Three bills are in the queue will decide what happens with the future of the Capital Outlay fund.

 

House Bill 1198, which repeals certain Capital Outlay provisions, Senate Bill 94, which revises provisions for the capital outlay fund, and Senate Bill 170, which revises certain provisions regarding school district capital outlay funds, are all awaiting hearings in committee and will undoubtedly have an effect on the future of the Capital Outlay fund.

 

There are two current and impending constraints on the Capital Outlay fund:

• A district’s capital outlay total can only grow each year by 3 percent or inflation, whichever is less; plus any new construction;
• There is an alternative maximum capital outlay cap that will be imposed on a per-student basis at $2,800 per-student, beginning the 2020-21 school year and will increase at 3 percent or inflation, whichever is less.

HB 1198 would be a full repeal of both of the above provisions. SB 94 would remove the growth cap and set a levy floor of 2.75 per thousand dollars of valuation, as well as increase the alternative maximum capital outlay cap to $3,800 per-student.

 

ASBSD supports both bills.

 

SB 170 would increase the alternative maximum capital outlay cap to $3,000 per-student, allows for an opt-out option for the capital outlay fund and permits school districts to levy up to 3.50 per thousand dollars of valuation IF the district is limited to maximum capital outlay revenue of $1,000 or less per student in calendar year 2020 AND has a capital outlay balance of $400,00 or less as of June 30, 2019.

 

ASBSD opposes the bill.

 

Each of the bills are assigned to their respective chambers’ education committees. Previously, Senate Bill 67, which would have allowed sparse school districts to choose between the $2,800 alternative maximum cap or the $3 per thousand dollars of taxable valuation whichever raised more funding, was defeated.

 

The three bills must be out of their respective committees by Wednesday, February 26, which is the deadline for all bills to emanate from the committee in which they were initially assigned.

 

For updates on these bills, as well as other funding related bills, check the ASBSD Blog and Bill Tracker page.