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2003 SESSION
039010610Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 22.1-166.1 and 22.1-166.2 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 22.1-166.1. Loans to local school boards.
The Authority is authorized to make loans or loan interest rate subsidy
payments, from any of the funds of the Authority available for such purpose, to
local school boards for the purpose of acquiring and installing capital
projects for school purposes for which loans from the Literary Fund are not
immediately available. For the purpose of this section and § 22.1-166.2,
capital projects for school purposes shall mean motor vehicles and educational technology
equipment.
A. No loan from the Authority shall exceed 100 percent of the cost of the capital project for school purposes for which such loan is made.
B. A loan from the Authority shall be evidenced by notes payable to the Authority, executed or signed by the chairman of the school board, with the approval of the local governing body, attested by the clerk thereof and deposited with the State Treasurer. Payments of interest and principal on such notes shall be made to the State Treasurer. Any loan from the Authority shall be repayable in installments as shall be approved by the local school board, as appropriate, with the final installment being due not more than thirty years after the date of such loan. The time of payment may be extended in the discretion of the Authority.
C. The local governing bodies and the local school boards of the several school divisions are authorized to borrow money from the Authority, at such rate or rates, fixed or variable, as shall be approved by the local school board; any local school board to borrow from the Authority shall first make written application to the Authority for such loan on a form to be prescribed by the Authority.
D. The governing body of any county, city, or town, if the town constitutes the school division, in which the local school board has borrowed money from the Authority shall include in its levies, and appropriate to the local school board, a fund sufficient to meet the liabilities of the local school board on such loan if and to the extent such liabilities are not otherwise provided for by the General Assembly. The governing body of any county in which the local school board has borrowed money from the Authority for capital projects located in a town in such county constituting a separate school division shall have authority to include, in its levies for such town, a levy sufficient to meet the liabilities of the local school board on such loan if and to the extent such liabilities are not otherwise provided for by the General Assembly and shall levy a separate tax in the rest of the county to meet its liabilities on any contract for capital projects outside such town. In the event that such local school board shall fail to pay any installment of interest or principal promptly, upon notice in writing to that effect from the State Treasurer, the county, city, or town treasurer shall pay to the State Treasurer any such past due installment of interest or principal out of the funds in his hands belonging to such county, city, or town. The failure of such governing body to provide for the payment of such loan or the interest thereon when and as due shall be deemed a cause for removal of the members thereof from office on motion before the circuit court having jurisdiction in such county, city, or town, instituted by the attorney for the Commonwealth of such county or city or by the Attorney General where the attorney for the Commonwealth refuses or neglects to act after demand on him to proceed.
E. The local school board of any school division composed of part or all of a county, with the approval of the governing body of the county, is authorized to borrow from the Authority for the purpose of financing capital projects in such county to serve a portion of such county. Taxes on property in the magisterial districts served by such capital projects shall be levied by the governing body of the county and collected for the purpose of repaying such loan; for the purposes of this section, a magisterial district shall not include a town constituting a separate school division but the governing body of the county may levy a separate tax on property in a town in such county constituting a separate school division to repay money borrowed by such county from the Authority for the purpose of financing capital projects in such town. Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, all other provisions of law relating to loans from the Authority shall apply to a loan authorized by this subsection.
F. Any local school board which is indebted for any money borrowed from the Authority may anticipate the payment of the principal amount of any such loans, or any part thereof, by the payment of such principal amount with interest thereon to the date of such anticipated payment and may borrow money and issue bonds for the purpose of raising funds to pay any notes or other obligations of the local school board now and hereafter held by the Authority.
§ 22.1-166.2. Grants to local school boards.
The Authority is authorized to make grants of money, from any of the funds of
the Authority available for such purpose, to local school boards for the
purchase of capital projects for school purposes.
2. § 1. That this act shall be known and may be cited as the "School Construction Grant Act of 2003."
§ 2. The Virginia Public School Authority (the "Authority") shall provide a total of $1 billion in grants to the local school divisions of the Commonwealth to be used exclusively for school construction, school additions, or school infrastructure; site acquisition for public school buildings and facilities; or school renovations, including the costs of retrofitting or enlarging public school buildings. Such grants shall not be used to pay debt service of local governments, school boards, or school divisions. The amount of grants to be provided to each local school division shall be as provided in § 3 of this act. Funds for the payment of such grants shall be provided from the issuance of bonds by the Authority, with all bonds as required to raise such $1 billion being issued no later than January 1, 2010. The schedule for the issuance of such bonds and the payment of debt service on such bonds shall be as provided in the general appropriation act.
