2006 Nebraska Revised Statutes - § 79-1028 — Applicable allowable growth rate; Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed; situations enumerated.

Section 79-1028
Applicable allowable growth rate; Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed; situations enumerated.
Section 79-1028

(1) A Class II, III, IV, V, or VI school district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate for (a) expenditures in support of a service which is the subject of an agreement or a modification of an existing agreement whether operated by one of the parties to the agreement or an independent joint entity or joint public agency, (b) expenditures to pay for repairs to infrastructure damaged by a natural disaster which is declared a disaster emergency pursuant to the Emergency Management Act, (c) expenditures to pay for judgments, except judgments or orders from the Commission of Industrial Relations, obtained against a school district which require or obligate a school district to pay such judgment, to the extent such judgment is not paid by liability insurance coverage of a school district, (d) expenditures to pay for sums agreed to be paid by a school district to certificated employees in exchange for a voluntary termination of employment, or (e) expenditures to pay for lease-purchase contracts approved on or after July 1, 1997, and before July 1, 1998, to the extent the lease payments were not budgeted expenditures for fiscal year 1997-98.

(2) A Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount if the district projects an increase in formula students in the district over the current school year greater than twenty-five students or greater than those listed in the schedule provided in this subsection, whichever is less. Districts shall project increases in formula students on forms prescribed by the department. The department shall approve, deny, or modify the projected increases.

Average daily	Projected increase
membership of	of formula students
district	by percentage
0 - 50	10
50.01 - 250	5
250.01 - 1,000	3
1,000.01 and over	1

The department shall compute the district's estimated allowable budget per pupil using the budgeted general fund expenditures found on the budget statement for the current school year divided by the number of formula students in the current school year and multiplied by the district's applicable allowable growth rate. The resulting allowable budget per pupil shall be multiplied by the projected formula students to arrive at the estimated budget needs for the ensuing year. The department shall allow the district to increase its general fund budget of expenditures for the ensuing school year by the amount necessary to fund the estimated budget needs of the district as computed pursuant to this subsection. On or before July 1, the department shall make available to districts which have been allowed additional growth pursuant to this subsection the necessary document to recalculate the actual formula students of such district. Such document shall be filed with the department under subsection (1) of section 79-1024.

(3) A Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount if construction, expansion, or alteration of district buildings will cause an increase in building operation and maintenance costs of at least five percent. The department shall document the projected increase in building operation and maintenance costs and may allow a Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district to exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by the amount necessary to fund such increased costs. The department shall compute the actual increased costs for the school year and shall notify the district on or before July 1 of the recovery of the additional growth pursuant to this subsection.

(4) A Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount if the district demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that it will exceed its applicable allowable growth rate as a result of costs pursuant to the Retirement Incentive Plan authorized in section 79-855 or the Staff Development Assistance authorized in section 79-856. The department shall compute the amount by which the increased cost of such program or programs exceeds the district's applicable allowable growth rate and shall allow the district to increase its general fund expenditures by such amount for that fiscal year.

(5) A Class II, III, IV, or V district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by the specific dollar amount of incentive payments or base fiscal year incentive payments to be received in such school fiscal year pursuant to section 79-1011.

(6) A Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount in any year for which the state aid calculation for the local system includes students in the qualified early childhood education fall membership of the district for the first time or for a year in which an early childhood education program of the district is receiving an expansion grant. The department shall compute the amount by which the district may exceed the district's applicable allowable growth rate by multiplying the cost grouping cost per student for the applicable cost grouping by the district's adjusted formula students attributed to early childhood education programs if students are included in the district's qualified early childhood education fall membership for the first time or by the district's adjusted formula students attributed to such early childhood education programs minus the district's adjusted formula students attributed to such early childhood education programs for the prior school fiscal year if a program is receiving an expansion grant in the school fiscal year for which the fall membership is measured. The department shall allow the district to increase its general fund expenditures by such amount for such school fiscal year.

(7) For school fiscal year 2005-06, a Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount not to exceed seventy-four hundredths percent of the amount budgeted for employee salaries for such school fiscal year. For school fiscal year 2006-07, a Class II, III, IV, V, or VI district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount not to exceed fifty-nine hundredths percent of the amount budgeted for employee salaries for such school fiscal year.

