Chapter 353
2011 -- S 0763 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 07/13/11
A N A C T
RELATING TO THE
Introduced By: Senator Francis T. Maher
Date Introduced: March 24, 2011
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 80 of the Public Laws of 1965, entitled
"An Act Approving and
Ratifying the Agreement
between the Towns of
Respect to the Formation of
a
subsequent thereto, are hereby in their entirety amended to read
as follows:
PREAMBLE
This agreement is entered
into by the towns of
chapter 3 of title 16 of the general laws of 1956 of the
State of
establishment of a regional school district, hereinafter sometimes
referred to as the regional
school district or district.
Section I. The
regional district school committee.
(A) Composition.
The
powers and duties of the regional school district shall be vested in and
exercised by a
regional district school committee, hereinafter sometimes
referred to as the committee. The
committee shall consist of seven (7) members, four (4) from the
town of
from the town of
shall be elected at biennial town elections. All members
shall serve until their respective
successors are appointed and qualified. The school committee
shall be reapportioned following
each decennial national census. Reapportionment to take
effect at the election next following the
census. The school committee shall continue to have seven
(7) members and the members shall
continue to have staggered four (4) years terms. The school
committee in office in April of 2012
and each tenth year thereafter shall set the number of
committee members from each town, on the
basis of the population of each town, and provide for
staggered terms. The town with the higher
population will have no more than four (4) committee members.
(B) Initial committee. [No longer
applicable]
(C) Subsequent committee members.
[First four sentences of original act are no
longer applicable. Following are the currently applicable
provisions of P.L. 1992
At
the biennial town elections in 1992 the town of
terms of four (4) years, and the town of
four (4) years. At the biennial town elections in 1994 the
town of
members and the town of
years. The terms of office of the aforesaid members shall
commence on the first day of December
following their election. Thereafter, in every year in which
the term of office of one (1) or more
members expires, the member towns involved shall at its
biennial town election elect one (1) or
more members, as the case may be, to serve for a term of
four (4) years commencing on the first
day of December following such election.
(D) Vacancies.
If
a vacancy occurs among the members appointed by the school committees under
subsection I (B) or among the members elected under subsection I
(C), the town council from the
town involved shall appoint a member to serve until the
next biennial town election, at which
election a successor shall be elected to serve for the balance
of the unexpired term, if any.
(E) Organization.
Promptly
upon the appointment and qualification of the initial members and on the 1st
day of December biennially thereafter the committee shall
organize and choose by a ballot a
chairman and a vice chairman from its own membership. The
chairman and vice chairman shall
retain full rights to vote on all matters before the
committee. At the same meeting, or at any other
meeting, the committee shall appoint a treasurer and a
secretary, who may be the same person but
who need not be members of the Committee, choose such
other officers as it deems advisable,
determine the terms of office of its officers (except the
chairman and vice chairman who shall be
elected biennially as provided above), and prescribe the
powers and duties of any of its officers,
fix the time and place for its regular meetings and
provide for the calling of special meetings.
(F) Powers and duties.
The
committee shall have all the powers and duties conferred and imposed upon
school
committees by law and conferred and imposed upon it by this
agreement, and such other
additional powers and duties, not inconsistent with this
agreement, as are specified in section 16-
3-11 of the general laws
and any amendments thereof or additions thereto now or hereafter
enacted, or as may be specified in any other applicable
general or special law.
(G) Quorum.
The
quorum for the transaction of business shall be a majority of the committee,
but a
number less than the majority may adjourn.
(H) Compensation.
Compensation
for members of the committee and the clerk and treasurer thereof, shall be
determined by the voters at the all-day referendum provided in
Section V.
(I) Surety bonds.
The
clerk and treasurer of the district shall give surety bonds to the regional
school
district in such sum and with such surety as shall be
satisfactory to the committee. The expense of
the bonds shall be chargeable to the regional school
district.
Section II. The
regional district school building committee.
(A) Composition.
The
regional district school building committee shall consist of twelve (12)
members, six
(6) from
the town of
(B) Method of selection.
Six
(6) of the members of the regional district school committee shall be members
ex-
officio of the school building committee to be selected by
the school committee. In addition, the
town council of each member town shall appoint three (3)
residents of the town to serve as
members of the regional district school building committee.
