41-5731 - Building renewal grant fund; rules; annual report; definitions

41-5731. Building renewal grant fund; rules; annual report; definitions

A. The building renewal grant fund is established consisting of monies appropriated to the fund by the legislature. The division shall administer the fund and distribute monies to school districts for the purpose of maintaining the adequacy of existing school facilities. Monies in the fund are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations.

B. The division shall distribute monies from the building renewal grant fund based on grant requests from school districts to fund primary building renewal projects. Project requests shall be prioritized by the division, with priority given to school districts that have provided routine preventive maintenance on the facility. A school district must submit a preventive maintenance plan to the division to be eligible to receive monies from the building renewal grant fund. The division shall approve only projects that will be completed within twelve months, unless similar projects on average take longer to complete. A grant issued under this section expires twelve months after the grant request is approved unless the division issues an extension, except that if the division approves a project and determines that similar projects on average take longer than twelve months to complete, the division shall extend the grant expiration date based on the average amount of time that similar projects take to complete. The division shall establish a process by which a school district may request an extension under this subsection. On expiration of a grant, a school district shall return any building renewal grant fund monies that the school district has not spent to the division for deposit in the building renewal grant fund. The division may spend monies from the fund for assessments to determine whether a grant from the fund is warranted under this section.

C. School districts that receive monies from the building renewal grant fund shall use these monies on projects for buildings or any part of a building in the division's database for any of the following:

1. Major renovations and repairs to a building that is used for student instruction or other academic purposes.

2. Upgrading systems and areas that will maintain or extend the useful life of the building.

3. Infrastructure costs.

D. Monies received from the fund shall not be used for any of the following purposes:

1. New construction.

2. Remodeling interior space for aesthetic or preferential reasons.

3. Exterior beautification.

4. Demolition.

5. Routine preventive maintenance.

6. Any project in a building, or part of a building, that is being leased to another entity.

E. Accommodation schools are not eligible for monies from the building renewal grant fund.

F. If the division or a court of competent jurisdiction determines that a school district received monies from the building renewal grant fund that must be reimbursed to the division due to legal action associated with improper construction by a hired contractor, the school district shall reimburse the division an agreed-on amount for deposit into the building renewal grant fund.

G. The division shall categorize each project that is eligible for monies from the building renewal grant fund as either critical or noncritical. The division shall adopt policies and procedures to prioritize critical projects and to designate critical projects as projects that immediately impact student safety or building closures or that result in operational disruptions. Critical projects have priority over any previously approved noncritical projects.

H. If the division determines that sufficient monies are not available for a noncritical project that the division has approved, the division shall notify the school district that submitted the project request that monies will be distributed from the building renewal grant fund for the project only if the legislature appropriates sufficient monies. If sufficient monies are not available in the fiscal year in which the project is awarded for a noncritical project, the noncritical project does not receive priority in the next fiscal year.

I. Building renewal grants pursuant to this section shall be used only for projects that serve an academic purpose.

J. The division shall do both of the following:

1. Implement policies and procedures to require a school district to report the preventive maintenance activities completed during the previous twelve months for the facility for which the monies are being requested.

2. Submit a monthly report to the school facilities oversight board that details how monies from the building renewal grant fund have been distributed.

K. In addition to establishing a project eligibility assessment under section 41-5702, subsection A, paragraph 5, subdivision (b), the division shall adopt rules regarding both of the following:

1. The approval of building renewal grants pursuant to this section.

2. Time frames for the division regarding all of the following with respect to this section:

(a) Approving or denying grant requests for critical projects.

(b) Notifying an applicant if the applicant's application is incomplete.

(d) Distributing monies from the building renewal grant fund.

L. The board shall review all policies and procedures that the division develops to administer this section.

M. The division may spend monies from the fund for assessments to determine if a grant from the fund is warranted under this section.

N. On or before June 30 of each year, the division shall submit a report to the joint legislative budget committee and the governor's office of strategic planning and budgeting on any unobligated monies in the building renewal grant fund.

O. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Primary building renewal projects" means projects that are necessary for buildings owned by school districts that are required to meet the minimum adequacy standards for student capacity and that fall below the minimum school facility adequacy guidelines, as adopted by the board pursuant to section 41-5711, for school districts that have provided routine preventive maintenance to the school facility.

2. "Routine preventive maintenance" means services that are performed on a regular schedule at intervals ranging from four times a year to once every three years, or on the schedule of services recommended by the manufacturer of the specific building system or equipment, and that are intended to extend the useful life of a building system and reduce the need for major repairs.

3. "Student capacity" has the same meaning prescribed in section 41-5711.