2015 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 10 - Education and Culture
Chapter 164 - Educational Opportunities
Section 10-66c - Powers of board of center.

(a) A regional educational service center shall be a body corporate and politic. The board of a regional educational service center shall be a public educational authority acting on behalf of the state of Connecticut and shall have the power to sue and be sued, to receive and disburse private funds and such prepaid and reimbursed federal, state and local funds as each member board of education may authorize on its own behalf, to employ personnel, to enter into contracts, to purchase, receive, hold and convey real and personal property and otherwise to provide the programs, services and activities agreed upon by the member boards of education. The board of a regional educational service center shall have authority, within the limits prescribed by this part and as specified by the written agreement of the member boards, to establish policies for the regional educational service center, to determine the programs and services to be provided, to employ staff including a director of the center, to prepare and expend the budget and, within the limits authorized under this section, to provide for the financing of the programs and projects of the regional educational service center.

(b) For the purpose of carrying out or administering a regional educational service center project, program or other function authorized under this section or refinancing existing indebtedness or funding debt service reserve or project reserve funds, a regional educational service center may, without limiting its authority under other provisions of law, borrow temporarily in anticipation of receipt of current revenues and issue bonds, notes or other obligations payable from or secured by any one or more of the following: (1) A pledge, lien, mortgage or other security interest in any or all of the income, proceeds, revenues and property, real or personal, of its projects, assets, programs or other functions, including the proceeds of grants, loans, advances, guarantees or contributions from the federal government, state or any other source; or (2) a pledge, lien, mortgage or other security interest in the property, real or personal, of projects to be financed by the bonds, notes or other obligations.

(c) Bonds, notes or other obligations issued under this section may be issued in one or more series, shall bear such date or dates, be in such form, mature at such time or times, be payable at such place or places whether within the state or without, bear interest at such rate or rates, be in such denominations and form, with coupons attached, or registered, be fully negotiable, contain such conversion and redemption provisions, such other terms, covenants and conditions and be issued and sold in such manner as the regional educational service center, by resolution of the board of such center, determines, and may be payable at such time or times not exceeding twenty years from the date of issuance. Such bonds, notes or other obligations shall not constitute an indebtedness within the meaning of any debt limitation or restrictions and shall not be obligations of the state of Connecticut or any municipality, and each such bond, note or other obligation shall so state on its face. Neither the officers or members of the board of any regional educational service center nor any person executing the bond, note or other obligations shall be personally liable thereon by reason of the issuance thereof.

(d) A regional educational service center may issue notes in anticipation of the receipt of proceeds from the sale of such bonds. If such notes are issued, the provisions of sections 7-378 and 7-378a, relating to the terms and conditions of issuing and renewing such notes, shall apply.

(e) Each pledge, agreement or assignment made for the benefit or security of any bonds, notes or other obligations issued under this section shall be in effect until the principal and interest on the bonds, notes or other obligations for the benefit of which the same were made have been fully paid, or until provision is made for the payment in the manner provided in the resolution or resolutions authorizing their issuance. Any pledge or assignment made in respect of such bonds, notes or other obligations secured thereby shall be valid and binding from the time when the pledge or assignment is made; any income, proceeds, revenues or property so pledged or assigned and thereafter received by the regional educational service center shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge, without any physical delivery thereof or further act; and the lien of any such pledge or assignment shall be valid and binding as against parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the regional educational service center, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof. Neither the resolution, trust indenture, agreement, assignment or other instrument by which a pledge is created need be recorded or filed, except for the recording of any mortgage or lien on real property or on any interest in real property.

