Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §15905, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 410, Pt. ZZZ, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

5.__Approval criteria.__In approving school construction projects, the state board shall ensure that:

A.__A school administrative unit has made efficient use of existing school facilities within the unit and has explored and, when feasible, developed agreements for sharing facilities with neighboring school administrative units; and

B.__Beginning with the 2003-2004 rating cycle for school construction project applications, the rating points assigned to a school construction project application for the rating cycle in progress are not adjusted, reduced or affected due to improvements made to existing buildings that relate directly to protecting the health or safety of staff or students, as long as the school construction project application involved received a rating on the school facilities priority list for the most recent rating cycle and the improvements were made subsequent to the submission of the most recent application.__The state board shall adopt or amend the rules relating to the rating and approval of school construction projects.__ Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in the Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

SUMMARY

This bill establishes a so-called "hold harmless" provision to protect school administrative units that are completing health and safety improvements to their school facilities from losing points in the rating process used by the State Board of Education to evaluate school construction project applications. The bill provides that, beginning with the 2003-2004 rating cycle for school construction project applications, the State Board of Education shall ensure that the rating points assigned to a project application for the rating cycle in progress are not adjusted, reduced or affected by improvements made to existing buildings that relate directly to protecting the health or safety of staff or students, as long as the project application involved received a rating on the school facilities priority list for the 2001- 2002 rating cycle and the improvements were made subsequent to the submission of the 2003-2004 application. The bill also directs the State Board of Education to adopt or amend rules relating to the rating and approval of school construction projects.