LR #: 3490                                                                               Education Committee Bill “A”

SUMMARY

            This bill is introduced by the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Public Law 2007, Chapter 240, Section XXXX-47.  The bill proposes to make the following changes to clarify and improve the laws governing the formation of regional school units.

1.  It amends the definition of a school administrative unit to clarify that community school districts and kindergarten to grade eight school administrative districts that do not join a regional school unit can remain in operation after July 1, 2009.  The current law reconstitutes all kindergarten to grade eight school administrative districts as regional school units by July 1, 2009, but is silent on the ability of community school districts and kindergarten to grade eight school administrative districts to remain operational after that date.

2.  It changes the deadline by which a referendum must be held to January 16, 2009 and changes dates that are linked to the referendum date by the same amount of time.  The current law governing the reorganization of school administrative units requires that a referendum must be held on a proposed reorganization on or before November 4, 2008.

3.  It provides consistent language across the allocated and unallocated provisions in the law to clarify the budget referendum ballot question to be placed before the voters at a budget validation referendum vote.

4.  It clarifies and amends the budget approval and validation process provisions to: 

            A.  Increase the number of days from legislative body meeting to referendum validation from 10 days to 14 days;

            B.  Provide that absentee ballots may not be distributed until the day after the regional school unit budget meeting;

            C.  In the event that a regional school unit budget has not been approved and validated prior to the start of the fiscal year, authorizes municipalities to levy taxes based on most recent school budget approved by regional school unit board until a budget is validated by voters; and

            D.  Eliminates the need for two separate ballot question for the budget validation referendum vote and combines information on two votes into one document provided with the warrant for the referendum vote.

5.  It clarifies the debt liability of the school administrative units that are members of a career and technical education region, including the disposition of debt incurred for a school construction or renovation project at a career and technical education region by the school administrative units that are members of the career and technical education region.

6.  It clarifies the financial responsibility for the preservation of school choice in new regional school units where one or more member municipalities continue to tuition students to a school outside of the new regional school unit.  The provision provides that the member municipality is responsible for providing appropriations for any additional expense above the sending regional school unit tuition rate for students who are educated outside of the regional school unit.

7.  It clarifies the rights and obligations of regional school units concerning the reassignment of teachers and other employees of the regional school unit in the transitional period from the operational date of the regional school unit until the completion of negotiations for a regional school unit-wide collective bargaining agreement.

8.  It directs the Department of Education to conduct a review of the results of referenda votes on proposed reorganization plans and the status of the reorganization of school administrative units as regional school units consistent with the July 1, 2009 implementation timeline.  It also directs the department to develop recommendations related to the circumstances and criteria under which the Commissioner of Education could grant a waiver to a school administrative unit that has not complied with the implementation timelines, including any necessary flexibility that would provide the Commissioner with the authority to adjust the timelines for complying with the law, to waive penalties, or to approve an “alternative plan” submitted by a  reorganization planning committee.  It further directs the department to clarify what happens if voters of an individual school administrative unit fail to approve a reorganization plan which results in the school administrative unit not meeting the implementation timeline for reorganization.