(f) A regional educational service center may enter into contractual agreements, including trust indentures or agreements with trustees, for the collection, investment and payment of pledged or assigned income, proceeds, revenues or property, the establishment of reserves, covenants and agreements for the benefit of the trustee or the holders of any bonds, notes or other obligations, and such other terms and conditions which are reasonable to delineate the respective rights, duties, safeguards, responsibilities and liabilities of the regional educational service center, holders of bonds, notes or other obligations and the trustee or assignee. Any such agreement may provide for the pledge or assigning of any assets or income from assets to which or in which the center has rights or interest, the vesting in such trustee or trustees of such property, rights, powers and duties in trust as the center may determine, which may include any or all of the property, rights, powers and duties of any trustee appointed by the holders of any bonds, notes or other obligations, or limiting or restricting the rights of any holder of any bonds, notes or other obligations, or limiting or abrogating the right of the holders of any bonds, notes or other obligations to appoint a trustee, or limiting the rights, powers and duties of such trustee, and may further provide for such other rights and remedies exercisable by the trustee as may be proper for the protection of the holders of any bonds, notes or other obligations and not otherwise in violation of law, including the acceleration of payment in the event of a default.

(g) Any regional educational service center may obtain from a commercial bank or insurance company authorized to do business within or without this state a letter of credit, line of credit or other credit or liquidity facility, for the purpose of providing funds for the payment of such bonds, notes or other obligations required by their terms or by the holder thereof to be redeemed or repurchased at or prior to maturity or for providing additional security for such bonds, notes or other obligations. In connection therewith, a regional educational service center may authorize the execution of reimbursement agreements, remarketing agreements, standby bond purchase agreements, agreements for the purpose of moderating interest rate fluctuations and any other necessary or appropriate agreements. If a regional educational service center is required to draw upon any such credit facility, the amount of each loan made pursuant to such credit facility shall be repaid by the center as provided in such agreement with the provider of the credit facility, but no later than the last date on which the bond, notes or other obligations secured thereby would be required to mature by law. Such regional educational service center may pledge or assign or mortgage any of its income, proceeds, revenues or properties authorized by this section to secure its bonds, notes or other obligations to secure its payment obligations under any agreement entered into pursuant to this section.

(h) Bonds, notes or other obligations issued by a regional educational service center under the provisions of this section are hereby made securities in which all public officers and public bodies of the state and its political subdivisions, all insurance companies, credit unions, building and loan associations, investment companies, savings banks, banking associations, trust companies, executors, administrators, trustees and other fiduciaries and pension, profit-sharing and retirement funds may properly and legally invest funds, including capital in their control or belonging to them. Such bonds are hereby made securities which may properly and legally be deposited with and received by any state or municipal officer or any agency or municipality of the state for any purpose for which the deposit of bonds or obligations of the state is now or may hereafter be authorized by law.

(i) A regional educational service center shall be considered an agency of the state for purposes of subdivision (14) of subsection (d) of section 42a-9-109.

(1972, P.A. 117, S. 3; P.A. 75-431; P.A. 78-77, S. 1, 2; 78-295, S. 2, 9; P.A. 80-154, S. 3, 5; P.A. 87-460, S. 1, 2; P.A. 95-259, S. 29, 32; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 04-2, S. 68.)

History: P.A. 75-431 allowed regional center boards to be eligible to receive direct reimbursement in accordance with Sec. 10-76g; P.A. 78-77 gave boards power to borrow temporarily in anticipation of payments to be received; P.A. 78-295 substituted “member” for “participating” boards, declared boards to be corporate bodies, permitted acceptance of private funds, permitted purchase etc. of personal as well as real property and deleted reference to eligibility for direct reimbursement; P.A. 80-154 deleted provision concerning supply of programs, services etc. to nonpublic schools within center’s geographical area; P.A. 87-460 provided that a regional educational service center be a body politic and that its board be acting on behalf of the state, added new Subsecs. (b) to (d), inclusive, re the power to issue bonds, notes or other obligations and designated Subsec. (a) accordingly and made a technical change; P.A. 95-259 amended Subsec. (b) to expand the reasons for which a service center may borrow or issue bonds and to add in Subdiv. (1) “assets, programs or other functions” and added Subsecs. (e) to (h), inclusive, effective July 6, 1995; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 04-2 added Subsec. (i) re applicability of the Uniform Commercial Code to security interests of the centers, effective May 12, 2004, and applicable to any pledge, lien or security interest of this state or any political subdivision of this state in existence on October 1, 2003, or created after that date.