Chapter 512

2004 -- H 8590

Enacted 07/07/04

A N A C T

IN AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 55 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS, 1958, AS AMENDED,

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."

Introduced By: Representatives Scott, and McHugh

Date Introduced: June 02, 2004

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 10 and 18 of Chapter 55 of the Public Laws, 1958, as amended,

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.", are

hereby 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 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. 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 incur rapid shifts in population which

could effect the composition of the Chariho school committee, there may be 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.

(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 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 or

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 operation 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.

(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.

The Regional School Committee for said district shall consist of four (4) members

elected from each member town. Those members whose terms have not expired at the time of the

approval of this amendment, shall continue to serve until the expiration of their terms, subject,

however, to the provisions of Sec. 18(1)(i), which shall take precedence over this section.

There shall be a special election conducted in the town of Richmond during the month of

January, 2005 to elect a fourth member from the town of Richmond to the Regional School

Committee for a term to expire at the next regularly scheduled general election, at which time a

fourth (4th) member from the town of Richmond shall be elected for a term of four (4) years.

Thereafter, members of the Regional School Committee shall be elected for terms of four (4)

years, said terms to follow the staggered pattern established prior hereto. In the event of any

vacancy by death, resignation or incapacity to serve of any term of any members 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 members whose office is thus vacated.

     Sec. 18. (1) No member town shall withdraw from the district until bonded indebtedness

incurred in accordance with under the provision of section 1 of the 1986 Chariho Act herein has

been fully paid and discharged. Thereafter, any member town of the regional school district may

petition to withdraw from the said district at any annual meeting of said district, provided that

such petition for withdrawal shall have been approved by the appropriate method of the said

member town seeking to withdraw and shall have been approved by a majority of the electors of

the said town qualified to vote upon a proposition for the imposition of a tax or for the

expenditure of money, present and voting in the appropriate manner prescribed by said town

within a period of one hundred twenty (120) days next preceding in the date of the annual district

meeting at which the petition is to be submitted. Such petition shall not be approved except upon

payment to the treasurer of the district by the treasurer of such town of any costs which have been

apportioned and certified in accordance with the provisions heretofore set forth to said town for

the construction and operation of the school district during the year in which such withdrawal is

to take place, and such town shall remain liable to the district for its share of the indebtedness of

the district outstanding, if any, at the time of such withdrawal, and for interest thereon, to the

same extent and in the same manner as if the town had not withdrawn from the regional school

district, except as such liability shall be reduced by any amount which said town has paid over at

the time of withdrawal and which has been applied to the payment of such indebtedness and

interest. Any money received by the school district from a withdrawing town for the payment of

indebtedness or interest thereon shall be used only for such purpose and until so used shall be

deposited in trust in the name of the district with a Rhode Island company having a combined

capital and surplus of not less than five million dollars ($5,000,000).

(2) On July 1, 1994 or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, a committee shall be

formed to be known as an Entrance, Expansion and Exit Committee consisting of the following

members: The town council president of each member town, the Chariho School Committee

chairperson, the chairperson of the finance committee established in section 12 hereof, two (2)

residents from each member town of the district appointed by the town councils of said towns,

three (3) residents of communities not within the district to be appointed by the Chariho School

Committee, and the commissioner of education or designee. This committee will review

enrollment data, fiscal impact information, demographic/geographic considerations, impact upon

the academic program, issues of governance, impact on the Chariho Act and any other pertinent

issues identified by the committee as they maybe affected by the withdrawal or addition of

member towns in whole or in part from and to the regional school district. This committee shall

report its findings and recommendation to the Chariho School Committee within six (6) month

after its formation. In preparing its report and conducting its studies, the committee shall hold not

less then three (3) public hearings on the subject matter of withdrawal or additions to the district,

said hearings to be held within the district. withdraw under the following procedure and subject to

the conditions contained herein.

a. The Town Council of a member town which desires to withdraw from the district must

adopt a Resolution expressing a notice of intent to withdraw by April 1st of the year preceding the

annual meeting of the district at which the petition to withdraw shall be presented. The resolution

of intent to withdraw shall merely state an intention to withdraw, and it shall not be necessary that

it contain any additional information.

b. A petition to withdraw shall contain, at least, the following information, but may

contain additional information:

1) a statement expressing the intention to withdraw from the Regional School District:

2) a statement as to any claim being made by the withdrawing town against assets of the

district, and if a claim is being made, the monetary amount of the claim, or the particular assets

being claimed;

3) a statement of the specific time frame for withdrawal, and if the withdrawal is to be

phased, the dates upon which the phases will be implemented;

4) a statement of the debt to be incurred by the withdrawing town for facility design, land

acquisition, building construction, equipment purchases, and other start up costs;

5) an authorization to bond for a sum certain in money to pay the debt to be incurred by

the withdrawing town to establish the school system; and

6) a statement of the total anticipated operational cost which assumes that the next fiscal

year would be the first year of full operation by the withdrawing town.

