The Akron Legal News

Bill would put merged school districts ahead of others on new building funding list

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: September 29, 2016

A pair of northeast Ohio lawmakers are looking to amend state law governing the methodology employed by the Ohio School Facilities Commission when funding construction of public school buildings.

Senate Bill 354, sponsored jointly by Republican Sen. John Eklund of Chardon and his Democrat colleague, Sen. Capri Cafaro of Hubbard, would require the School Facilities Commission to give priority for project funding to school districts, resulting from certain types of transfers, mergers, or consolidations.

Qualifying districts, however, must first demonstrate an efficient use of facility space as determined by the commission, the bill stipulates.

The bill would apply to all city, local or exempted village school districts throughout the Buckeye State in which the district’s status was changed between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2018.

The qualifying district transfers, mergers and consolidations are defined as follows:

• A transfer of all of the territory of one school district to another school district in accordance with section 3311.22, 3311.231, 3311.24, or 3311.38 of the Revised Code;

• The merger of two or more districts in accordance with section 3311.25 of the Revised Code;

• The creation of a new local school district from all of one or more local school districts in accordance with section 3311.26 of the Revised Code; or

• The consolidation of two or more school districts under section 3311.37 of the Revised Code.

Any district’s evaluation of its efficient use of facility space must include a reduction in the number of buildings used by students and administrative staff, according to language of the bill.

“If the commission determines that a district is an eligible school district, the commission shall give that district first priority for funding for a project ... as such funds become available, regardless of the district’s percentile rank,” the text of SB 354 detailed. “If the district results from a transfer, merger, consolidation, or creation of a new local district that takes effect prior to the effective date of this section, the district’s portion of the basic project cost shall be the required percentage of the basic project cost based on the percentile ranking of the district that was transferred, merged, consolidated, or existed prior to the creation of the new district that has the lowest three-year average adjusted valuation per pupil, as calculated ... on the date that the transfer, merger, consolidation, or creation of the new district became effective.”

The commission may reduce an eligible district’s portion of the basic project cost by 25 percent of the portion determined under section 3318.032 of the Revised Code, according to the bill. At no time, however, shall a district’s portion of the basic project cost be less than five percent.

Projects satisfying certain conditions may qualify for a 10 percent reduction of the district’s portion.

Those would include projects involving construction of a building on land owned by a state institution of higher education that participates in the college credit plus program in which the parties enter into a written agreement — subsequently approved by the commission — regarding the continued use of the institution’s land by the district.

At no time, however, would the district’s portion of the basic project cost be less than five percent.

The bill, which is cosponsored by a trio of senators, had not been assigned to committee for hearing as of publication.

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