Agenda - 03-23-2015 - Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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i Goals PE -1: Seek legislation to restore the statutory requirement that 40% of the net lottery proceeds be allocated to counties for school capital needs and increase the annual appropria- tion of lottery funds until the 40% allocation is restored. • When the N.C. Education Lottery was enacted, 40% of the annual net proceeds were directed to the Public School Building Capital Fund for county school construction needs. • Since 2010, the General Assembly has set the county lottery appropriation below the statutory 40% of the net proceeds and has appropriated a flat $100 million, which now repre- sents about 20% of the expected net proceeds. • Consequently, counties have lost more than half a billion dol- lars in school construction funds since the recession, and have been forced to delay construction projects, use their emergency fund balances to make up the debt service loss- es, or to reduce funding for other essential services. PE -2: Oppose shifting of the state's responsibility for re- placement of school buses. • Counties are responsible for the purchase of new school buses, either to service new schools or new routes. The state is responsible for bus replacement after 250,000 miles or 20 years in service. • In 2011, the governor's budget proposed shifting school bus replacement to counties, which would result in a cost of ap- proximately $57 million to counties. The proposal was not included in the final state budget act.