Florida Senate - 2023                                     SB 964
       
       
        
       By Senator Calatayud
       
       
       
       
       
       38-00774A-23                                           2023964__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to charter school loans; creating s.
    3         1002.336, F.S.; establishing the Charter School
    4         Revolving Loan Program for a specified purpose;
    5         providing that funding for the program shall consist
    6         of specified funds; requiring the Department of
    7         Education to contract with a third-party administrator
    8         to administer the program; providing requirements for
    9         such third-party administrator; providing that loans
   10         made through the program do not imply the full faith
   11         and credit of the state; providing that loans provided
   12         by the third-party administrator are at the sole
   13         discretion of the third-party administrator; providing
   14         the purpose of the loans; requiring all loan documents
   15         to include specified language and be expressly agreed
   16         to by the third-party administrator and loan
   17         recipients; requiring the third-party administrator to
   18         electronically provide copies of certain loan
   19         documents to the department; requiring the department
   20         to post specified information on its website;
   21         requiring all repayments of principal and interest to
   22         be returned to the loan fund and made available for
   23         loans to other applicants; authorizing interest paid
   24         on loans to be used to defray the costs of program
   25         administration; providing an appropriation; providing
   26         an effective date.
   27          
   28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   29  
   30         Section 1. Section 1002.336, Florida Statutes, is created
   31  to read:
   32         1002.336 Charter School Revolving Loan Program.—
   33         (1) The Charter School Revolving Loan Program is
   34  established to provide assistance to charter school operators to
   35  meet school building financing needs for charter schools. The
   36  program shall consist of funds appropriated by the Legislature,
   37  philanthropic contributions, money received from the repayment
   38  of loans made from the program, and interest earned.
   39         (2) The Department of Education shall contract with a
   40  third-party administrator to administer the program. Funds shall
   41  be granted to the third-party administrator to create a
   42  revolving loan fund for the purpose of financing charter school
   43  facilities projects.
   44         (3) The third-party administrator must:
   45         (a) Have experience administering a loan fund rated “A” or
   46  higher from a major credit rating agency;
   47         (b) Have the infrastructure and expertise necessary to
   48  underwrite, source, and close charter school loans; and
   49         (c) Be able to leverage funds appropriated by the
   50  Legislature to produce an increase in capital of 900 percent or
   51  more to support the loan fund.
   52         (4) Loans made through the Charter School Revolving Loan
   53  Program do not imply the full faith and credit of the state and
   54  do not imply any consideration of credit worthiness, project
   55  viability, construction quality, ability to repay, or any other
   56  guarantee by the state.
   57         (5) Loans provided by the third-party administrator under
   58  this program are made at the discretion of the third-party
   59  administrator. The third-party administrator shall provide loans
   60  to enhance access to high-quality charter schools.
   61         (6) The information in subsection (4) must be included on
   62  all loan documents and expressly agreed to by the third-party
   63  administrator and any recipients of loans made under this
   64  program. All such loan documents must be electronically provided
   65  to the department.
   66         (7) The department shall post on its website the projects
   67  that have received loans, the geographic distribution of the
   68  projects, the status of the projects, the costs of the program,
   69  and student outcomes for students enrolled in the schools
   70  receiving funds.
   71         (8) All repayments of principal and interest must be
   72  returned to the loan fund and made available for loans to other
   73  applicants.
   74         (9) Interest on loans provided under the program may be
   75  used to defray the costs of administration.
   76         Section 2. For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the sum of $20
   77  million in nonrecurring funds is appropriated from the General
   78  Revenue Fund to the Department of Education to create the
   79  Charter School Revolving Loan Program established by this act.
   80         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.