HF 234

1st Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to education finance; eliminating certain school district reserve fund
requirements; eliminating certain reports; making certain primary elections
discretionary; amending Minnesota Statutes 2006, sections 123B.10, subdivision
1, by adding a subdivision; 123B.143, subdivision 1; 123B.77, subdivision 4;
123B.79, by adding a subdivision; 205A.03, subdivision 1; 205A.06, subdivision
1a; repealing Minnesota Statutes 2006, sections 123B.749; 124D.081,
subdivision 9.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 123B.10, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Budgets.

Every board must publish revenue and expenditure
budgets for the current year and the actual revenues, expenditures, fund balances for
the prior year and projected fund balances for the current year in a form prescribed by
the commissioner within one week of the acceptance of the final audit by the board,
or November 30, whichever is earlier. The forms prescribed must be designed so that
year to year comparisons of revenue, expenditures and fund balances can be made.
deleted text begin These budgets, reports of revenue, expenditures and fund balances must be published in
a qualified newspaper of general circulation in the district or on the district's official
Web site. If published on the district's official Web site, the district must also publish an
announcement in a qualified newspaper of general circulation in the district that includes
the Internet address where the information has been posted.
deleted text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 123B.10, is amended by adding a subdivision
to read:

new text begin Subd. 1a. new text end

new text begin Form of notification. new text end

new text begin A school board annually must notify the public of
its revenue, expenditures, fund balances, and other relevant budget information. The board
must include the budget information required by this section in the materials provided
as a part of its truth in taxation hearing, post the materials in a conspicuous place on
the district's official Web site, including a link to the district's school report card on the
Department of Education's Web site, and publish the information in a qualified newspaper
of general circulation in the district.
new text end

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 123B.143, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Contract; duties.

All districts maintaining a classified secondary
school must employ a superintendent who shall be an ex officio nonvoting member of the
school board. The authority for selection and employment of a superintendent must be
vested in the board in all cases. An individual employed by a board as a superintendent
shall have an initial employment contract for a period of time no longer than three years
from the date of employment. Any subsequent employment contract must not exceed a
period of three years. A board, at its discretion, may or may not renew an employment
contract. A board must not, by action or inaction, extend the duration of an existing
employment contract. Beginning 365 days prior to the expiration date of an existing
employment contract, a board may negotiate and enter into a subsequent employment
contract to take effect upon the expiration of the existing contract. A subsequent contract
must be contingent upon the employee completing the terms of an existing contract. If a
contract between a board and a superintendent is terminated prior to the date specified in
the contract, the board may not enter into another superintendent contract with that same
individual that has a term that extends beyond the date specified in the terminated contract.
A board may terminate a superintendent during the term of an employment contract for any
of the grounds specified in section 122A.40, subdivision 9 or 13. A superintendent shall
not rely upon an employment contract with a board to assert any other continuing contract
rights in the position of superintendent under section 122A.40. Notwithstanding the
provisions of sections 122A.40, subdivision 10 or 11, 123A.32, 123A.75, or any other law
to the contrary, no individual shall have a right to employment as a superintendent based
on order of employment in any district. If two or more districts enter into an agreement for
the purchase or sharing of the services of a superintendent, the contracting districts have
the absolute right to select one of the individuals employed to serve as superintendent
in one of the contracting districts and no individual has a right to employment as the
superintendent to provide all or part of the services based on order of employment in a
contracting district. The superintendent of a district shall perform the following:

(1) visit and supervise the schools in the district, report and make recommendations
about their condition when advisable or on request by the board;

(2) recommend to the board employment and dismissal of teachers;

(3) superintend school grading practices and examinations for promotions;

(4) make reports required by the commissioner; new text begin and
new text end

(5) deleted text begin by January 10, submit an annual report to the commissioner in a manner
prescribed by the commissioner, in consultation with school districts, identifying the
expenditures that the district requires to ensure an 80 percent student passage rate on the
basic standards test taken in the eighth grade, identifying the highest student passage
rate the district expects it will be able to attain on the basic standards test by grade 12,
the amount of expenditures that the district requires to attain the targeted student passage
rate, and how much the district is cross-subsidizing programs with special education, basic
skills, and general education revenue; and
deleted text end

deleted text begin (6) deleted text end perform other duties prescribed by the board.

