(a) Repair or replacement of a roof on a school building;

(b) Bringing a school building into compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 United States Code, Section 12101 et seq.;

(c) Improving air quality in a school building;

(d) Removing asbestos from or abating asbestos in a school building;

(e) Removing underground oil storage tanks on the grounds of a school building; and

(f) Undertaking other health, safety and compliance repairs.

(2) Repairs and improvements not related to health, safety and compliance repairs receive 2nd priority status. Those repairs and improvements are limited to a school building structure, windows and doors and to a school building water or septic system.

(3) Upgrade of learning spaces in school buildings and small-scale capital improvements receive 3rd priority status.

(4) The Commissioner of Education may approve other necessary repairs;

Sec. 4. 30-A MRSA §6006-F, sub-§3-A is enacted to read:

3-A.__Bureau of General Services; account for administrative expenses.__The Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of General Services shall provide a full accounting of the construction funds received for administrative expenses in connection with reviewing the specifications and plans for each individual school construction project.__The account must include, but may not be limited to, the amount of time spent on each project, the types of services rendered in their project review and all related administrative expenses, and must be presented to the Department of Administrative and Financial Services.

Sec. 5. 30-A MRSA §6006-G is enacted to read:

§6006-G.__Credit for nonstate funded projects

1.__State Broad of Education approval.__Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or rule to the contrary, a school administrative unit is solely responsible for the principal and interest costs of a nonstate funded school construction project approved under Title 20-A, section 15905-A until such time as the unit's project is approved for funding by the State Board of Education.__When the unit's project receives final funding approval from the State Board of Education, the sum total of principal and interest costs paid from local funds without State participation must be included in the unit's debt service costs for state subsidy purposes under Title 20-A, section 15603, subsection 8.

2.__Rules.__The State Board of Education shall adopt or amend rules necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.__Rules adopted pursuant to this section are__routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter II-A.

SUMMARY

This bill requires that a school administrative unit that was authorized to issue securities for a nonstate-funded school construction project must receive credit for the sum total of principal and interest costs paid from local funds without state participation at such time as the unit's project is approved for funding by the State Board of Education. Under this bill, the school administrative unit is authorized to include principal and interest costs paid from local funds in the unit's debt service costs for state subsidy purposes. The bill also authorizes the State Board of Education to adopt rules to carry out this purpose.