HF 2078

as introduced - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to education finance; creating an education
price index; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, section
126C.10, subdivisions 2, 6; proposing coding for new
law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 126C.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 126C.10,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Basic revenue.

new text begin (a) new text end The basic revenue for each
district equals the formula allowance times the adjusted
marginal cost pupil units for the school year. deleted text begin The formula
allowance for fiscal year 2001 is $3,964. The formula allowance
for fiscal year 2002 is $4,068. deleted text end The formula allowance for
fiscal year 2003 new text begin through fiscal year 2005 is $4,601.
new text end

new text begin (b) The formula allowance for fiscal year 2006 new text end and
subsequent years is deleted text begin $4,601 deleted text end new text begin the formula allowance for the
previous fiscal year times the education price index for that
year new text end .

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective for revenue for
fiscal year 2006.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 126C.10,
subdivision 6, is amended to read:

Subd. 6.

Definitions.

The definitions in this
subdivision apply only to subdivisions 7 and 8.

(a) "High school" means a secondary school that has pupils
enrolled in at least the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. If there
is no secondary school in the district that has pupils enrolled
in at least the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, and the school is
at least 19 miles from the next nearest school, the commissioner
must designate one school in the district as a high school for
the purposes of this section.

(b) "Secondary average daily membership" means, for a
district that has only one high school, the average daily
membership of pupils served in grades 7 through 12. For a
district that has more than one high school, "secondary average
daily membership" for each high school means the product of the
average daily membership of pupils served in grades 7 through 12
in the high school, times the ratio of six to the number of
grades in the high school.

(c) "Attendance area" means the total surface area of the
district, in square miles, divided by the number of high schools
in the district. For a district that does not operate a high
school and is less than 19 miles from the nearest operating high
school, the attendance area equals zero.

(d) "Isolation index" for a high school means the square
root of 55 percent of the attendance area plus the distance in
miles, according to the usually traveled routes, between the
high school and the nearest high school. For a district in
which there is located land defined in section 84A.01, 84A.20,
or 84A.31, the distance in miles is the sum of:

(1) the square root of one-half of the attendance area; and

(2) the distance from the border of the district to the
nearest high school.

(e) "Qualifying high school" means a high school that has
an isolation index greater than 23 and that has secondary
average daily membership of less than 400.

(f) "Qualifying elementary school" means an elementary
school that is located 19 miles or more from the nearest
elementary school or from the nearest elementary school within
the district and, in either case, has an elementary average
daily membership of an average of 20 or fewer per grade.

(g) "Elementary average daily membership" means, for a
district that has only one elementary school, the average daily
membership of pupils served in kindergarten through grade 6.
For a district that has more than one elementary school,
"average daily membership" for each school means the average
daily membership of pupils served in kindergarten through grade
6 multiplied by the ratio of seven to the number of grades in
the elementary school.

new text begin (h) "Education price index" means a measure of the relative
wage rates across Minnesota school districts. The index must be
determined according to section 126C.115.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2005.
new text end

Sec. 3.

new text begin [126C.115] EDUCATION PRICE INDEX.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Index. new text end

new text begin For fiscal years 2006 and later,
the education price index equals the annual average weekly wage
as calculated by the Department of Employment and Economic
Development under the ES-202 program. The education price index
for each school district equals the greater of one, or the index
number for that district's region divided by the state annual
average weekly wage.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Phase-in. new text end

new text begin For fiscal year 2006, the education
price index equals 25 percent of the index amount in excess of
one. For fiscal year 2007, the education price index equals 50
percent of the index amount in excess of one. For fiscal year
2008, the education price index equals 75 percent of the index
amount in excess of one.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Regions. new text end

new text begin For fiscal years 2006 and later, the
Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of
Employment and Economic Development, shall determine the
appropriate education price index regions in the state and
assign each school district to a region. At a minimum, the
regions must include regions for the metropolitan area, the St.
Cloud area, the Duluth area, and the Rochester area. Regions
may otherwise be based on county borders or economic development
regions.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Annual computation. new text end

new text begin The Department of Education
shall calculate the education price index every year based on
the most recent annual report of average weekly wages as
calculated by the Department of Employment and Economic
Development through the ES-202 program.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective for revenue for
fiscal year 2006.
new text end