Report Title:

School Facilities

Description:

Transfers the management of the state educational facilities improvement special fund and capital improvement and repair and maintenance programs of school facilities to the department of education.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1660

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to education.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that school facilities are in dire need of repair and maintenance. New facilities need to be constructed to reduce the classroom shortage of three hundred forty-nine classrooms. Recently, King Intermediate and Kailua Intermediate made newsstand headlines, when asbestos was found at King Intermediate and a classroom roof collapsed at Kailua Intermediate. Instruction was interrupted to repair the dangerous situations. However, parents and students remain mindful of other possible potentially dangerous situations that may still exist.

The purpose of this Act is to transfer all school facilities' repair, maintenance, and construction management to the department of education to improve the coordination and facilitation of decreasing the backlog of projects.

SECTION 2. Section 36-32, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§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 [comptroller.] superintendent of education.

(b) The department of [accounting and general services] education shall submit an annual report to the legislature, which shall include a financial statement of the special fund and the status of projects undertaken pursuant to this section, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session."

SECTION 3. Section 36-35, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) There is created in the state general fund under [EDN 100 (school based budgeting)] EDN 400 (school support) the state educational facilities repair and maintenance account, into which shall be deposited legislative appropriations to the account designated for use solely to eliminate the backlog of school repair and maintenance projects, including the repair or replacement of fixtures, furnishings, and equipment, existing on June 30, 2000. Expenditures from the account shall be subject to sections 37-31 and 37-33 to 37-40. Based on the prioritization approved by the department of education as prescribed by section 302A-1505, appropriations or authorizations from the account shall be expended by the superintendent of education."

SECTION 4. Section 302A-1128, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The department shall have entire charge and control and be responsible for the conduct of all affairs pertaining to public instruction[.], including operating and maintaining the capital improvement and repair and maintenance programs. The department may establish and maintain schools for secular instruction at such places and for such terms as in its discretion it may deem advisable and the funds at its disposal may permit. The schools may include high schools, kindergarten schools, schools or classes for pregrade education, boarding schools, Hawaiian language medium education schools, and evening and day schools. The department may also maintain classes for technical and other instruction in any school where there may not be pupils sufficient in number to justify the establishment of separate schools for these purposes."

SECTION 5. Section 302A-1312, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§302A-1312 Six-year program and financial plan for school repair and maintenance. (a) The department of [accounting and general services, in consultation with the department of education,] education shall prepare a six-year program and financial plan for school repair and maintenance which shall be:

(1) Based on:

(A) Estimated preventive and scheduled maintenance costs;

(B) Budgeted recurring maintenance;

(C) Health and safety requirements; and

(D) Legal mandates;

(2) Insofar as is practical, prepared in accordance with the principles and procedures contained in section 514A-83.6; and

(3) Submitted initially to the legislature not less than thirty days prior to the convening of the 2002 regular session, with annual funding requirements for the physical plant operations and maintenance account submitted not less than thirty days prior to the convening of the 2002 regular session and each regular session thereafter;

provided that the governor may incorporate the six-year program and financial plan required by this subsection into the six-year program and financial plan required by section 37-69, if the plan required by this subsection is incorporated without reductions or restrictions.

(b) The department of [accounting and general services, in consultation with the department of education,] education shall develop and maintain a facilities physical analysis report and a facilities financial analysis report for each public school. These reports shall be posted electronically on the Internet.

(c) For the purposes of this section, the [comptroller] superintendent of education shall develop and implement appropriate planning procedures and follow-up accountability reports to ensure sound planning, control, and accountability in the use of moneys allocated by the legislature, as prescribed by section 302A-1309. The department of [accounting and general services] education shall submit an annual report to the legislature, which shall include:

(1) The priority listing established by section 302A-1505;

(2) List of projects initiated by the department of [accounting and general services] education; and

(3) List of projects completed with associated actual cost."

SECTION 6. Section 302A-1505, Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended to read as follows:

"§302A-1505 Prioritization of repair and maintenance. (a) Each school shall [meet with] inform the [departments] department of education [and accounting and general services] on an annual basis [to advise the department of school needs.] of its repair and maintenance needs. Before any repair and maintenance projects for the upcoming fiscal year are implemented, each individual school administration shall prioritize and approve its repair and maintenance needs, and approve the scope of the implementation plan for the individual projects. After schools have prioritized their repair and maintenance projects, a statewide list shall be prepared [and], reviewed, and approved by the department of [accounting and general services, and reviewed and approved by the department of] education; provided that the department [of education] may make adjustments among schools and [districts. Each school repair and maintenance priority listing shall be submitted by the department of education to the department of accounting and general services for implementation.] complex areas. Each listing shall be posted electronically on the Internet. [The department of accounting and general services shall implement the school repair and maintenance program in accordance with the priorities set forth by the department of education. Where there are differing views as to priorities, the department of education shall make the final decision.]

(b) Prior to [meeting with] informing the department [to advise it of a] about the school's repair and maintenance needs, the school's principal [and the business and fiscal officer] shall consider the recommendations made by the school community council or the local school board, if the school is a new century conversion charter school.

(c) In prioritizing a school's repair and maintenance needs, the department [of accounting and general services,] and the school's principal[, and the business and fiscal officer] shall consider the availability of donated and discounted repair and maintenance services and materials that will be provided by community groups, volunteers, and businesses."

SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2005.

INTRODUCED BY:

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