2014 -- S 2922

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LC003903

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO THE CHARIHO REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

     Introduced By: Senator Catherine Cool Rumsey

     Date Introduced: April 30, 2014

     Referred To: Senate Finance

     (by request)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 10 of Chapter 286 of the 1986 Public Laws entitled "AN ACT IN

AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 286 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1986, AND IN ADDITION TO

CHAPTER 419 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 2006, ENTITLED 'AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE

TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN AND RICHMOND TOGETHER, OR TOGETHER WITH THE

TOWN OF HOPKINTON, TO JOIN A REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND PROVIDING FOR

THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A REGIONAL

HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS, WITHIN SAID

REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT,' AS AMENDED" is

hereby further amended to read as follows:

     Sec. 10. (1)(a) There shall be a regional school committee for said district consisting of

eleven (11) nine (9) members. , each Each member town shall be represented on the committee in

direct proportion to its population as determined by the most recent population census figures.

The total population of the district shall then be divided by eleven (11) nine (9) and the resulting

quotients thus obtained shall be used as the basis for determining the proportionate representation

of each said member town on said committee, and realizing that the mathematical divisions of

said formula will not obtain absolute evenness, fractions of .5 or more shall be construed as 1

point and fractions less than .5 shall be construed as 0. Subject to limitations aforesaid, the

members of said committee from each of the member towns to be elected or appointed for terms

hereinafter set forth shall be determined as of the time of each bi-annual election and each of the

said member towns, based upon the census aforesaid. The first such regional school committee

shall be elected in the general election in November, 1988. In the general election 1988 each town

electing three (3) members of the school committee shall elect two (2) members to serve a term of

four (4) years and one (1) member to serve a term of two (2) years. A town electing more than

three (3) representatives shall elect three (3) members for a term of two (2) years and additional

members for a term of four (4) years. Thereafter members Members shall be elected for a term of

four (4) years. Until such time as those elected in that election shall be certified and qualified, the

existing Chariho Regional High School District Committee shall serve as the Regional School

Committee. In the event of any vacancy by death, resignation or incapacity to serve of any term

of any member of said regional school district committee, the town council of the member town

in which such vacancy occurs shall fill such vacancy by election by a majority vote of the town

council of said town for the unexpired term of the member whose office is thus vacated.

     (1)(b) Since the United States Census bureau of the census conducts on a decennial basis

and in view of the fact that any of the Chariho towns may incurs rapid shifts in population which

could effect the composition of the Chariho school committee, there may be an agreement among

the town councils to provide for a census on a five (5) year basis beginning in 1995. A census of

the towns taken in 1987 will be used as the basis for school committee composition until the 1990

United States bureau of census data is provided. The cost of the 1987 census will be borne by

each town in proportion to its population. Any town objecting to the use of the United States

census material may require the making of an actual census in time for the first general election

after 1995. The cost of such a census shall be borne equally by the three (3) towns and shall not

constitute a reimbursable education expense; provided further that in the event that such an actual

census does not result in a count materially different from the numbers contained in material

compiled by the United States bureau of the census, then the cost of the actual census, shall be

borne by the town or towns objecting to the use of such bureau of the census material. Two (2)

seats currently held by committee members whose four (4) year terms expire in 2014 shall be

eliminated at the end of those terms, and no member shall be elected to those seats in the general

election of 2014 or thereafter.

     (2) Within ten (10) days after the election and certification of the members of the regional

school district committee, said regional school district committee shall meet and organize by

selecting one (1) of their number to be chairperson of said committee. The chairperson chosen at

the first organized meeting shall serve in such office until the first meeting of said committee

following the qualification of new members elected to the regional school district committee at

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the general election of 1988, At such first meeting of the said committee following the election

and qualification of new members, the committee shall elect a chairperson and elect such other

officers and are herein or hereafter authorized and each two (2) years thereafter at such first

meeting following a general election at which school committee members are elected, the

regional school district committee shall organize and elect or appoint such officers. A person may

not succeed himself/herself in the office of chairperson unless no other member of the committee

is willing to serve as chairperson and at such organizational meetings the chairmanship shall first

be offered to a committee member from a town other than the town one of the members of which

last served as chairperson in an order of rotation to be agreed upon at the first organization

meeting of the said committee which shall provide that each member town shall have the

opportunity of having one of its members serve as chairperson in a fixed order of selection. In the

event that no member from one of the member towns which is entitled to the chairmanship at an

organization meeting is willing to serve as chairperson, this election shall pass to the next such

member town so entitled under said agreement and so on until a chairperson is selected who is

going to serve. The said committee shall also appoint a clerk and a treasurer of said committee

who shall also be a clerk and treasurer of the said district and the district meetings and the said

clerk and treasurer may be the same individual and need not be a member of members of said

committee.

