You asked for brief summaries of bills the Education Committee reported favorably to the Finance Committee.

SB 373 – AAC TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL WIRING FOR TECHNOLOGY

This bill reserves up to 2% of the bond funds authorized for school wiring for regional vocational-technical school wiring projects. Under current law, V-T schools are not eligible to receive funds because they may only be used for competitive grants to school districts, regional education service centers, cooperative arrangements among boards of education, and state-approved endowed academies.

By law, funds must be used to upgrade or install wiring, including electrical, cable, or other distribution systems, and for infrastructure improvements to support telecommunications and other information transmission equipment used for education.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

sSB 378 – AAC THE DEFINITION OF “PER CAPITA INCOME” AND TAX CREDITS FOR DONATIONS OF COMPUTER EQUIPMENT TO NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS

§§ 1 & 2 – AGI as Basis of Per Capita Income for ECS Grant

This bill changes the definition of “per capita income” as used in the ECS formula from figures compiled by the U. S. Census Bureau to the federal adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of all the residents of each town divided by the town's population. Under current law, the formula uses Census numbers for the year two years before the fiscal year of the grant. Under the bill, the AGI figures would be for the most recent available year as determined by the Department of Revenue Services (DRS). The bill requires DRS to report the total AGI for each town to the State Board of Education and the education commissioner by August 1 annually.

In the ECS formula, per capita income is one of the income adjustments (the other is median household income) applied to each town's equalized net grand list to determine its wealth in relation to other towns.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007

§ 3 – Tax Credit for Computer Donations to Nonpublic Schools

The bill extends an existing corporation tax credit for businesses that donate new or used computers to public schools to include computer donations to nonpublic schools.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006 and applicable to income years starting on or after January 1, 2006.

sSB 434 – AAC FUNDING FOR EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE MINIMUM EXPENDITURE REQUIREMENT

§ 1 – ECS Base Aid Ratio

The bill reduces the minimum ECS base aid ratio for towns that are not priority school districts from 6% to zero. The base aid ratio is a percentage determined by the relationship of each town's wealth to the state guaranteed wealth level, which is 55% above the wealth of the

median town. The change in the base aid ratio means that certain wealthy towns will receive no increases in their ECS grants beyond what they are currently receiving, including increases budgeted for 2007.

§§ 2 - 6 – Equal Educational Opportunity Grants and Account

The bill requires any town that has both (1) higher-than-average per-pupil spending and (2) an effective education tax rate (school tax rate) of less than half the state average to pay the equivalent of 50% of its per-pupil education expenditures that exceed the state average into a separate, nonlapsing equal educational opportunity account within the General Fund. It requires OPM to distribute the funds in the account to towns whose school tax rates are higher than the state average according to their relative numbers of students and school tax rates.

Under the bill, OPM must collect town payments by withholding required amounts from any state grants payable to the town. If a town still owes additional money, OPM must seek payment from the town.

§ 7 – Minimum Expenditure Requirement Extension

The bill extends the current ECS minimum expenditure requirement through FY 07.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The section concerning the distribution of equal educational opportunity grants is effective July 1, 2007. All other sections take effect July 1, 2006.

SB 573 – AA AUTHORIZING BONDS OF THE STATE FOR CHESHIRE HIGH SCHOOL

The bill authorizes $ 850,000 in bonds to install artificial turf on the Cheshire High School football field.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

sSB 636 – AAC AUTHORIZATION OF STATE GRANT COMMITMENTS FOR SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECTS AND OTHER SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES

§ 1 (1) – Priority List School Construction Projects

The bill authorizes $ 514. 9 million in state grant commitments for 58 school construction projects of various types as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: New School Projects Authorized

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

§ 1 (2) Project Reauthorizations

The bill reauthorizes 43 previously authorized projects that have changed substantially (more than 10%) in cost or scope. The reauthorizations increase estimated state grant commitments for the projects by $ 227 million as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Reauthorized Projects

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

§§ 2 & 3 – Waivers

The bill waives certain school construction requirements to make a project for Bugbee School in West Hartford eligible for state reimbursement and to increase the possible reimbursement for Bristow Middle School in West Hartford.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

§§ 4 & 8(a) (10) – Turn-Key Projects

The bill requires the State Department of Education (SDE) to approve the final plans for all construction work on a “turn-key” school project before the project is eligible for state reimbursement. It defines a turn-key project one where a school district agrees to buy a building that another party will build or renovate and turn over to the school district upon completion. The new requirement applies to turn-key projects for which a school district makes a grant application on or after July 1, 2006.

