2001 Senate Bill 142 ↩

Senate Roll Call 668: Passed

To establish the distribution priority formula for a $1 billion statewide school infrastructure bond issue that <a href="/bill.asp?ID=7639">Senate Bill 1137</a> proposes to place on the November, 2002 general election ballot. The proceeds from the new debt would be used to subsidize all or part of the interest on new local school construction bonds. The amount of each subsidy would depend on the school district's taxable value per pupil. Subsidies would range from 10 percent of the interest expense for the highest “quintile” (or 20 percent) of school districts (the wealthiest ones), increasing to a 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, and 100 percent interest subsidy for successively poorer “quintiles.” Schools district could also borrow a portion of the construction money from the state “up front,” in amounts corresponding to the size of the interest subsidy. For the first three years all the money would go to the 20 percent of poorest school districts, which must levy at least four mills to help pay the bonds. No one district could get more than 10 percent of the money (which would limit Detroit’s share). Of the $1 billion, $40 million would be reserved for public school academies (charter schools) and special-needs school districts, if the building is owned by the state and leased by the school, and the charter pays all the maintenance costs. When the bond was paid off, ownership would be transferred to the charter school or special-needs school district. See also <a href="/bill.asp?ID=5749">House Bill 4625</a>, which would authorize a $1 billion bond issue for sewer projects statewide, and which may be combined with this school debt proposal. The bill would also encourage the Department of Information Technology to prepare and implement a plan for a state information network linking each local school district, intermediate school district, charter school, community college, independent nonprofit college or university, state public university, and each state, local, or regional library by fiber optic or coaxial cable, so as to provide a statewide interactive video and data access and exchange system.