(C) Method of organization.
At
such time as a regional district school building committee shall be deemed
necessary,
the chairman of the regional district school committee
shall call upon the respective town
councils of the member towns for the appointment of the
necessary representatives. The chairman
of the regional district school committee shall then
notify those persons appointed or elected of
the time and place of the first meeting, and shall act as
the temporary chairman, without voting
rights, until the regional district school building
committee shall have completed its own
organization.
(D) Powers and duties.
The
regional district school building committee shall have the following duties:
(1)
To secure competent architectural and engineering services for the making of
surveys, the preparation of plans and specifications for the
construction and equipment of a
school or schools in said district, and to employ such
clerical assistance as may be necessary.
(2)
To construct, furnish and equip schools and athletic facilities and improve the
grounds upon which the schools are located and to make
additions to said schools as may be
needed.
(3)
To make all contracts and agreements that may be necessary for the exercise of
the powers vested in said district school building
committee by subparagraphs (1) and (2) hereof,
provided, however, that said regional district school building
committee shall not make any
expenditure or incur any liability unless the necessary
appropriations have been authorized by the
regional school district financial meeting as hereinafter
provided.
(E) Term.
The
term of the building committee shall be until such time as the authorized
building or
buildings have been constructed and have been accepted by the
regional district school building
committee upon recommendation of the architects engaged by the
regional district school
building committee and for one year thereafter, whereupon the
term of office of the committee
shall terminate.
(F) Vacancies.
In
the event of a vacancy on the school building committee, the town council from
the
member town involved shall appoint a member to serve the
balance of term, provided, however,
that any vacancy among the members of the regional school
district committee serving ex-officio
shall be filled in accordance with subsection I (D).
(G) Limitation of liability.
No
member of the regional district school building committee shall be held personally
liable for damages in the performance of his duties as a
member of the committee.
Section III. Location
of the regional district school.
The
regional district middle and secondary school or schools shall be located
within the
geographical limits of the district and within two miles of the
common boundary separating the
towns of
convenient places chosen by the regional district school committee.
The amount of land taken by
condemnation for any building site may exceed five acres but shall
not exceed seventy-five acres
for any one building site.
Section IV. Type of
regional school district.
Commencing
July 1, 1965, the regional school district shall operate at all grade levels
now provided by the member towns and shall perform all
educational services currently provided
in the member towns. The district may provide such other
services as the committee may
determine.
All
school buildings currently in use in the member towns shall be transferred to
the
district on July 1, 1965. The district shall assume
responsibility for the servicing of outstanding
debts thereon on July 1, 1965.
Section V. Annual
budget of the regional school district.
The
annual budget of the regional school district as proposed by the school
committee
shall be voted upon in an all-day referendum in the member
towns to be held on the second or
third Monday of April each year to be scheduled by the
school committee, with approval obtained
by a majority vote of the combined total vote of
to vote for at least 30 days prior to the date of the
scheduled all-day referendum or any
subsequent referenda shall be eligible to vote at any all-day
referendum. The boards of canvassers
of the towns of
prior to any such all-day referendum. In the event that the
annual budget proposed by the school
committee is rejected, the school committee may schedule
further all-day referenda to consider
revised annual budgets.
Section VI. Allocation
of the costs of the regional school district.
(A) Classification of costs.
For
the purpose of apportioning assessments levied by the regional school district
against
the member towns, costs shall be divided into two
categories: construction costs and operating
costs.
(B) Construction costs.
Construction
costs shall include all expenses in the nature of capital outlay such as the
cost of acquiring land, the cost of construction,
reconstructing and adding to buildings, and the
cost of remodeling or making extraordinary repairs to a
school building or buildings, including
without limitation the cost of the original equipment and
furnishings for such buildings or
additions, plans, architects’ and consultants’ fee, grading and
other costs incidental to placing
school buildings and additions and related premises in operating
condition. Construction costs
shall also include payment or principal of and interest on
bonds, notes or other obligations issued
by the district to finance construction costs.
(C) Operating costs.
Operating
costs shall include all costs not included in construction costs as defined in
subsection VI (B), but including interest on temporary notes
issued by the district in anticipation
of revenue.
(D) Apportionment of construction and
operating costs.
