79-1011 Incentives for consolidation; qualification; requirements; payment.
79-1011. Incentivesfor consolidation; qualification; requirements; payment.(1) To encourage consolidation of Class II and III school districtswith less than three hundred ninety students, incentives shall be paid toreorganized Class II, III, IV, or V districts resulting from consolidationswhich meet the requirements of this section. This section shall only applyto consolidations with an effective date after May 31, 2009, andbefore June 1, 2011.(2) To qualify for incentive payments under this section,the consolidation must be approved for incentive payments by the State Committeefor the Reorganization of School Districts. Consolidating school districtsshall file an application with the state committee on or before June 15, 2009, or within thirtydays following the issuance of the boundary change order pursuant to subsection(1) of section 79-479, whicheveris later. The state committee shall approve or disapprove incentivepayments within thirty days after receipt of the application.(3) For incentive payments to be approved by the state committee,a reorganization study, including efficiency, demographic, curriculum, facility,financial, and community components, must be completed prior to the reorganization. If a study containingsuch elements has been completed and the study indicates that the reorganizationwill most likely result in more efficiency in the delivery of educationalservices or greater educational opportunities, the state committee may approveincentive payments.(4) Incentive payments shall be based on the number of studentsmoving from Class II or III school districts with less than three hundredninety students into a reorganized Class II, III, IV, or V school districtwith at least three hundred ninety students based on the average daily membershipin each affected district in the school fiscal year immediately precedingthe first school fiscal year the boundary change will be in effect and theaverage daily membership the consolidated district would have had followingthe boundary change if it had occurred in the school fiscal year immediatelypreceding the first school fiscal year the boundary change will be in effect.The incentiveamount for each district involved in the reorganization having an averagedaily membership of less than three hundred ninety students shall equal one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars plus the product of five hundred dollars per student multiplied by the differenceof three hundred ninety students minus the average daily membershipin such district.(5) Exceptas otherwise provided in this subsection, base fiscal year incentive paymentsshall equal fifty percent of the amount calculated pursuant to subsection(4) of this section. Base fiscal year incentive payments shall be calculatedas of August 2 immediately preceding the base fiscal year and shall be paiddirectly to the reorganized district from the School District ReorganizationFund pursuant to subsection (6) of this section. The paymentsshall be made in ten as nearly as possible equal payments on the last businessday of each month, beginning in September and ending the following June, forthe base fiscal year. If the total amount of base fiscal year incentive paymentsfor that school fiscal year exceeds the amount in the School District ReorganizationFund, the base fiscal year incentive payments shall be reduced proportionatelyso that the total amount of base fiscal year incentive payments equals theamount of funds so appropriated. Thebase fiscal year incentive payments shall not be included in local systemformula resources as calculated under section 79-1018.01.(6) The amount calculatedpursuant to subsection (4) of this section minus the amount of base fiscalyear incentive payments pursuant to subsection (5) ofthis section shall be paidout of any remaining funds in the School District Reorganization Fund afterbase fiscal year incentive payments. If the total amount of second-year incentivepayments exceeds the remaining funds, the second-year incentive payments shallbe reduced proportionately so that the total amount of second-year incentivepayments equals the amount in the fund. Second-year incentive payments shallnot be included in local system formula resources as calculated pursuant tosection 79-1018.01. SourceLaws 2004, LB 1091, § 9; Laws 2009, LB545, § 12.