Florida Senate - 2019                                     SB 294
       
       
        
       By Senator Montford
       
       
       
       
       
       3-00488-19                                             2019294__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to educational facilities; amending s.
    3         1013.31, F.S.; authorizing a school district, in the
    4         absence of a survey recommendation, to use funds from
    5         a taxpayer-approved bond referendum to fund
    6         construction of educational, auxiliary, or ancillary
    7         facilities and to use funds from a specified district
    8         school tax for certain capital outlay purposes;
    9         amending s. 1013.64, F.S.; prohibiting a district
   10         school board from using funds from any source, other
   11         than specified local sources, for certain new
   12         construction of educational plant space; requiring the
   13         Commissioner of Education to annually adjust the cost
   14         per student station based on certain factors;
   15         requiring the commissioner to annually report the cost
   16         per student station to the State Board of Education by
   17         a specified date; removing a prohibition on the use of
   18         funds for certain new construction; revising the costs
   19         that may not be included in calculating the cost per
   20         student station; requiring the Office of Economic and
   21         Demographic Research to update the Review of Florida’s
   22         Cost per Student Station; requiring the updated report
   23         to include specified information and recommendations;
   24         requiring the office to provide the updated report to
   25         the Governor and the Legislature by a certain date;
   26         providing an effective date.
   27          
   28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   29  
   30         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
   31  1013.31, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   32         1013.31 Educational plant survey; localized need
   33  assessment; PECO project funding.—
   34         (1) At least every 5 years, each board shall arrange for an
   35  educational plant survey, to aid in formulating plans for
   36  housing the educational program and student population, faculty,
   37  administrators, staff, and auxiliary and ancillary services of
   38  the district or campus, including consideration of the local
   39  comprehensive plan. The Department of Education shall document
   40  the need for additional career and adult education programs and
   41  the continuation of existing programs before facility
   42  construction or renovation related to career or adult education
   43  may be included in the educational plant survey of a school
   44  district or Florida College System institution that delivers
   45  career or adult education programs. Information used by the
   46  Department of Education to establish facility needs must
   47  include, but need not be limited to, labor market data, needs
   48  analysis, and information submitted by the school district or
   49  Florida College System institution.
   50         (a) Educational plant survey and localized need assessment
   51  for capital outlay purposes.—A district may only use funds only
   52  from the following sources for educational, auxiliary, and
   53  ancillary plant capital outlay purposes in the absence of
   54  without needing a survey recommendation:
   55         1. The local capital outlay improvement fund, consisting of
   56  funds that come from and are a part of the district’s basic
   57  operating budget;
   58         2. A taxpayer-approved bond referendum, to fund
   59  construction of If a board decides to build an educational,
   60  auxiliary, or ancillary facility without a survey recommendation
   61  and the taxpayers approve a bond referendum, the voted bond
   62  referendum;
   63         3. One-half cent sales surtax revenue;
   64         4. One cent local governmental surtax revenue;
   65         5. Impact fees; and
   66         6. Private gifts or donations; and
   67         7. The district school tax levied pursuant to s.
   68  1011.71(2).
   69         Section 2. Subsection (6) of section 1013.64, Florida
   70  Statutes, is amended to read:
   71         1013.64 Funds for comprehensive educational plant needs;
   72  construction cost maximums for school district capital
   73  projects.—Allocations from the Public Education Capital Outlay
   74  and Debt Service Trust Fund to the various boards for capital
   75  outlay projects shall be determined as follows:
   76         (6)(a) Each district school board must meet all educational
   77  plant space needs of its elementary, middle, and high schools
   78  before spending funds from the Public Education Capital Outlay
   79  and Debt Service Trust Fund or the School District and Community
   80  College District Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund for
   81  any ancillary plant or any other new construction, renovation,
   82  or remodeling of ancillary space. Expenditures to meet such
   83  space needs may include expenditures for site acquisition; new
   84  construction of educational plants; renovation, remodeling, and
   85  maintenance and repair of existing educational plants, including
   86  auxiliary facilities; and the directly related costs of such
   87  services of school district personnel. It is not the intent of
   88  the Legislature to preclude the use of capital outlay funding
   89  for the labor costs necessary to accomplish the authorized uses
   90  for the capital outlay funding. Day-labor contracts or any other
   91  educational facilities contracting and construction techniques
   92  pursuant to s. 1013.45 are authorized. Additionally, if a school
   93  district has salaried maintenance staff whose duties consist
   94  solely of performing the labor necessary to accomplish the
   95  authorized uses for the capital outlay funding, such funding may
   96  be used for those salaries; however, if a school district has
   97  salaried staff whose duties consist partially of performing the
   98  labor necessary to accomplish the authorized uses for the
   99  capital outlay funding, the district shall prorate the portion
  100  of salary of each such employee that is based on labor for
  101  authorized capital outlay funding, and such funding may be used
  102  to pay that portion.
  103         (b)1. A district school board may not use funds from any
  104  source except the local sources specified in s. 1013.31(1)(a)
  105  the following sources: Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt
  106  Service Trust Fund; School District and Community College
  107  District Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund; Classrooms
  108  First Program funds provided in s. 1013.68; nonvoted 1.5-mill
  109  levy of ad valorem property taxes provided in s. 1011.71(2);
  110  Classrooms for Kids Program funds provided in s. 1013.735;
  111  District Effort Recognition Program funds provided in s.
  112  1013.736; or High Growth District Capital Outlay Assistance
  113  Grant Program funds provided in s. 1013.738 for any new
  114  construction of educational plant space with a total cost per
  115  student station, including change orders, which that equals more
  116  than:
  117         a. $17,952 for an elementary school,
  118         b. $19,386 for a middle school, or
  119         c. $25,181 for a high school,
  120  
  121  (January 2006) as adjusted annually to reflect increases or
  122  decreases in the Consumer Price Index. In addition, the
  123  commissioner shall annually adjust the cost per student station
  124  based on unforeseen economic factors that impact the cost of
  125  construction for educational facilities and construction
  126  industry cost increases that exceed the price level increases
  127  captured in the Consumer Price Index, including, but not limited
  128  to, the availability and cost of labor, the availability and
  129  cost of construction materials generally used to construct
  130  public educational facilities, the impact of significant weather
  131  events, and changes in building, fire, and safety codes and
  132  other related state and federal laws and policies. The
  133  commissioner shall report the annually adjusted cost per student
  134  station to the State Board of Education by January 1, 2020, and
  135  each January 1 thereafter.
  136         2. School districts shall maintain accurate documentation
  137  related to the costs of all new construction of educational
  138  plant space reported to the Department of Education pursuant to
  139  paragraph (d). The Auditor General shall review the
  140  documentation maintained by the school districts and verify
  141  compliance with the limits under this paragraph during its
  142  scheduled operational audits of the school district. The
  143  department shall make the final determination on district
  144  compliance based on the recommendation of the Auditor General.
  145         3. Effective July 1, 2017, in addition to the funding
  146  sources listed in subparagraph 1., a district school board may
  147  not use funds from any sources for new construction of
  148  educational plant space with a total cost per student station,
  149  including change orders, which equals more than the current
  150  adjusted amounts provided in sub-subparagraphs 1.a.-c. which
  151  shall subsequently be adjusted annually to reflect increases or
  152  decreases in the Consumer Price Index. However, If a contract
  153  has been executed for architectural and design services or for
  154  construction management services before July 1, 2017, a district
  155  school board may use funds from any source for the new
  156  construction of educational plant space and such funds are
  157  exempt from the total cost per student station requirements.
  158         4. A district school board must not use funds from the
  159  Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund or
  160  the School District and Community College District Capital
  161  Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund for any new construction of
  162  an ancillary plant that exceeds 70 percent of the average cost
  163  per square foot of new construction for all schools.
  164         (c) Except as otherwise provided, new construction for
  165  which a contract has been executed for architectural and design
  166  services or for construction management services by a district
  167  school board on or after July 1, 2017, may not exceed the cost
  168  per student station as provided in paragraph (b). A school
