2016 -- S 2472

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LC003891

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2016

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A N   A C T

IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 419 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS,

2006, ENTITLED "AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 55

OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1958, 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"

     Introduced By: Senators Morgan, Algiere, Kettle, Pagliarini, and Sheehan

     Date Introduced: February 11, 2016

     Referred To: Senate Housing & Municipal Government

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 10 of 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" 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) 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) 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 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. On the

effective date of this amendment, one seat shall be added to the school committee, for a total of

twelve (12) seats. The Richmond town council shall appoint a qualified elector to the twelfth

(12th) seat for a term that expires in November 2018. In the general election of 2018, Richmond

voters shall elect a school committee member to the twelfth (12th) seat to serve a term of four (4)

years that expires in November 2022.

     (1)(b) Beginning with the 2022 general election, the school committee shall consist of a

minimum of ten (10) seats and a maximum of fourteen (14) seats. For the general election of

2022, and every ten (10) years thereafter, the population schedules of the most recent federal

decennial census shall be used to determine the size school committee that will provide the most

equal representation of all three (3) towns in the district. The number of seats shall be determined

as follows: The ideal number of persons represented by each seat is determined by dividing the

total district population by ten (10). The number of seats each town is entitled to is determined by

dividing the population of each town by the ideal number of persons represented by each seat,

with fractions of one-half (0.5) or greater rounded up and fractions of less than one-half (0.5)

rounded down. The total should be ten (10). If the total is more than ten (10), the smallest number

above one-half (0.5) is rounded down instead of up, and if the total number is less than ten (10),

the greatest number below one-half (0.5) is rounded up instead of down. The total number of

seats should then be ten (10). The number of people in each town who would be represented by

each seat is determined by dividing the population of the town by the number of seats that town is

entitled to. The deviation from the ideal number in each town is expressed as a percentage.

Comparing the deviation percentages in all three (3) towns, the largest percentage of over-

representation and the largest percentage of under-representation are added together to determine

the maximum deviation for a school committee of ten (10) seats. This calculation is repeated for

school committees of eleven (11), twelve (12), thirteen (13), and fourteen (14) seats to determine

the maximum deviation for each size school committee. The smallest of the five (5) maximum

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deviations determines the number of school committee seats that will yield the most equal

representation for all three (3) towns in the district based on the most recent federal decennial

census.

     (1)(c) 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)(d) 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 incur 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 in any year ending in five (5). 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 population schedules 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 population schedules

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 population

schedules.

     (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

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

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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.

     (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.

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     (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. 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 2016. The question shall

be submitted in substantially the following form:

     "Shall the act passed by the general assembly at its January 2016 session entitled "AN

ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 419 OF THE PUBLIC

LAWS, 2006, ENTITLED 'AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO

CHAPTER 55 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1958, 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

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validity of the election.

     SECTION 3. This section and section 2 of this act shall take effect upon passage. The

remainder of this act shall take effect upon the approval by a majority in each town of those

voting on the question at the election prescribed by section 2 hereof.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 419 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS,

2006, ENTITLED "AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF AND IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER 55

OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1958, 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"

***

     This act authorizes a referendum which, if approved by the voters of Charlestown,

Richmond, and Hopkinton, would revise the composition of the school committee for the Chariho

Regional School District.

     Sections 2 and 3 of this actually take effect upon passage. The remainder of this act

would take effect upon the approval by a majority in each town of those voting on the question at

the election prescribed in section 2.

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LC003891

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