Construction
and operating costs for the first fiscal year next following the establishment
of the regional school district and for every fiscal
year thereafter shall be apportioned to the
member towns on the basis of their respective pupil
enrollments in the regional school system.
Each member town’s share of
construction and operating costs for each fiscal year shall be
determined by computing the ratio which the town’s pupil
enrollment in the regional district
schools on October 1 of the year next preceding the year for which
the apportionment is
determined bears to the total pupil enrollment from all the
member towns in the regional district
schools on the same date. In the event that enrollment in the
regional district schools has not been
accomplished by October 1 of any such year, construction and
operating costs shall be
apportioned on the basis of enrollment of pupils residing in each
member town and receiving
education at such town’s expense on October 1 of such year.
(E) Times of payment of apportioned costs.
Each
member town shall pay to the district in each year its proportionate share,
certified
as provided in subsection VII (E), of the construction
and operating costs. The annual share of
each member town shall be paid in such amounts and at such
times that at least the following
percentages of such annual share shall be paid on or before the
dates indicated, respectively:
September 1 25%
December 1 50%
February 1 75%
May 1 100%
Section VII. Procedure
for the adoption of the annual budget.
(A) Fiscal year.
The
regional school district fiscal year shall begin on July 1 of each year.
(B) Initial budget. [No longer
applicable]
(C) Tentative maintenance and
operating budget.
1.
Thereafter, [after initial budget] it shall be the duty of the regional school
district
superintendent or chief administrative officer, to present to the
regional district school committee,
at its regular meeting in the month of January, a preliminary
budget containing his estimates of
the amount of money needed to operate the regional school
district system for the ensuing fiscal
year, including therein provisions for any installment of
principal or interest to become due in
such year on any bonds or other evidences of indebtedness
of the district and any other
construction costs to be apportioned to the member towns in such
year. The form of the budget
shall conform to the account system of the state department
of education.
2.
The regional district school committee shall prepare and approve a budget which
it believes will efficiently operate the regional school
district for the ensuing year not later than
the second Tuesday in March.
3.
At least seven (7) days before the all-day referendum in which the budget is to
be
adopted, the regional district school committee shall hold a
public hearing on the proposed
budget, at which time any citizen entitled to vote at the
all-day referendum may be heard. Notice
of the date of such hearing, together with a summary of
the proposed budget, accompanied by a
statement of the amount necessary to be raised by taxation
shall be given at least ten (10) days in
advance thereof, by publication once in a newspaper of
general circulation within the regional
school district and published in the State of
4.
Within seventy-five (75) days before the all-day referendum at which the budget
is to be adopted, the regional district school committee
shall hold workshops for the purpose of
committee deliberation, public information and public input
with respect to the budget. Notice of
the dates of such workshops shall be given at least ten
(10) days in advance thereof, by
publication once in a newspaper of general circulation within the
regional school district and
published in the State of
5.
Motions to increase or decrease the budget.
Motions
to increase or decrease the budget by ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more
may be made by any qualified elector, provided that such
motion is submitted to the regional
school district treasurer not later than thirty (30) days
before the date of the all day referendum.
The district treasurer
shall forward the proposed amendment to the Town Clerks of Exeter and
(D) Final maintenance and operating
budget.
No
later than the second Tuesday of March in each year, the committee shall adopt
the
final budget for the regional school district, the budget
to include debt and interest charges and
any other current construction costs as separate items,
and shall apportion the amounts so
necessary to be raised in order to meet the budget in
accordance with the provisions of subsection
VI (D). The final budget,
as adopted by the regional district school committee, shall be acted
upon at the all-day referendum to be held on the second or
third Monday or April of each year as
provided by Section V.
(E) Notification to member towns.
Within
ten (10) days subsequent to the adoption of the budget at the all-day
referendum,
the regional school district treasurer shall certify to
the budgeting officers and financial town
meeting of the respective towns the amount of money to be
raised by taxes in each town as herein
provided for the support of the regional school district which
amount shall become a part of the
budget for each respective town, and shall be appropriated
in full by the financial town meeting.
(F) Records.
The
fiscal records of the regional district school committee shall be available to
the
auditors of the member towns.
Section VIII. Transportation.
