SF 936

as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 02/15/2017 10:48am

A bill for an act
relating to education finance; providing full funding for school district
telecommunications funding; renaming the program the K-12 broadband equity
aid program; appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, section
125B.26, subdivisions 4, 5.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 125B.26, subdivision 4, is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

District aid.

deleted text begin For fiscal year 2006 and later, deleted text end A district, charter school, or
intermediate school district's deleted text begin Internet access deleted text end new text begin K-12 broadband new text end equity aid equals the district,
charter school, or intermediate school district's approved cost for the previous fiscal year
according to subdivision 1 exceeding $16 times the district's adjusted pupil units for the
previous fiscal year or no reduction if the district is part of an organized telecommunications
access cluster. new text begin K-12 broadband new text end equity aid must be distributed to the telecommunications
access cluster for districts, charter schools, or intermediate school districts that are members
of the cluster or to individual districts, charter schools, or intermediate school districts not
part of a telecommunications access cluster.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 125B.26, subdivision 5, is amended to read:

Subd. 5.

Telecommunications/Internet access services for nonpublic schools.

(a)
Districts shall provide each year upon formal request by or on behalf of a nonpublic school,
not including home schools, located in that district or area, ongoing or recurring
telecommunications access services to the nonpublic school either through existing district
providers or through separate providers.

(b) The amount of district aid for telecommunications access services for each nonpublic
school under this subdivision equals the lesser of:

(1) 90 percent of the nonpublic school's approved cost for the previous fiscal year
according to subdivision 1 exceeding $10 deleted text begin for fiscal year 2006 and later deleted text end times the number
of weighted pupils enrolled at the nonpublic school as of October 1 of the previous school
year; or

(2) the product of the district's aid per pupil unit according to subdivision 4 times the
number of weighted pupils enrolled at the nonpublic school as of October 1 of the previous
school year.

(c) For purposes of this subdivision, nonpublic school pupils shall be weighted by grade
level using the weighting factors defined in section 126C.05, subdivision 1.

(d) Each year, a district providing services under paragraph (a) may claim up to five
percent of the aid determined in paragraph (b) for costs of administering this subdivision.
No district may expend an amount for these telecommunications access services which
exceeds the amount allocated under this subdivision. The nonpublic school is responsible
for the Internet access costs not covered by this section.

(e) At the request of a nonpublic school, districts may allocate the amount determined
in paragraph (b) directly to the nonpublic school to pay for or offset the nonpublic school's
costs for telecommunications access services; however, the amount allocated directly to the
nonpublic school may not exceed the actual amount of the school's ongoing or recurring
telecommunications access costs.

Sec. 3. new text begin APPROPRIATIONS; K-12 BROADBAND EQUITY AID.
new text end

new text begin $9,450,000 in fiscal year 2018 and $9,650,000 in fiscal year 2019 are appropriated from
the general fund to the commissioner of education for K-12 broadband equity aid under
Minnesota Statutes, section 125B.26.
new text end

new text begin Any balance in the first year does not cancel but is available in the second year.
new text end