07 LC 33
1727
Senate
Bill 118
By:
Senators Hamrick of the 30th and Heath of the 31st
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 20-2-260 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to capital outlay funds generally, so as to change certain provisions relating
to educational facilities surveys; to provide that zoning actions and permits
for new development shall be considered as potential growth indicators for
purposes of the state-wide needs assessment and development of local needs
assessments; to provide that an educational facilities plan may be revised due
to unanticipated accelerated student enrollment growth over a two-year period;
to provide that a local school system can request capital outlay funds on a
reimbursement basis or prior to or during construction; to provide that the
computerized student projection program shall consider zoning actions and
permits for new development shall be considered as potential growth indicators;
to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 20-2-260 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to capital
outlay funds generally, is amended by revising subsections (c), (d), and (m) as
follows: "(c) The State Board of Education shall adopt policies,
guidelines, and standards, pursuant to Chapter 13 of Title 50, the 'Georgia
Administrative Procedure Act,' that meet the requirements specified in this Code
section. The state board´s responsibilities shall include the
following:
(1)
To adopt policies, guidelines, and standards for the annual physical facility
and real property inventory required of each local school system. This
inventory shall include, but not be limited to: parcels of land; number of
educational facilities; year of construction and design; size, number, and type
of construction space; amount of instructional space in permanent and temporary
buildings; designations for each instructional space in permanent and temporary
buildings occupied by designated state approved instructional programs, federal
programs, or local programs not required by the state; local property assessment
for bond purposes; outstanding school bonds and annual debt service; and
buildings and facilities not in use or rented or leased to individuals or other
agencies of government, or used for other than instructional programs required
by this article, each identified by its current use. Department of Education
staff shall annually review, certify the accuracy of, and approve each local
school system´s inventory;
(2)
To adopt policies, guidelines, and standards for the educational facilities
survey required of local school systems. The educational facilities survey
shall be initiated by written request of a local board of education. The
request may suggest the number of teams and the individuals constituting such
teams to participate in the survey. However, it shall be the responsibility of
the Department of Education to constitute the makeup of the necessary teams.
Said teams shall exclude local residents; employees of the local board of
education, the servicing regional educational services agency, and other
educational centers and agencies servicing the local board; and individuals
deemed unacceptable by the local board. The state board shall establish and
maintain qualification standards for participants of survey teams. Each
educational facilities survey shall include, but not be limited to, an analysis
of population growth and development
patterns,
which shall be based on factors including, but not limited to, recent zoning
actions and permits granted for new development in the county or municipality
comprising the local school system;
assessment of existing instructional and support space; assessment of existing
educational facilities; extent of obsolescence of facilities; and
recommendations for improvements, expansion, modernization, safety, and energy
retrofitting of existing educational facilities. The Department of Education
staff shall review and certify as to the accuracy of each educational facilities
survey. The state board shall approve or reject the recommendations of the
survey team and shall establish appeal procedures for rejected
surveys;
(3)
To adopt policies, guidelines, and standards for educational facilities
construction plans. Local school system facilities construction plans shall
include, but not be limited to, a list of construction projects currently
eligible for state capital outlay funds, if any; educational facilities
projected for abandonment, if any; educational facilities projected as needed
five years hence; proposed construction projects for modernization, renovation,
and energy retrofitting; proposed construction projects for the purpose of
consolidating small, inefficient educational facilities which are less than the
minimum size specified in subsection (q) of this Code section; and other
construction projects needed to house the instructional programs authorized by
provisions of this article;
(4)
To adopt uniform rules, regulations, policies, standards, and criteria
respecting all location, construction, equipping, operating, maintenance, and
use of educational facilities as may be reasonably necessary to assure
effective, efficient, and economical operation of the schools and all phases of
the public education program provided for under the provisions of this article.
Such matters shall include, but not be limited to, the method, manner, type, and
minimum specifications for construction and installation of fixtures and
equipment in educational facilities; space requirements per student; number and
size of classrooms; allowable construction costs based on current annual
construction cost data maintained by the Department of Education; and other
requirements necessary to ensure adequate, efficient, and economical educational
facilities. The state board shall adopt policies or standards which shall allow
renovation costs up to the amount of new construction of a replacement facility,
provided that the renovated facility provides comparable instructional and
supportive space and has an extended life comparable to that of a new facility.
Except for satisfying the most recent life safety codes, facilities which are
undergoing renovation, modernization, or additions shall otherwise meet
requirements applicable to them prior to renovation, modernization, or
additions, provided that such additions do not increase the student capacity of
the facility substantially above the capacity for which it was
designed;
(5)
To develop a state-wide needs assessment for purposes of planning and developing
policies, anticipating state-wide needs for educational facilities, and
providing assistance to local school systems in developing educational
facilities plans. The state-wide needs assessment shall be developed from,
among other sources, vital statistics published by the Department of Human
Resources, census data published by the Bureau of the Census, local school
system educational facilities and real property inventories, educational
facilities surveys, full-time equivalent student projection research, and
educational facilities construction plans; shall reflect circumstances where
rapid population growth is caused by factors not reflected in full-time
equivalent student projection research;
shall consider
recent zoning actions and permits granted for new development as potential
growth indicators; and shall give priority
to elementary school construction. In addition, the state board shall develop a
consistent, systematic research approach to full-time equivalent student
projections which will be used in the development of needs within each local
unit, which
shall include, but not be limited to, the consideration of recent zoning actions
and permits granted for new development in the county or municipality comprising
the local school system as potential growth
indicators. Projections shall not be
confined to full-time equivalent resident students but shall be based on
full-time equivalent student counts which include full-time equivalent
nonresident students, whether or not such full-time equivalent nonresident
students attend school pursuant to a contract between local school systems. The
full-time equivalent projection shall be calculated in accordance with
subsection (m) of this Code section. The survey team will use such projections
in determining the improvements needed for the five-year planning period. The
state board shall also develop schedules for allowable square footage and cost
per square foot and review these schedules annually. The cost estimate for each
recommended improvement included in the plan shall be based on these schedules.
