257.29 - EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.

        257.29  EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
         1.  An educational improvement program is established to provide
      additional funding for school districts in which the regular program
      district cost per pupil for a budget year is one hundred ten percent
      of the regular program state cost per pupil for the budget year and
      which have approved the use of the instructional support program
      established in section 257.18.  A board of directors that wishes to
      consider participating in the educational improvement program shall
      hold a hearing on the question of participation and the maximum
      percent of the regular program district cost of the district that
      will be used.  The hearing shall be held in the manner provided in
      section 257.18 for the instructional support program.  Following the
      hearing, the board may direct the county commissioner of elections to
      submit the question to the registered voters of the school district
      at an election held on a date specified in section 39.2, subsection
      4, paragraph "c".  If a majority of those voting on the question
      favors participation in the program, the board shall adopt a
      resolution to participate and shall certify the results of the
      election to the department of management and the district shall
      participate in the program.  If a majority of those voting on the
      question does not favor participation, the district shall not
      participate in the program.
         2.  The educational improvement program shall provide additional
      revenues each fiscal year equal to a specified percent of the regular
      program district cost of the district, as determined by the board but
      not more than the maximum percent authorized by the electors if an
      election has been held.  Certification of a district's participation
      for a budget year, the method of funding, and the amount to be raised
      shall be made to the department of management not later than April 15
      of the base year.
         3.  The educational improvement program shall be funded by either
      an educational improvement property tax or by a combination of an
      educational improvement property tax and an educational improvement
      income surtax.  The method of raising the educational improvement
      moneys shall be determined by the board.  Subject to the limitation
      in section 298.14, if the board uses a combination of an educational
      improvement property tax and an educational improvement income
      surtax, the board shall determine the percent of income surtax to be
      imposed, expressed as full percentage points, not to exceed twenty
      percent.
         4.  The department of management shall establish the amount of the
      educational improvement property tax to be levied or the amount of
      the combination of the educational improvement property tax to be
      levied and the amount of the school district income surtax to be
      imposed for each school year that the educational improvement amount
      is authorized.  The educational improvement property tax and income
      surtax, if an income surtax is imposed, shall be levied and imposed,
      collected, and paid to the school district in the manner provided for
      the instructional support program in sections 257.21 through 257.26.
      Moneys received by a school district under the educational
      improvement program are miscellaneous income.
         5.  Once approved at an election, the authority of the board to
      use the educational improvement program shall continue until the
      board votes to rescind the educational improvement program or the
      voters of the school district by majority vote order the
      discontinuance of the program.  The board shall submit at an election
      held on a date specified in section 39.2, subsection 4, paragraph
      "c", the proposition whether to discontinue the program upon the
      receipt of a petition signed by not less than one hundred eligible
      electors or thirty percent of the number of electors voting at the
      last preceding school election, whichever is greater.
         6.  Participation in an educational improvement program is not
      affected by a change in the boundaries of the school district, except
      as otherwise provided in this section.  If each school district
      involved in school reorganization under chapter 275 has approved an
      educational improvement program, and if the voters have not voted
      upon the question of participation in the program in the reorganized
      district, the educational improvement program shall be in effect for
      the reorganized district that has been approved for the least amount
      and the shortest time in any of the districts.
         7.  Notwithstanding the requirement in subsection 1 that the
      regular program district cost per pupil for a budget year is one
      hundred ten percent of the regular state cost per pupil, the board of
      directors may participate in the educational improvement program as
      provided in this section if the school district had adopted an
      enrichment levy of fifteen percent of the state cost per pupil
      multiplied by the budget enrollment in the district prior to July 1,
      1992, and upon expiration of the period for which the enrichment levy
      was adopted, adopts a resolution for the use of the instructional
      support program established in section 257.18.  The maximum percent
      of the regular district cost of the district that may be used under
      this subsection shall not exceed five percent.  
         Section History: Recent Form
         89 Acts, ch 135, § 29; 90 Acts, ch 1190, § 9; 92 Acts, ch 1171,
      §2; 92 Acts, ch 1187, §3; 93 Acts, ch 1, § 5; 95 Acts, ch 67, § 53;
      2008 Acts, ch 1115, §34, 35, 71
         Referred to in § 298.14
         Limit on total surtax, § 298.14