Such grants shall be in addition to all other grants made to local governments, school boards or school divisions, including, but not limited to, grants made (i) pursuant to the Virginia Public School Construction Grant Program (§ 22.1-175.1 et seq. of the Code of Virginia); (ii) pursuant to the Virginia Public School Educational Technology Grants Program (§ 22.1-175.6 et seq. of the Code of Virginia); or (iii) to local school boards by the Authority prior to July 1, 2003. In addition, such grants shall not replace or be in lieu of loans to local school boards or interest rate subsidy payments to local school boards pursuant to Chapter 11.1 of Title 22.1 and the issuance of such bonds and the payment of such grants shall not, except as herein provided, affect, or otherwise amend the provisions of such chapter as they relate to the powers and duties of the Authority, local school boards, local governments, or any other entity.
Such grants shall not be used to calculate or reduce the share of federal, state, or local revenues or funds otherwise available to local governments, school boards, or school divisions, nor shall they be used to calculate or reduce any allocation of revenues or funds including, but not limited to, state basic aid payments.
§ 3. The Authority shall provide a total of $500 million in grants to be distributed equally among all local school divisions, with each school division to receive $3,676,471 in grants. The Authority shall provide an additional $500 million in grants to be distributed to local school divisions on a set per pupil amount, based on each school division's actual September 30, 2002, fall membership data (as collected by the Department of Education) as a proportion of total actual September 30, 2002, fall membership data for all school divisions. The total amount of grants for each school division based on such required distributions shall be as follows:
Division Number Division Grant Allocation
001 Accomack $5,927,467
002 Albemarle 8,907,756
003 Alleghany 4,911,990
004 Amelia 4,418,733
005 Amherst 5,678,893
006 Appomattox 4,676,817
007 Arlington 11,636,446
008 Augusta 8,268,382
009 Bath 4,012,369
010 Bedford 7,891,847
011 Bland 4,067,704
012 Botetourt 5,709,154
013 Brunswick 4,689,354
014 Buchanan 5,291,118
015 Buckingham 4,622,780
016 Campbell 7,393,403
017 Caroline 5,254,805
018 Carroll 5,414,757
019 Charles City 4,066,839
020 Charlotte 4,618,889
021 Chesterfield 26,655,481
022 Clarke 4,555,773
023 Craig 3,979,082
024 Culpeper 6,275,902
025 Cumberland 4,270,021
026 Dickenson 4,814,722
027 Dinwiddie 5,592,865
028 Essex 4,363,831
029 Fairfax 71,869,509
030 Fauquier 8,007,271
031 Floyd 4,554,044
032 Fluvanna 5,083,613
033 Franklin 6,760,513
034 Frederick 8,400,666
035 Giles 4,780,137
036 Gloucester 6,406,025
037 Goochland 4,572,633
038 Grayson 4,667,307
039 Greene 4,825,097
040 Greensville 4,411,384
041 Halifax 6,214,515
042 Hanover 11,300,115
043 Henrico 22,419,786
044 Henry 7,271,061
045 Highland 3,799,677
046 Isle of Wight 5,832,793
047 James City 7,074,364
048 King George 4,992,398
049 King and Queen 4,059,490
050 King William 4,495,683
051 Lancaster 4,283,855
052 Lee 5,305,817
053 Loudoun 19,666,455
054 Louisa 5,506,837
055 Lunenburg 4,440,780
056 Madison 4,456,776
057 Mathews 4,249,703
058 Mecklenburg 5,807,287
059 Middlesex 4,234,140
060 Montgomery 7,618,632
062 Nelson 4,547,559
063 New Kent 4,738,204
065 Northampton 4,561,825
066 Northumberland 4,303,308
067 Nottoway 4,707,511
068 Orange 5,394,006
069 Page 5,209,413
070 Patrick 4,812,560
071 Pittsylvania 7,489,374
072 Powhatan 5,334,781
073 Prince Edward 4,843,686
074 Prince George 6,252,126
075 Prince William 29,196,551
077 Pulaski 5,816,798
078 Rappahannock 4,129,091
079 Richmond 4,202,150
080 Roanoke 9,772,793
081 Rockbridge 4,895,562
082 Rockingham 8,382,942
083 Russell 5,475,279
084 Scott 5,276,852
085 Shenandoah 6,106,008
086 Smyth 5,853,111
087 Southampton 4,867,895
088 Spotsylvania 12,885,367
089 Stafford 13,928,511
090 Surry 4,161,081
091 Sussex 4,268,292
092 Tazewell 6,701,287
093 Warren 5,918,821
094 Washington 6,763,971
095 Westmoreland 4,504,761
096 Wise 6,589,321
097 Wythe 5,534,072
098 York 8,859,339
101 Alexandria 8,381,213
102 Bristol 4,675,088
103 Buena Vista 4,145,518
104 Charlottesville 5,462,742