The form and contents of the petition to withdraw approved by the town council must be

the same as that which is submitted to the electors of the town; provided, however, the question

appearing on the ballot may contain a short summary of the petition to withdraw, which summary

must be approved by the secretary of state for placement on the ballot. The petition to withdraw

shall appear on the ballot as a single question on which the electors of the withdrawing town may

vote to approve or to reject.

c. The petition to withdraw must be approved by the town council of the town seeking

withdraw from the district on or before the date set by the secretary of state for submission of

questions which shall appear on the ballot for the general election.

d. A petition to withdraw must be approved by the voters of the town seeking to

withdraw at the general election next preceding the annual district meeting, at which the petition

to withdraw shall be presented.

e. A condition precedent to submission of the petition to withdraw to electors of the

withdrawing town shall be a determination by the Rhode Island Department of Education that the

withdrawing town and the school district remaining if the town withdraws present viable

educational systems. Said determination shall not be based upon whether the new school district

or the remaining smaller school district presents the best economic situation, but rather the

determination shall be base upon whether the districts have sufficient assets, personnel, student

population and other resources necessary to educate children based upon standards utilized in

similarly sized school districts in the state.

f. Upon adoption of the resolution of intent to withdraw by a withdrawing town, the

school district shall compile information regarding the economic and educational impact on

member towns if the town expressing an intent to withdraw should be successful in withdrawing

from the district. The information shall be released to the member towns and to the public as it

becomes available. Any failure of the school district to provide such information shall not

preclude a withdrawing town from proceeding with its petition to withdraw.

g. If a petition to withdraw is approved by the town council of a withdrawing town and is

approved by the electors of a withdrawing town, the petition shall be presented for consideration

and approval at the next regularly scheduled annual meeting of the school district; provided

however, no approval by electors of the school district shall be required if the withdrawing town:

1) is current with its payments to the treasurer of the district of any costs which have been

apportioned and certified in accordance with the provisions heretofore set forth for construction

and operation of the school district for the then current fiscal year and has made arrangements for

electronic monthly payments for the remainder of the fiscal year; and

2) has not made a claim to school district assets, except buildings and items located

within the town, which would not be used by the Regional School District if the town withdraws

from the school district.

h. A town may not initiate a petition to withdraw more than once during a five (5) year

period of time.

i. Upon completion of consideration of the petition to withdraw at the annual district

meeting and provided the Petition to Withdraw was approved by the town council and electors of

the withdrawing town, the terms of the members on the district school committee from the

withdrawing town shall cease immediately, and the withdrawing town shall proceed to establish a

school committee in accordance with its Charter and/or State law, if a school committee has not

been previously established.

j. During the time that a withdrawing town is constructing facilities, it may continue to

send students to the regional district schools, and the town will be assessed a per student charge in

the same amount assessed to member towns as provided herein. No special charges or

assessments, based upon the fact that the withdrawing town is no longer a member of the

Regional School District, may be imposed upon the withdrawing town or its students.

k. All students of the withdrawing town must be removed from the regional district

schools by July 1st of the fifth (5th) year following the annual district meeting at which the petition

to withdraw was considered, unless the Regional School District Committee agrees to a longer

period of time.

1) Subsections (a), (e), and (f) above shall not be applicable to a petition to withdraw

which appears on the November, 2004 ballot.

     SECTION 2. The question of the approval of these amendments to the Chariho Act shall

be submitted to the electors of the Towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton at the

general election scheduled for November, 2004. The question shall be submitted in substantially

the following form:

     "Shall an act passed at the January 2004 session of the General Assembly amending

public laws, 1958 Chapter 55, as amended, and authorizing amendments to Sec. 10(1)(a) and (b)

and Sec. 18(1) of the aforementioned public laws be approved?"

     It shall be the duty of the Town Clerks of the respective towns of Hopkinton,

Charlestown and Richmond to keep a copy of the amendments available at their offices for public

inspection but any failure of any said clerk to perform this duty shall not effect the validity of the

election.

     SECTION 3. This Section and Section 2 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 2 hereof.

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LC03408

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