KRS 157.420(4) and (6), a local district may submit a request to the Commissioner of Education to use capital outlay funds for maintenance expenditures or for the purchase of property insurance in fiscal year 2006-2007 and fiscal year 2007-2008 without forfeiture of the district's participation in the School Facilities Construction Commission Program.
Other Special Provisions
Program Flexibility: Notwithstanding KRS 157.226(2) and (3), 157.3175(3) and (4), and 160.345(8) with regard to the state allocation, five programs (Professional Development, Extended School Services, Preschool, Textbooks, and Safe Schools) shall continue to permit the state and local school districts additional flexibility in the distribution of program funds while still addressing the governing statutes and serving the need and the intended student population.
Local District Grant Fund Carry Forward: Notwithstanding KRS 45.229, up to ten percent of any non-SEEK state grant fund, other than any state grant fund for the Read to Achieve Program, appropriated to the Department of Education and disbursed to a local district that is unexpended during fiscal year 2006-2007 may be carried forward to fiscal year 2007-2008. Notwithstanding KRS 45.229, any state grant fund for the Read to Achieve Program in fiscal year 2006-2007 may be carried forward to fiscal year 2007-2008.
Publishing Requirements: Notwithstanding KRS 158.6453(7), 160.463, and 424.220, public availability of the school district's complete annual financial statement and the school report card shall be made by publishing the documents in the newspaper of the largest general circulation in the county, electronically on the Internet, or by printed copy at a prearranged site at the main branch of the public library within the school district. If publication on the Internet or by printed copy at the public library is chosen, the superintendent shall be directed to publish notification in the newspaper of the largest circulation in the county as to the location where the document can be viewed by the public. The notification shall include the address of the library or the electronic address of the Web site on the Internet where the documents can be viewed.
School Employee Flexible Spending Account Funds Transfer: Any funds remaining in flexible spending accounts of employees of local school districts for calendar year 2006 and calendar year 2007 shall be transferred to the credit of the General Fund.
Student absence related to a parent called to federal active duty: If a student's parent, de facto custodian, or other person with legal custody or control of the student is a member of the United States Armed Forces, including a member of a state National Guard or a Reserve component called to federal active duty, a public school principal shall give the student:
1. An excused absence for one (1) day when the member is deployed; and
2. An additional excused absence for one (1) day when the service member returns from deployment. A student receiving an excused absence under this subsection shall have the opportunity to make up school work missed and shall not have his or her class grades adversely affected for lack of class attendance or class participation due to the excused absence.
A student receiving an excused absence under this subsection shall be considered present in school during the excused absence for the purposes of calculating average daily attendance as defined by KRS 157.320 under the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky program. (Permanent change in KRS 159.035)
Other Studies School Calendar Evaluation: The Kentucky Department of Education is directed to conduct an evaluation of school calendars. The primary purpose of this evaluation is to determine the impact of alternative school calendars, including the use of extended time beyond the six-hour instructional day, shortened days or weeks, and year-round calendars. The evaluation shall investigate the positive and negative effects on students, including academic achievement, extracurricular activities, parental support, and community acceptance. The evaluation shall review the impact on school district operations and finances related to transportation, utilities, staffing, facilities, food service, and other costs associated with operating efficiencies. A preliminary report shall be made to the Interim Joint Committee on Education by November 15, 2006, and a final report, including recommendations for regulatory or statutory changes, shall be made to the Interim Joint Committee on Education by January 15, 2007.
Transportation Study: The Legislative Research Commission is hereby directed to study the current funding formula and the equitable disbursement of pupil transportation funds. The study of pupil transportation funding shall include:
(a) An analysis of the current formula used to determine the level of reimbursed funding for school districts, including its equity and adequacy, and recommendations for improvement; and
(b) A comparison of the efficiencies used by school districts in the operation of their transportation systems, including recommendations for efficiency requirements or incentives.
The Legislative Research Commission shall contract with nongovernmental consultants to conduct the study. The consultants shall have the full cooperation of the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch.
The consultants shall present a final report of their findings to the Interim Joint Committee on Education and to the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue no later than July 1, 2007.
Provisions of this section to the contrary notwithstanding, the Legislative Research Commission shall have the authority to alternatively assign the issues identified herein to an interim joint committee or subcommittee thereof, and to designate a study completion date.