School transportation shall be provided by the regional school district and the
cost thereof shall be apportioned to the member towns as
an operating cost. The regional district
school committee shall be bound by existing transportation
contracts.
Section IX. Admission
of additional towns.
By
an amendment of this agreement under and in accordance with section XI below,
any
other town or towns may be admitted to the regional school
district upon adoption as therein
provided of such amendment and upon acceptance by the town or towns
seeking admission of the
agreement as so amended and also upon compliance with such
provisions of law as may be
applicable and with such terms as may be set forth in such
amendment.
Section X. Withdrawal.
(A) Limitations.
Any
member town may petition to withdraw from the regional school district at a
time
and under terms to be stipulated in a proposed amendment
to this agreement, provided, that (1)
the town seeking to withdraw has paid over to the
district any costs which have been certified by
the regional district treasurer to the treasurer of the
withdrawing town, including the entire
amount so certified for the year in which such withdrawal
takes effect and (2) said town shall
remain liable to the regional school district for its share
of the indebtedness of the regional school
district outstanding 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.
(B) Procedure.
A
town seeking to withdraw from the regional school district shall cease to be a
member
if such proposed amendment is approved by a majority of
all the members of the regional district
school committee and accepted by the petitioning town and
each of the other member towns,
acceptance by each town to be by a majority vote of the voters
present at an annual financial town
meeting or at a special financial town meeting called for the
purpose.
(C) Cessation of term of office withdrawing
town’s members.
Upon
the effective date of withdrawal, the term of office of the members serving on
the
regional district school committee from the withdrawing town
shall terminate and the total
membership of the committee shall be decreased accordingly.
(D) Payments of certain construction
costs made by a withdrawing town.
The money received by the regional school district from the withdrawing town
for 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
regional school district with a banking
institution in the State of
$5,000,000.
(E) Apportionment of costs after
withdrawal.
The
withdrawing towns annual share of any future
installment of principal and interest on
obligations outstanding on the effective date of its withdrawal
shall be fixed at the percentage
prevailing for such town at the last annual apportionment made
next prior to the effective date of
the withdrawal. The remainder of any such installment
after subtracting the shares of any town or
towns which have withdrawn shall be apportioned to the
remaining member towns in the manner
provided in subsection VI (D) or as may be otherwise provided
in the amendment providing for
such withdrawal.
Section XI. Amendments.
This
agreement may be amended from time to time in the manner hereinafter provided,
but no amendment shall be made which shall impair the
right of the holders of any bonds or notes
or other evidences of indebtedness of the regional
school district then outstanding, or the rights of
the regional school district to procure the means for
payment thereof, provided that nothing in this
section shall prevent the admission of a new town or towns to
the regional school district and the
reapportionment accordingly of construction costs of the regional
school district represented by
bonds or notes of the regional school district then
outstanding and of the interest thereon. A
proposal for amendment may be initiated by a majority vote of
all the members of the regional
district school committee or by a petition signed by 10% of
the registered voters of any one of the
member towns. In the latter case, the petition shall contain
at the end thereof, a certification by
the clerk of the canvassing authority of such member town
as to the number of registered voters
in said town according to the most recent voting list
and the number of signatures on the petition
which appear to be the names of registered voters of said
town. Any such proposal for
amendment shall be presented to the clerk of the regional
district school committee, who shall
mail or deliver a notice in writing to the town council of
each of the member towns that a
proposal to amend this agreement has been received and shall
enclose a copy of such proposal
(without
the signatures in the case of a proposal by petition). The school committee
shall schedule
an all-day referendum to vote on the adoption of the
proposed amendment. The town councils of
the member towns shall thereupon meet to provide for the
all-day referendum in the member
towns, with approval of the proposed amendment to be by
majority vote of the combined total
vote of the member towns.
Section XII. Employment
of teachers and extension of tenure.
All
teachers in positions to be superseded by the establishment of the regional
district
school shall be given preferred consideration for similar
positions in the regional district school to
the extent that such positions exist therein; and any
such teacher who on the date of his contract
of employment with the regional school district is on
tenure, shall continue thereafter to serve on
a tenure basis.
Sec. XIII. Application
of general laws.
The
provisions contained in sections 16-3-1 through 16-3-25 inclusive of the
general laws
of
school district.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC02212/SUB A
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