Any increase in cost or square footage for a project beyond that allowed by
state board schedules for such projects shall be the responsibility of the local
school system and shall not count toward present or future required local
participation. The schedules for allowable square footage and cost per square
foot shall be specified in regulations by the State Board of
Education;
(6)
To adopt policies, standards, and guidelines to ensure that the provisions of
subsections (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), and (k.1) of this Code section
relating to uses of state capital outlay funds, state and local share of costs,
entitlements, allocation of capital outlay funds, advance funding for certain
construction projects, exceptional growth construction projects, and
consolidation of schools across system lines are carried out;
(7)
To review and approve proposed sites and all architectural and engineering
drawings and specifications on construction projects for educational facilities
to ensure compliance with state standards and requirements, and inspect and
approve completed construction projects financed in whole or in part with state
funds, except construction projects under supervision of the Georgia State
Financing and Investment Commission. The state board may designate selected
local units of administration which have staff qualified for such purposes to
act on behalf of the Department of Education in such inspections, when the
project is not under the direction of the Georgia State Financing and Investment
Commission;
(8)
To coordinate construction project reviews with the state fire marshal´s
office and the Department of Human Resources;
(9)
To provide procedures whereby local school systems may revise their educational
facilities plans or the priority order of construction projects requested to
reflect unforeseen changes in locally identifiable needs,
including
unanticipated accelerated student enrollment growth over a two-year period which
such accelerated student enrollment growth is expected to continue based on an
increase in recent zoning actions and permits granted for new development in the
county or municipality comprising the local school system and other relevant
factors.
which
Such
revisions shall be approved by the State Board of Education, providing that
the
such
revisions meet state and local building codes, fire marshal certification,
architectural requirements, and minimum size requirements under subsection (q)
of this Code section; and
(10)
To adopt uniform rules, regulations, policies, standards, and criteria
respecting all location, construction, equipping, operating, maintenance, and
use of education facilities which are used as schools and that are historic
landmarks and which are registered as historic landmarks with the National
Register of Historic Places or the Georgia Register of Historic Places or are
certified by the state historic preservation officer as eligible for such
registration and the expenditure of capital outlay funds otherwise available to
a school system for such purposes.
(d)
In order to qualify for and receive state capital outlay funds in accordance
with provisions of subsections (g) and (h) of this Code section, each local
school system must meet the following conditions and requirements:
(1)
Prepare and annually update the real property inventory in accordance with
provisions of subsection (c) of this Code section;
(2)
Complete a local educational facilities plan in accordance with provisions of
subsection (c) of this Code section. Each proposed construction project shall be
identified according to the purposes for capital outlay funds as provided in
subsection (e) of this Code section. Each local school system shall specify the
order of importance of all proposed construction projects, giving priority to
elementary school construction projects. When two or more local school systems
agree on the need for a consolidation project pursuant to subsection (e) of this
Code section, the estimated construction cost shall be prorated to the
participating local school systems and included with their identification of
needs in accordance with the proportion of the number of students to be served
from each local school system;
(3)
Prepare and annually update the local educational facilities needs in accordance
with provisions of subsection (c) of this Code section;
(4)
Complete a comprehensive educational facilities survey at least once every five
years in accordance with provisions of subsection (c) of this Code section in
order to formulate plans for educational facilities to house adequately the
instructional program authorized by this article. Prior to initiating the
survey, the local school system must file a written request with the State Board
of Education that a survey be done in its behalf and recommending the
individuals who will conduct it. The cost of the survey shall be paid from
local funds;
(5)
Submit requests for capital outlay funds to the Department of
Education.
Capital outlay funds may be requested by the local school system pursuant to
this paragraph on a reimbursement basis or prior to or during construction on an
as-needed basis;
(6)
Submit descriptions of proposed educational facility sites and all architectural
and engineering drawings and specifications for educational facilities to the
Department of Education for review and approval in accordance with provisions of
subsection (c) of this Code section;
(7)
Revise the local educational facilities plan and priority order of requested
construction projects in accordance with provisions of subsection (c) of this
Code section,
including addressing unforeseen changes in locally identifiable needs based on
unanticipated accelerated student enrollment growth over a two-year
period;
(8)
Provide required local participation; and
(9)
The Bryan County and Laurens County school systems shall be considered sparsity
systems under Code Section 20-2-292 due to barriers which divide each of the
systems for the purpose of capital outlay funding. The State Board of Education
shall not apply base size criteria or require other criteria under Code Section
20-2-292 to Bryan County and Laurens County when qualifying requested
construction projects under this Code section."
"(m)
The State Board of Education shall implement a computerized student projection
program for each school system in Georgia as a component of the state-wide
comprehensive educational information system. The program shall be used in this
subsection to forecast facility needs in each system by projecting full-time
equivalent student counts for each grade level and shall be written in the
educational facilities survey. The projection program methodology at least must
correlate live-birth data to full-time equivalent student counts and project
full-time equivalent student counts for each of the grades, including
kindergarten, for each of the next five years using cohort survival.
Such
projection program methodology shall also consider, but not be limited to,
recent zoning actions and permits granted for new development in the county or
municipality comprising the local school system as potential growth indicators,
for purposes of projection of full-time equivalent student
counts."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.