Agenda - 04-15-2014 - 5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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26 Public Education Legislative Goals PE-1: Reinstate ADM and lottery funds for school construction. Seek legislation to fully reinstate the Average Daily Membership funds and Lottery proceeds to the Public School Building Capital Fund. The Public School Building Capital Fund is housed in the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and is comprised of two sources of revenue: a set- aside from the corporate income tax, known as the ADM fund, which is allotted based on average daily membership (ADM)in each county; and 40 percent of the net proceeds from the N.C. Education lottery. Counties have relied on these funds to repay debt service for public school construction and renovation. Since 2009, the General Assembly has redirected the ADM Fund's corporate income tax proceeds to offset state dollars for public school operations, costing counties from $50 to $100 million each year. Since 2010, the legislature has set the county lottery appropriation below the statutory 40 percent of net lottery proceeds, with the 2012 allocation appropriated at $100 million or 22.7 percent of expected net proceeds. The total loss for the past two biennia amount to nearly half a billion dollars in school construction funds. Counties are forced to delay school construction projects, use their emergency fund balances to make up the debt service losses, or reduce funding for other essential services. PE-2: Maintain state responsibility for replacement and risk management exposures for operation of school buses. Seek legislation to ensure that the state retains responsibility for the purchase, repair and replacement of school buses, and to preserve state insurance coverage under the State Tort Claims Act for school bus accidents and other school bus risk management exposures. North Carolina counties are financially responsible for the initial purchase of new school buses, either to service new schools or new routes. Since the 1930s and per G.S. 115C-240(e)(f), the state is financially responsible for school bus replacement, generally based on mileage (250,000 miles) or age(20 years or older). The state's tort claims act has traditionally covered school bus driver negligence. In 2011, in an effort to manage growing state budget deficits, Governor Bev Perdue proposed shifting school bus replacement and tort claim coverage to counties, costing counties $57 million and $4.6 million, respectively, for these new responsibilities. While the House rejected these proposals outright, the Senate initially considered the school bus cost shift to counties. The adopted budget retained state responsibility for both school bus replacement and school bus risk management exposure. PE-3: Provide sufficient funds for community college workforce training programs. Support legislation to restore and maintain state funding for workforce development training and programs through the community college system. State budget cuts over the past two biennia have reduced community college funding for classroom operations by $83 million. New tuition fee increases have helped minimize the impact of these losses, and several new programs such as non-recurring funds for N.C. Back to Work, a$5 million retaining program for long-term unemployed, have been authorized. Continuing and increased state investments are needed to provide community colleges with 21 st century equipment to support training that leads to third party credentials in career areas such as advanced manufacturing and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).