State Cooperative School Construction Fund

State Program for School District Building Construction
Idaho Code §33-909
Public School Facilities Cooperative Funding Program

Summary

This section of Idaho Code defines a funding process for School Districts that seek to replace unsafe school buildings. The process may be initiated either by a local Board of Trustees or by the administrator of the State Division of Building Safety. In either case, a new school proposal is submitted to the Public School Facilities Cooperative Funding Program panel. The panel reviews the proposal and may approve, modify, or reject it. If approved or modified, the proposal then goes to local voters in a Bond Election. If voters fail to approve the bond, the Public School Facilities Cooperative Funding Program will initiate funding, designate a district supervisor to oversee the project, and complete the approved or modified plan for the district’s new school. The Public School Facilities Cooperative Funding Program administrators will then levy taxes on the school district community to repay the cooperative funding program for the new school project.


Eligibility

Any school district that has failed to approve at least one (1) or more bond levies for the repair, renovation or replacement of existing unsafe facilities, within the two (2) year period immediately preceding submission of the application is eligible to apply for Public School Facilities Cooperative Funding Program funds.


Process Sequence – District Initiated Proposal

1. Local Board of Trustees identifies unsafe school conditions.
(a) Building Inspections
(b) Engineering Evaluations/Reports

2. Local Board of Trustees submits proposal, including:
(a) The identified school building safety hazards and such other information necessary to document the deficiencies [engineering reports and inspections];
(b) The school district's plan for abating the defects, including costs and sources and amounts of revenue available to the school district [DesignWest proposal];
(c) The market value for assessment purposes of the school district [total tax base for district tax valuation]; and
(d) A detailed accounting of all bond and plant facility levies of the school district and the revenues raised by such levies.

3. Public School Facilities Cooperative Funding Program panel reviews the proposal and either approves, modifies, or rejects the plan.

4. If the plan is approved or modified, Local Board of Trustees submits funding for the plan (Bond Proposal) to district voters.

5. If the Bond proposal is approved, the Local Board of Trustees moves forward with the Bond and new school construction.

6. If rejected, “the state board of education shall appoint a district supervisor for interim state supervision of the local school district. The district supervisor shall be responsible for ensuring that the project, as approved by the panel, is completed and shall regularly report to the panel in a manner as determined by the panel upon approval of the project.” (IC §33-909) A State-appointed construction manager is appointed to oversee the Salmon District project.

7. Taxes will then be levied by the state on the local district tax base to repay the cost of the project.

Process Sequence – State Division of Building Safety Initiated Proposal

Steps 1 and 2 above are initiated by the administrator of the State Division of Building Safety. Steps 3-7 proceed as listed above, using the plan proposed by the administrator of the State Division of Building Safety.


Implications for Salmon District #291

- We currently have both engineering studies and inspection reports necessary to initiate a proposal.
- We have run multiple failed Bond elections in the past two years.
- We have a cost-effective plan for consolidating two unsafe schools (along with CDC and Life Skills buildings) into a single ADA compliant facility.
- Once application is made, the District has no control over modifications State fund administrators may make on the plan we submit.
- Once the plan is approved or modified, the District has no control over supervision of the completion of the plan.
- The Salmon Community will ultimately pay for the project whether approved as a Bond or completed under direction of the State Board’s appointed supervisor. We are currently investigating the actual tax impact (term and levy amount) if the State initially funds the project, then sets repayment rates for our community.