  169  district that exceeds the cost per student station provided in
  170  paragraph (b), as determined by the Auditor General, shall be
  171  subject to sanctions. If the Auditor General determines that the
  172  cost per student station overage is de minimis minimus or due to
  173  extraordinary circumstances outside the control of the district,
  174  the sanctions shall not apply. The sanctions are as follows:
  175         1. The school district shall be ineligible for allocations
  176  from the Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust
  177  Fund for the next 3 years in which the school district would
  178  have received allocations had the violation not occurred.
  179         2. The school district shall be subject to the supervision
  180  of a district capital outlay oversight committee. The oversight
  181  committee is authorized to approve all capital outlay
  182  expenditures of the school district, including new construction,
  183  renovations, and remodeling, for 3 fiscal years following the
  184  violation.
  185         a. Each oversight committee shall be composed of the
  186  following:
  187         (I) One appointee of the Commissioner of Education who has
  188  significant financial management, school facilities
  189  construction, or related experience.
  190         (II) One appointee of the office of the state attorney with
  191  jurisdiction over the district.
  192         (III) One appointee of the Chief Financial Officer who is a
  193  licensed certified public accountant.
  194         b. An appointee to the oversight committee may not be
  195  employed by the school district; be a relative, as defined in s.
  196  1002.33(24)(a)2., of any school district employee; or be an
  197  elected official. Each appointee must sign an affidavit
  198  attesting to these conditions and affirming that no conflict of
  199  interest exists in his or her oversight role.
  200         (d) The department shall:
  201         1. Compute for each calendar year the statewide average
  202  construction costs for facilities serving each instructional
  203  level, for relocatable educational facilities, for
  204  administrative facilities, and for other ancillary and auxiliary
  205  facilities. The department shall compute the statewide average
  206  costs per student station for each instructional level.
  207         2. Annually review the actual completed construction costs
  208  of educational facilities in each school district. For any
  209  school district in which the total actual cost per student
  210  station, including change orders, exceeds the statewide limits
  211  established in paragraph (b), the school district shall report
  212  to the department the actual cost per student station and the
  213  reason for the school district’s inability to adhere to the
  214  limits established in paragraph (b). The department shall
  215  collect all such reports and shall provide these reports to the
  216  Auditor General for verification purposes.
  217  
  218  Cost per student station includes contract costs, legal and
  219  administrative costs, fees of architects and engineers,
  220  furniture and equipment, and site improvement costs. Cost per
  221  student station does not include legal and administrative costs,
  222  architect and engineer fees, furniture and equipment costs, the
  223  cost of purchasing or leasing the site, the cost of constructing
  224  covered walkways, the costs of public shelter and hurricane
  225  hardening requirements, for the construction or the cost of
  226  offsite and related improvements related offsite improvements.
  227  Cost per student station also does not include the cost of any
  228  security enhancements, including, but not limited to, the cost
  229  for securing entries, checkpoint construction, lighting
  230  specifically designed for entry point security, security
  231  cameras, automatic locks and locking devices, electronic
  232  security systems, fencing designed to prevent intruder entry
  233  into a building, bullet-proof glass, or other capital
  234  construction items approved by the school safety specialist to
  235  ensure building security for new educational, auxiliary, or
  236  ancillary facilities; costs for these items must be below 2
  237  percent per student station.
  238         Section 3. The Office of Economic and Demographic Research,
  239  in consultation with local school districts, shall update the
  240  report issued in January 2017 entitled Review of Florida’s Cost
  241  per Student Station. The updated report must include
  242  recommendations for modification by the Legislature of the cost
  243  per student station model or implementation of a cost-per
  244  square-foot model for new school construction. The report also
  245  must include at least the following: a transparent and
  246  replicable categorization of costs, the use of an index or
  247  process that reflects changes in construction costs, and the
  248  development of a system that may be used to forecast costs of
  249  new construction over time. The office shall provide the updated
  250  report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the
  251  Speaker of the House of Representatives no later than December
  252  1, 2019.
  253         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.