It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 15 of chapter 286 of the Public Laws, 1986 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" is hereby amended to read as follows:

Sec. 15. (1) It shall be the duty of the district superintendent, or chief administrative officer to present to the regional school committee, at its regular meeting in the month of November, a preliminary budget containing his estimates of the amount of money needed to operate the regional high school for the ensuing year. The form of said budget shall conform to the accounting system of the state department of education.

(2) The regional 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 fifth (5th) day of February in each year.

(3) At least twenty (20) days before the annual district meeting at which the budget is to be adopted the regional school committee shall hold a public hearing on the budget at which any citizen entitled to vote at the said district meeting may be heard. Notice of the date and place of such meeting and hearing shall be given at least twelve (12) days in advance thereof by publication at least once in a newspaper or journal circulation within the said district and published in Rhode Island. Not later than February 28 in each year, and subsequent to the hearing on the proposed budget, the district school committee shall adopt a final proposed budget. The regional school district finance committee, established in accordance with the provisions of section 12 hereof, may by and through its individual members or by appointed delegates attend budget hearings and provide advice and assistance to the school committee on budget matters.

(4) The final budget as adopted by the said school committee shall be submitted to the annual school district meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in March of each year for a vote or votes thereon, which said recommended budget may be lowered by a majority vote of said meeting, but shall not be increased except when a notice of intent to do so, together with specification of the amount and purpose of such increase signed by fifty (50) qualified electors of the said district have been filed with the clerk of the said district at least seven (7) days before the date of said annual meeting; and then in such case, said recommended budget may be increased by majority vote of said meeting within the limits of the amount specified in the last mentioned notice.

(5) Operating costs shall include all costs of the said school district not included in the construction costs paid out of the receipts and realizations of the sale of bonds or notes as hereinbefore provided.

(6) Operating expenses for each fiscal year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns in proportion to the relationship of their respective pupil enrollment in the said district school system on October 1 of the previous calendar year to the total pupil enrollment in said school system on said date. In the event that enrollment in the said district school system has not been accomplished on October 1 of any year, operating expenses for the ensuing year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns in proportion to the ratio that the total number of students enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve (12), inclusive, residing in each of said towns and receiving education at such town's expense as of said October 1 bears to the total number of such students in the entire district.

(7) On or before March 15 in each year, the treasurer of the regional school district shall determine the total cost of operating the school district for the next budget year, including therein operating costs, operating expenses, and all other anticipated expenses, incurred in the operation of the school district. This sum shall then be divided by the number of students enrolled in the school district as of October 1 of the current school year and the resulting figure shall then be determined as the annual pupil charge. The charge so determined shall not later than the fifteenth (15th) day of March in each year be certified by said district treasurer to the respective treasurers of each member town. Each member town shall then pay to the treasurer of the district a sum equal to the number of pupils enrolled in the district from that town multiplied by the annual pupil charge.

(8) Construction costs of the regional school district shall be all costs of retirement of principal or payment of interest of bonds or notes hereinbefore authorized or which may be by special act authorized for future construction within the said district, or such costs as may be financed by means other than the issue of bonds or notes for the purpose of construction or renovation of buildings, land acquisition, or extraordinary repairs to buildings, and all other costs and expenses of the district shall be operating costs. In each year subsequent to the passage of this act, construction costs shall be borne by each member town in the same proportion as the enrollment of students from that town bears to the total student enrollment of the district. The district treasurer annually shall determine the share of each member town of construction costs by dividing the construction costs for the current year of operation by the number of pupils enrolled in the district on October 1 of the current school year. The district treasurer shall then certify to the treasurer of the member towns the shares of each town of construction costs determined as hereinbefore provided at the same time and in the same manner as operating costs are certified to each town.

(8A) The amount of construction costs certified by the treasurer of said school district to the town treasurers of the member towns shall for the purpose of section 45-12-11 of the general laws, be deemed an indebtedness of the town or interest thereon for which a member town may assess its ratable property in any one (1) year in excess of three and one-half percent (3 1/2%) of its ratable value.