The bill also exempts these projects from standard space rules and allows reimbursement for otherwise ineligible repairs to them, if the school district documents that (1) buying the turn-key facility will cost less than building the project in a different way and (2) the facility will have a useful life comparable to a new building.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 5 – School Facilities Report

The bill requires school districts to report to SDE on the condition of their school facilities every other year rather than every year. It also makes SDE's school facilities report to the Education Committee biennial rather than annual.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 6 – Architects and Construction Managers for V-T School Projects

The bill requires the Department of Public Works to make sure that there is no other business relationship between an architect and a construction manager working on a vocational-technical school construction project.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 7 – Limit on State Reimbursement for Professional Management Fees

The bill limits state reimbursement for the cost of school construction project professional management to the fees for one architect and one construction manager.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 8 (c) – Limit on Reimbursement for Change Orders

Starting July 1, 2006, the bill limits state reimbursements for change orders on school projects costing more than $ 10 million. It grants full reimbursement for change orders totaling up to 5% of the project's cost and reduces the reimbursement for change orders exceeding that amount to 50%.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 9 – Limits on Reauthorizations for Changes in Scope or Cost

The bill allows state reimbursement for a school construction project that has changed in scope or cost to an extent determined by SDE only if it appears on the SDE's school priority list submitted to the General Assembly each December. SDE currently submits for legislative reauthorization any project whose cost or scope has increased by at least 10% since its previous authorization. The bill requires the SDE to list projects being submitted for a second reauthorization in a separate table on the December 2006 and all subsequent lists. Starting July 1, 2006, the bill prohibits any project from being submitted for more than two such reauthorizations.

Starting July 1, 2006, the bill also bars school projects not previously authorized as interdistrict magnet schools from receiving a reimbursement percentage that is higher than their original percentage through a reauthorization.

Finally, the bill exempts state-reimbursed code violation and emergency indoor air projects from a requirement that a district refund the state school construction grant for a project if it sells or redirects the school's use within a 20-year period if the project cost more than $ 2 million or within a 10-year period if the project costs less.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 10 – Contracts for Architectural Services on School Projects

The bill establishes criteria for architectural services contracts used on state-reimbursed school construction projects. It requires the contracts to have specified provisions and bars them from including any form contracts provided by either the architect or a professional association of architects.

The bill also requires architectural consultants to keep confidential any information they obtain from a town or school district as a result of their contracts for school projects. It bars them from selling or otherwise publishing the information or using it for their own or another's benefit without the town's or district's written consent. It also makes the town or district the owner of any reports and documents the architect prepares as part of the contract.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 11 – Additional School Construction Reimbursement for Towns Affected by the ECS Cap

The bill increases the state reimbursement rate for school construction projects authorized after January 1, 2006 for any town that, in any of the 10 years before the school construction grant is calculated, has been subject to the ECS grant cap. The increase must equal the amount needed to compensate the town for all the grant funds it lost through the ECS cap but, for each individual project, be no greater than (1) its ordinary reimbursement percentage plus 20 percentage points or (2) a 90% state reimbursement.

The increased reimbursement may apply to more than one town project if necessary to reimburse the town for the full amount of its ECS cap losses.

(COMMENT: (1) The bill does not specify any formula or mechanism for distributing ECS cap losses of a regional school district's member towns to the regional district's school construction projects. ECS grants are paid to towns, while school construction grants go to school districts. (2) Since the increased reimbursements required by this section apply to projects authorized by the bill itself, the grant commitments for projects listed in §1 should be adjusted accordingly. )

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2006

§ 12 – Design-Build Pilot Program

The bill extends for another year a pilot program under which SDE may authorize up to two design-build school construction projects per year, making it a five-year instead of a three-year program. It delays the required SDE report on the program to the Education and Finance committees from January 15, 2006 to January 15, 2008.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

§ 13 – Prototypical School Building Plans

The bill allows SDE to receive up to $ 1 million to develop prototypical school building plans and specifications that school districts may use, without cost, for building school projects. SDE must recommend legislation to encourage districts to use the plans to the Education Committee by January 1, 2007. (COMMENT: The bill does not specify the source of the $ 1 million allocation for SDE. )

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

ENERGY BILL FAVORABLY REPORTED FROM EDUCATION TO FINANCE

sHB 5523 – AAC Energy Efficiency

The bill:

1. requires state-funded buildings, including schools, to meet energy/environmental standards (silver rating under LEED standards, two globes under Green Globes standard, or comparable standards) for new construction over $ 5 million and renovations over $ 2 million;

2. requires the state to pay 100% of the difference as part of the school construction grant if complying with this requirement increases the capital cost of a school project;

3. as of January 1, 2008, adopts energy efficiency standards for a wide range of appliances and equipment, including residential furnaces purchased by the state, walk-in refrigerators, and certain lamps;

4. requires equipment and appliances bought by the Department of Administrative Services to comply with federal Energy Star standards; and

5. allows residential electric customers to get credits from electric companies for the power they conserve or that they generate from technologies such as fuel cells.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2006

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