An Act To Redefine the Method by Which the Department of Education Determines Cost Sharing for School Construction and Renovation Projects for Municipalities within a School Administrative Unit

CONCEPT DRAFT SUMMARY

This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.

This bill proposes to amend the current education statutes pertaining to the methods by which the Department of Education determines how the costs for school construction and renovation projects are shared among the member municipalities of a school administrative unit. The bill would implement:

1. An alternative method for determining the sharing of costs for a school construction or renovation project among member municipalities of a school administrative unit comparable to the methods established under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 1481-A, subsection 3; and

2. An amendment to the provisions of the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act regarding the sharing of debt service costs related to school construction and renovation projects in order to more equitably distribute the local share of school construction and renovation project costs among the member municipalities of a school administrative unit by including the number of resident pupils in each municipality and the property fiscal capacity of each municipality as the basis for sharing the debt service costs related to school construction and renovation projects.