(9) {DEL The treasurer of each member town shall forward monthly to the regional school district treasurer the proportioned operating and construction costs for that fiscal year. DEL} {ADD The treasurer of each member town shall forward monthly to the regional school district the proportioned operating and construction cost for that fiscal year; provided that for the 1997-1998 fiscal year the following paragraph shall apply: ADD}

{ADD The sums payable annually to the regional district by member town as a share of the regional district's operating costs for the fiscal year, determined pursuant to subsection (7) above, and its share of construction costs for the fiscal year, determined pursuant to subsection (8) above, shall be paid in installments as follows: five percent (5%) in each of the months of July and August and nine percent (9%) in each of the remaining ten (10) months of the fiscal year. Each member town shall cause its treasurer to deposit each such installment in cash or other immediately available funds to the regional district's account in bank designated by the regional district treasurer which has a place of business in the state of Rhode Island on the third business day of the month between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. In the event of late payment of any such installment, including payment on the due date later than 2:00 P.M., simple interest shall accrue daily and be payable on such past due sum from the date of default to the date of payment of such sum at a per annum rate of one-fourth of one percent (1/4%) above the average seven (7) day compounded yield of taxable money market funds as published weekly by IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report, such interest being intended to compensate the regional district for loss of use of the funds that should have been paid to it rather than as a penalty. For the purpose of calculating such rate of interest, said average money market fund yield published by IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report on or during the six (6) days immediately preceding the date of default shall be applied, except that if such default continues until the date of the next weekly publication of such average money market fund yield by IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report the latter yield shall be applied commencing on such date, and the same procedure for calculating the rate of interest shall be followed thereafter on a weekly basis until the default ends. In the event that such IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report (including a successor to such report with a different name) shall cease to be published, the per annum rate of interest charged shall be one-half of one percent (1/2%) above the three (3) month U.S. treasury bill rate as published on the date of default or, if not published on that date, as published on the next preceding business day. However, if the default continues beyond seven (7) days, the three (3) month U.S. treasury bill rate in effect on the eighth (8th) day of default shall be applied commencing on such date in calculating the rate of interest, and the same procedure for calculating the interest rate shall be followed thereafter on a weekly basis until the default ends. ADD}

(10) The regional school district fiscal year shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30.

(11) The superintendent of schools of said district shall certify to the commissioner of education on or before July 15 of each year such information as may be needful for the operation of this agreement and conformity to the laws of this state in such form and upon such blanks as the commissioner of education shall require.

(12) The electors in each of said member towns qualified to vote upon a proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money shall in their respective towns, in annual or special financial town meetings legally assembled, appropriate and raise sufficient monies for their respective towns to meet the requirements of the costs of construction and operation of said regional school as determined by the said district annual meeting and proportioned to the said member towns as provided in subsections (7) and (8) of this section.

SECTION 2. Section 15 of Chapter 286 of the Public Laws, 1986, 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." is hereby amended to read as follows:

Sec. 15. (1) It shall be the duty of the district superintendent, or chief administrative officer, to present to the regional school committee, at its regular meeting in the month of November, a preliminary budget containing his estimates of the amount of money needed to operate the regional high school for the ensuing year. The form of said budget shall conform to the accounting system of the state department of education.

(2) The regional 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 fifth (5th) day of February in each year.

(3) At least twenty (20) days before the annual district meeting, at which the budget is to be adopted, the regional school committee shall hold a public hearing on the budget at which any citizen entitled to vote at the said district meeting may be heard. Notice of the date and place of such meeting and hearing shall be given at least twelve (12) days in advance thereof by publication at least once in a newspaper or journal circulation within the said district and published in Rhode Island. Not later than February 28 in each year and subsequent to the hearing on the proposed budget, the district school committee shall adopt a final proposed budget. The regional school district finance committee, established in accordance with the provisions of section 12 hereof, may by and through its individual members or by appointed delegates attend budget hearings and provide advice and assistance to the school committee on budget matters.