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 123B.77, subdivision 4, is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

Budget approval.

Prior to July 1 of each year, the board of each district
must approve and adopt its revenue and expenditure budgets for the next school year.
The budget document so adopted must be considered an expenditure-authorizing or
appropriations document. No funds shall be expended by any board or district for any
purpose in any school year prior to the adoption of the budget document which authorizes
that expenditure, or prior to an amendment to the budget document by the board to
authorize the expenditure. Expenditures of funds in violation of this subdivision shall be
considered unlawful expenditures. deleted text begin Prior to the appropriation of revenue for the next
school year in the initial budget, the board shall inform the principal or other responsible
administrative authority of each site of the amount of general education and referendum
revenue that the Department of Education estimates will be generated by the pupils
in attendance at each site. For purposes of this subdivision, a district may adjust the
department's estimates for school building openings, school building closings, changes
in attendance area boundaries, or other changes in programs or student demographics
not reflected in the department's calculations. A district must report to the department
any adjustments it makes according to this subdivision in the department's estimates
of compensatory revenue generated by the pupils in attendance at each site, and the
department must use the adjusted compensatory revenue estimates in preparing the report
required under section 123B.76, subdivision 3, paragraph (c). deleted text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2007.
new text end

Sec. 5.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 123B.79, is amended by adding a subdivision
to read:

new text begin Subd. 9. new text end

new text begin Elimination of reserve accounts. new text end

new text begin A school board shall eliminate all
reserve accounts established in the school district's general fund under Minnesota Statutes
before July 1, 2006, for which no specific authority remains in statute as of June 30,
2007. Any balance in the district's reserved for bus purchases account as of June 30,
2007, shall be transferred to the reserved account for operating capital in the school
district's general fund. Any balance in other reserved accounts established in the school
district's general fund under Minnesota Statutes before July 1, 2006, for which no specific
authority remains in statute as of June 30, 2007, shall be transferred to the school district's
unreserved general fund balance. A school board may, upon adoption of a resolution by
the school board, establish a designated account for any program for which a reserved
account has been eliminated.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective June 30, 2007.
new text end

Sec. 6.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 205A.03, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

deleted text begin Required deleted text end new text begin Resolution requiring new text end primary in certain circumstances.

deleted text begin In deleted text end new text begin The school board of new text end a school district deleted text begin election, deleted text end new text begin may, by resolution adopted by June 1 of
any year, decide to choose nominees for school board by a primary as provided in this
section. The resolution, when adopted, is effective for all ensuing elections of board
members in that school district until it is revoked. If the board decides to choose nominees
by primary and new text end if there are more than two candidates for a specified school board position
or more than twice as many school board candidates as there are at-large school board
positions available, deleted text begin a deleted text end new text begin the new text end school district must hold a primary.

Sec. 7.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 205A.06, subdivision 1a, is amended to read:

Subd. 1a.

Filing period.

new text begin In school districts that have adopted a resolution to choose
nominees for school board by a primary election, new text end affidavits of candidacy must be filed
with the school district clerk no earlier than the 70th day and no later than the 56th day
before the first Tuesday after the second Monday in September in the year when the
school district general election is held. new text begin In all other school districts, affidavits of candidacy
must be filed no earlier than the 70th day and no later than the 56th day before the school
district general election.
new text end

Sec. 8. new text begin DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REPORT.
new text end

new text begin The Department of Education must provide a report to the education committees
of the legislature by January 15, 2008. The report must analyze the department's data
collection procedures under each of the department's major data reporting systems and
recommend a streamlined, Web-based system of reporting school district data. The report
must also analyze any stand-alone school district reporting requirements and recommend
elimination of any district reports that are duplicative of other data already collected
by the department.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 9. new text begin REVISOR'S INSTRUCTION.
new text end

new text begin In Minnesota Statutes, the revisor of statutes shall renumber Minnesota Statutes,
section 123B.10, subdivision 1, as 123B.10, subdivision 1b, and make necessary
cross-reference changes consistent with the renumbering.
new text end

Sec. 10. new text begin REPEALER.
new text end

new text begin Minnesota Statutes 2006, sections 123B.749; and 124D.081, subdivision 9, new text end new text begin are
repealed.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2007.
new text end