Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §15652, sub-§4-A is enacted to read:

4-A.__Normalized regional cost adjustment.__"Normalized regional cost adjustment" means a factor that is used to adjust a median household income value and property fiscal capacity up or down to reflect variations in regional costs.__The statewide normalized regional cost adjustment is one.__The department shall contract for the acquisition of annual normalized regional cost adjustment data, based on the National Chamber of Commerce model.

Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §15657, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 368, Pt. Z, §1 and affected by §2, is amended to read:

1. Fiscal capacity. The local per pupil property fiscal capacity divided by the statewide per pupil property fiscal capacity as computed by the commissioner is multiplied by a property weight of 0.85 0.75.

Sec. 3. 20-A MRSA §15657, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1999, c. 401, Pt. GG, §9, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

2.__Local median household income.__The most recent local median household income is divided by the statewide average median household income.__That amount is divided by the normalized regional cost adjustment as defined in section 15652, subsection 4-A.__The final result is multiplied by an income weight of 0.25.__The__department shall use local median household income data, updated annually from the most recent certified Federal Decennial Census.

Sec. 4. 20-A MRSA §15658, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 368, Pt. Z, §1 and affected by §2, is amended to read:

1. Operating costs mill rate. The operating costs mill rate, as described in chapter 606, is in effect for the limited purposes of determining the state and local shares of each school administrative unit's program costs allocation and its debt service allocation, and for determining the amount required to provide the statewide state share of the allocation for the per pupil guarantee. For each individual school administrative unit, the amounts described in section 15655, subsection 1 are used rather than the amounts in section 15608, subsection 1; section 15609, subsection 1, paragraph A; and section 15610, subsection 1, paragraph A.

Sec. 5. 20-A MRSA §15658, sub-§2 is enacted to read: