H-1046              _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 328

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Representatives Betrozoff, Walker, Miller and Ebersole

Read first time 1/23/87 and referred to Committee on Education.

AN ACT Relating to the transfer or annexation of territory from a school district; amending RCW 28A.57.060; adding new sections to chapter 28A.57 RCW; and making appropriations.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 28A.57.060, chapter 223, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. as amended by section 12, chapter 385, Laws of 1985 and RCW 28A.57.060 are each amended to read as follows:

          The powers and duties of the state board with respect to this chapter shall be:

          (1) To aid regional committees in the performance of their duties by furnishing them with plans of procedure, standards, data, maps, forms, and other necessary materials and services essential to a study and understanding of the problems of school district organization in their respective educational service districts.

          (2) To receive, file, and examine the proposals and the maps, reports, records, and other materials relating thereto submitted by regional committees and to approve such proposals and so notify the regional committees when said proposals are found to provide for satisfactory improvement in the school district system of the counties and the state and for an equitable adjustment of the assets and liabilities of the school districts involved or affected:  PROVIDED, That whenever the state board approves a recommendation from a regional committee for the annexation or transfer of territory from one school district to another school district, such state board approval must be made not later than March 1 of any given year for implementation the school year immediately following:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That whenever such proposals are found by the state board to be unsatisfactory or inequitable, the board shall so notify the regional committee and, upon request, assist the committee in making revisions which revisions shall be resubmitted within sixty days after such notification for reconsideration and approval or disapproval.  Implementation of state board-approved annexations or transfers of territory from one school district to another school district shall become effective at the commencement of the next school year unless an earlier implementation is agreed upon in writing by the boards of directors of the affected school districts.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The state shall provide for any district whose boundaries are reduced in accordance with this chapter, compensation for three years for the net loss of basic education allocation and categorical and other state funding that would have otherwise been distributed to that district.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     In determining the equitable adjustment of assets and liabilities under this chapter, the following conditions shall apply:

          (1) For the purpose of fulfilling any outstanding levy obligation or bond obligation or both in the school district from which the affected territory has been ordered transferred or annexed, which obligation or obligations were approved by the voters before the order approving the transfer or annexation, and in the case of a bond obligation, bonds having been issued before the order approving the transfer or annexation, owners of property in the transferred or annexed territory shall remain a part of the school district whose boundaries have been reduced until such time as the outstanding obligation or obligations are fulfilled;

          (2) Owners of property in the territory transferred or annexed shall be exempt from assuming any proportionate share of any levy obligation or bond obligation or both in the school district into which the affected territory has been ordered transferred or annexed if the obligation or obligations were incurred before the order approving the transfer or annexation of the affected territory, and in the case of a bond obligation, bonds having been issued before the order approving the transfer or annexation of the territory.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     Sections 2 and 3 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.57 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     (1) The sum of .......... dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund  to the superintendent of public instruction for the purposes of this act.

          (2) The sum of .......... dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1991, from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction for the purposes of this act.