H-5327              _______________________________________________

                                          SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 2054

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By House Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Representatives Grimm and Peery)

Read first time 2/29/88.

AN ACT Relating to authorizing waivers of state matching requirements for school construction projects without increasing the maximum amount of state assistance; and amending RCW 28A.47.801.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 2, chapter 244, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. as last amended by section 18, chapter 154, Laws of 1980 and RCW 28A.47.801 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Funds appropriated to the state board of education from the common school construction fund shall be allotted by the state board of education in accordance with student enrollment as computed for the purposes of RCW 28A.41.140 and the provisions of RCW 28A.47.800 through 28A.47.811((:  PROVIDED, That)).

(2) No allotment shall be made to a school district ((for the purpose aforesaid)) until such district has provided matching funds equal to the difference between the total approved project cost and the amount of state assistance to the district for financing the project computed pursuant to RCW 28A.47.803, with the following exceptions:

(a) The state board may waive the matching requirement for districts which:  (i) Have held elections for school bond issues at least twice during each of the previous two years; (ii) have not authorized any bond issues submitted to the voters in the past two years;  (iii) have total enrollments in kindergarten through grade twelve during the current school year which exceed the total student capacity of all existing school facilities, as determined by the state board, by at least fifty percent; and (iv) have an adjusted assessed valuation per full-time equivalent resident pupil which is less than the state-wide average.  If the state board of education waives the matching requirement for a project under this subsection (a), the amount of state assistance for the project shall be limited to the state matching percentage for the district as determined under RCW 28A.47.803 (2) and (3), multiplied by the maximum matchable cost for the actual square footage of the project as determined by state board of education rules.  After the state board of education has granted a waiver under this subsection (a), the district may raise additional local funding for the project without affecting the amount of state assistance provided for the project.  However, any square footage constructed with state or local funds under this subsection (a) shall be included in determining the district's future eligibility for state assistance.

(b) The state board may waive the matching requirement for districts which have provided funds for school building construction purposes through the authorization of bonds or through the authorization of excess tax levies or both in an amount equivalent to two and one-half percent of the value of its taxable property, as defined in RCW 39.36.015((, or such lesser amount as may be required by the state board of education:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That)).

(c) No such matching funds shall be required as a condition to the allotment of funds for the purpose of making major or minor structural changes to existing school facilities in order to bring such facilities into compliance with the handicapped access requirements of section 504 of the federal rehabilitation act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 706) and rules implementing the act.

(3) The state board of education shall prescribe and make effective such rules and regulations as are necessary to equate insofar as possible the efforts made by school districts to provide capital funds by the means aforesaid.