106 Colonial Heights 4,879,567
107 Covington 4,054,735
108 Danville 6,839,624
109 Falls Church 4,465,854
110 Fredericksburg 4,698,432
111 Galax 4,244,083
112 Hampton 13,575,753
113 Harrisonburg 5,410,434
114 Hopewell 5,347,318
115 Lynchburg 7,505,369
116 Martinsville 4,831,581
117 Newport News 17,300,899
118 Norfolk 18,540,741
119 Norton 3,980,379
120 Petersburg 6,042,891
121 Portsmouth 10,578,171
122 Radford 4,343,512
123 Richmond City 14,409,231
124 Roanoke City 9,351,298
126 Staunton 4,828,988
127 Suffolk 9,116,991
128 Virginia Beach 36,287,168
130 Waynesboro 4,940,954
131 Williamsburg 3,983,405
132 Winchester 5,180,017
134 Fairfax City 4,847,144
135 Franklin City 4,270,453
136 Chesapeake City 20,513,767
137 Lexington 3,954,873
138 Emporia 4,093,642
139 Salem 5,370,662
140 Bedford City 4,092,777
142 Poquoson 4,755,496
143 Manassas City 6,489,459
144 Manassas Park 4,659,958
202 Colonial Beach 3,919,424
207 West Point 4,010,640
Total Grants $1,000,000,000
§ 4. The Board of Education shall determine the priority for the payment of the grants set forth in § 3 of this act to each local school division. When the Board determines that a grant shall be paid to a local school division under this act, it shall provide a written certification to the chairman of the Authority directing him to make a grant payment in a specific amount to the local school division. The Board, however, shall not make such written certification until it has established that the Authority has sufficient funds to make such grant payment. The Authority shall only make grant payments to a local school division for the grants provided under this act upon receipt of such written certification. The Authority shall make such grant payments, and in the amounts as directed by the Board, within 30 days of receipt of the certification.
The Board shall issue guidelines for the priority for the payment of grants to local school divisions. Guidelines for the priority for the payment of grants shall provide, among other criteria, that grants shall be paid to local school divisions based upon (i) the need for the public school project in comparison to the need for public school projects in other local school divisions as determined by the Board, (ii) the readiness of the public school project for construction, building, or completion as determined by the Board, and (iii) the Authority having sufficient funds on hand to make such grant payments.
The guidelines shall also include, but shall not be limited to, (i) provisions which address approval by the local governing body of the construction, addition, or site acquisition for which grant moneys are sought by a local school division, (ii) the application for a grant by a local school division pursuant to this act, and (iii) the implementation of the procedure for disbursing grants to local school divisions.
§ 5. The Authority shall maintain separate accounts for the grants paid to local school divisions under this act and for bonds issued to raise funds for the payment of such grants. The Authority shall take all necessary and proper steps, as it is authorized to take under law, to carry out the provisions of this act.
§ 6. Beginning in 2004, the Board of Education shall make an annual report to the General Assembly on June 1 of each year reporting (i) the total grants paid during the prior calendar year to each local school division pursuant to the provisions of this act, and (ii) a detailed description of the public school projects for which the grants were used.
3. That the Virginia Public School Authority shall not incur more than a total of $250 million in debt or other payment obligations in any fiscal year in implementing the provisions of the second enactment of this act. "Debt or other payment obligations" means a source of funding, either directly or indirectly, through bonded indebtedness or other borrowings of the Authority except that it shall not include the (i) issuance costs, capitalized interest, reserve funds, and other financing expenses directly relating to bonds issued for implementation of the School Construction Grant Act of 2003 or (ii) bond anticipation notes, refunding bonds, or refunding bond anticipation notes issued or directly relating to implementation of the School Construction Grant Act of 2003.