(4) The final budget as adopted by the said school committee shall be submitted to the annual school district meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in March of each year for a vote or votes thereon, which said recommended budget may be lowered by a majority vote of said meeting but shall not be increased except when a notice of intent to do so, together with the specification of the amount and purpose of such increase signed by fifty (50) qualified electors of the said district have been filed with the clerk of said district at least seven (7) days before the date of said annual meeting; and then in such case, said recommended budget may be increased by a majority vote of said meeting within the limits of the amount specified in the last mentioned notice.

(5) Operating costs shall include all costs of the said school district not included in the construction costs paid out of the receipts and realizations of the sale of bonds or notes as hereinbefore provided.

(6) Operating expenses for each fiscal year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns in proportion to the relationship of their respective pupil enrollment in the said district school system on October 1 of the previous calendar year to the total pupil enrollment in said school system on said date. In the event that enrollment in the said district school system has not been accomplished on October 1 of any year, operating expenses for the ensuing year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns in proportion to the ratio that the total number of students enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve (12), inclusive, residing in each of said towns and receiving education at such town's expense as of said October 1, bears to the total number of such students in the entire district.

(7) On or before March 15 of each year, the treasurer of the regional school district shall determine the total cost of operating the school district for the next budget year, including therein operating costs, operating expenses, and all other anticipated expenses, incurred in the operation of the school district. This sum shall then be divided by the number of students enrolled in the school district as of October 1 of the current school year and the resulting figure shall then be determined as the annual pupil charge. The charge so determined shall not later than the fifteenth (15th) day of March in each year be certified by said district treasurer to the respective treasurers of each member town. Each member town shall then pay to the treasurer of the district a sum equal to the number of pupils enrolled in the district from that town multiplied by the annual pupil charge.

(8) Construction costs of the regional school district shall be all costs of retirement of principal or payment of interest of bonds or notes hereinbefore authorized or which may be by special act authorized for future construction within the said district, or such costs as may be financed by means other than the issue of bonds or notes for the purpose of construction or renovation of buildings, land acquisition, or extraordinary repairs to buildings, and all other costs and expenses of the district shall be operating costs. In each year subsequent to the passage of this act, construction costs shall be borne by each member town in the same proportion as the enrollment of students from that town bears to the total student enrollment of the district. The district treasurer annually shall determine the share of each member town of construction costs by dividing the construction costs for the current year of operation by the number of pupils enrolled in the district on October 1 of the current school year. The district treasurer shall then certify to the treasurer of the member towns the shares of each town of construction costs determined as hereinbefore provided at the same time and in the same manner as operating costs are certified to each town.

(8A) The amount of construction costs certified by the treasurer of said school district to the town treasurers of the member towns shall for the purpose of section 45-12-11 of the general laws, be deemed an indebtedness of the town or interest thereon for which a member town may assess its ratable property in any one (1) year in excess of three and one-half percent (3 1/2%) of its ratable value.

(9) The treasurer of each member town shall forward monthly to the regional school district treasurer the proportioned operating and construction costs for that fiscal year.

(10) The regional school district fiscal year shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30.

(11) The superintendent of schools of said district shall certify to the commissioner of education on or before July 15 of each year such information as may be needful for the operation of this agreement and conformity to the laws of this state in such form and upon such blanks as the commissioner of education shall require.

(12) The electors in each of said member towns qualified to vote upon a proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money shall in their respective towns, in annual or special financial town meetings legally assembled, appropriate and raise sufficient monies for their respective towns to meet the requirements of the costs of construction and operation of said regional school as determined by the said district annual meeting and proportioned to the said member towns as provided in subsections (7) and (8) of this section.

SECTION 3. Section 1 of this act shall take effect on passage and shall be repealed on June 30, 1998. Section 2 shall take effect on July 1, 1998.