     (3) Said regional school committee shall have all the powers and duties conferred by law

in this state upon school committees of towns, generally, including but not limited to the

following:

     (a) To apply for and receive, accept and use any town, state or federal funds or assistance,

or both, as may be provided, whether in the form of a grant or a loan or both, including

specifically such funds or assistance from state or federal sources as the member towns would

otherwise be entitled to apply for and receive from such sources in the event that the said regional

school district did not exist but to the use of which such member towns might be individually

excluded by reason of the existence of said district.

     (b) To publish an annual report thirty (30) days prior to the annual district meeting

containing a detailed financial statement showing the total receipts and expenditures of the period

covered by the report together with such additional material and information relating to the

maintenance and operating of the school or schools as may be deemed necessary by the regional

school committee.

     (c) To receive and disburse funds for any regional school district purpose.

     (d) To engage legal counsel.

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     (e) To engage and employ a superintendent of schools for the regional school district,

who may also be a principal or a regional school or schools, on a contractual basis for either a

definite or indefinite term as the regional high school committee shall determine. The person so

employed shall have all the powers and duties imposed upon a superintendent of schools by law.

     (f) Said committee shall annually cause an audit to be made of the accounts of said

district, and on completion of each audit a report thereof shall be made to the members of said

committee and a copy thereof shall be submitted to the next regional school district meeting.

     (g) Compensation for members of the said committee and/or clerk and treasurer thereof

shall be determined at and by the regional school district meeting as a part of the consideration

and action taken at said meeting in respect to operating costs and expenses of the said district.

     (h) The regional school district treasurer shall furnish surety bond in an amount to be

determined annually by the said committee. The expense of said bond shall be chargeable to the

said district.

     (i) Said regional school district committee may dispose of any item (or group of items) of

personal property with a fair market value (in the aggregate, if a group of items) of five thousand

dollars ($5,000) or less, on such terms as the committee deems appropriate in its sole discretion.

Any item, or group of items, of personal property of the regional school district with a fair market

value of more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), but less than twenty thousand dollars

($20,000) (in the aggregate, if a group of items), may be disposed of by the said committee on

such terms as the committee deems appropriate in its sole discretion, by offering such property

for sale by competitive bidding. Any property of the regional school district with a fair market

value equal to or greater than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) may be disposed of only upon a

vote of a regional district meeting as set forth in Sec. 9(8).

     SECTION 2. Section 13 of Chapter 286 of the 1986 Public Laws entitled "AN ACT IN

AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 286 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1986, ENTITLED 'AN ACT

AUTHORIZING THE TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN AND RICHMOND TOGETHER, OR

TOGETHER WITH THE TOWN OF HOPKINTON, TO JOIN A REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

DISTRICT INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND

PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A

REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS,

WITHIN SAID REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT,' AS

AMENDED" is hereby further amended to read as follows:

     Sec. 13(1) A student who enters an elementary school in kindergarten will be assured to

matriculation at the school through grade 4 unless the family relocates outside the elementary

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school attendance district. Siblings, also will be assured of matriculation in the same elementary

school as long as another sibling is in attendance. Effective September 1, 2015, elementary school

attendance districts shall be based on geographical proximity and may include more than one

town.

      (2) Transportation of pupils shall be considered an operational cost of the regional school

district and shall be governed by the regional school district committee, which shall also govern

and determine the curriculum of the school subject to the provisions of section 11 hereof.

     SECTION 3. The question of the approval of this Act shall be submitted to the electors of

the towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton qualified to vote on any proposition to

impose a tax or for the expenditure of money at the general election in 2014. The question shall

be submitted in substantially the following form:

     "Shall the act passed by the general assembly at its January 2014 session entitled "AN

ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 286 OF THE PUBLIC

LAWS, 1986, ENTITLED 'AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO

CHAPTER 419 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 2006, ENTITLED 'AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE

TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN, RICHMOND AND HOPKINTON, TO JOIN A REGIONAL

SCHOOL DISTRICT INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND

PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A

REGIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS,

WITHIN SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT,' AS

AMENDED" be approved?

     The warning for said election shall contain the question to be submitted. From the date

the election is warned until it is held, it shall be the duty of the town clerks of the respective

towns of Hopkinton, Charlestown and Richmond to keep a copy of the act available at their

offices for public inspection, but any failure of any clerk to perform this duty shall not affect the

validity of the election.

     SECTION 4. This section and section 3 of this act shall take effect upon passage of this

act; and the remainder of this act shall take effect upon the approval of this act by a majority in

each town of those voting on the question at the election prescribed by section 3 hereof.

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LC003903

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