(8) For school fiscal year 2006-07, a Class II or III school district that has been exempt from the transportation requirements of subdivision (1)(c) of section 79-611 as such section existed before June 15, 2005, due to the school district's status as a Class VI school district in a prior school fiscal year may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by an amount equal to anticipated transportation expenditures necessary to meet new transportation requirements. The department shall approve, deny, or modify the anticipated transportation expenditures. The department shall compute the actual transportation expenditures necessary to meet new transportation requirements for school fiscal year 2006-07 and shall, if needed, modify the district's applicable allowable growth rate for the ensuing school fiscal year.

(9) A Class II, III, IV, or V district that is a member of a learning community may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate for the first school fiscal year in which the school district will be a member of a learning community for the full school fiscal year by an amount equal to anticipated increases in transportation expenditures necessary to meet the requirements of subsection (2) of section 79-611 as approved by the department. The department shall approve, deny, or modify the amount allowed for anticipated increases in transportation expenditures. The department shall compute the actual increase in transportation expenditures necessary to meet the requirements of subsection (2) of section 79-611 for such school fiscal year and shall, if needed, modify the district's applicable allowable growth rate for the ensuing school fiscal year.

(10) For school fiscal year 2008-09, a Class II, III, IV, or V district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount if the sum of the poverty allowance, elementary class size allowance, focus school and program allowance, and limited English proficiency allowance for the school district for school fiscal year 2008-09 exceeds the poverty weightings plus limited English proficiency weightings multiplied by the cost grouping cost per student for the school district for school fiscal year 2007-08. The department shall compute the amount by which the district may exceed the applicable allowable growth rate by subtracting the product of the sum of the poverty weightings and limited English proficiency weightings for school fiscal year 2007-08 multiplied by the average formula cost per student in the school district's cost grouping for school fiscal year 2007-08 from the sum of the school fiscal year 2008-09 poverty allowance, elementary class size allowance, focus school and program allowance, and limited English proficiency allowance for the school district. The department shall allow the district to increase its general fund expenditures by such amount for school fiscal year 2008-09.

(11) For school fiscal year 2009-10 and each school fiscal year thereafter, a Class II, III, IV, or V district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount if the sum of the poverty allowance, elementary class size allowance, focus school and program allowance, and limited English proficiency allowance for the school district has grown at a rate higher than the applicable allowable growth rate of the district. The department shall compute the amount by which the district may exceed the applicable allowable growth rate by subtracting the product of the sum of the poverty allowance, elementary class size allowance, focus school and program allowance, and limited English proficiency allowance for the immediately preceding school fiscal year multiplied by the sum of one plus the applicable allowable growth rate to be exceeded from the sum of the poverty allowance, elementary class size allowance, focus school and program allowance, and limited English proficiency allowance for the district for the school fiscal year for which the applicable allowable growth rate would be exceeded. The department shall allow the district to increase its general fund expenditures by such amount for the applicable school fiscal year.

(12) A Class II, III, IV, or V school district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate by a specific dollar amount not to exceed the amount received during such school fiscal year from educational entities as defined in section 79-1332 for providing distance education courses through the Distance Education Council to such educational entities.

(13) A Class II, III, IV, or V school district may exceed its applicable allowable growth rate for school fiscal year 2007-08 by a specific dollar amount equal to the amount paid in school fiscal year 2006-07 to any distance education consortium in which the school district was participating pursuant to an interlocal agreement.

Cross References:

Emergency Management Act, see section 81-829.36.

Retirement expenditures, not exempt from limitations, see

section 79-977.

Source:

Laws 1990, LB 1059, § 19

Laws 1991, LB 511, § 84

Laws 1992, LB 245, § 89

Laws 1992, LB 719, § 4

Laws 1992, LB 1063, § 205

Laws 1992, Second Spec. Sess., LB 1, § 176

Laws 1993, LB 310, § 14

Laws 1995, LB 490, § 186

Laws 1996, LB 299, § 30

R.S.Supp.,1995, § 79-3819

Laws 1996, LB 900, § 674

Laws 1996, LB 1050, § 32

Laws 1998, LB 989, § 11

Laws 1999, LB 87, § 88

Laws 1999, LB 149, § 13

Laws 2001, LB 797, § 29

Laws 2003, LB 67, § 18

Laws 2004, LB 1091, § 11

Laws 2005, LB 126, § 50

Laws 2005, LB 503, § 11

Laws 2005, LB 577, § 4

Laws 2006, LB 1024, § 90

Laws 2006, LB 1208, § 7.

~ Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2006