HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2965        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 408

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act regarding the decommissioning of schoolhouses for which school facilities project applicant receives grant payments..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Chapter 70B of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after Section 15 the following section:

70B Section 15A.

Decommissioning of schoolhouses for which school facilities project applicant receives grant payments

In the event that an eligible applicant can no longer utilize an assisted structure built prior to 2004 as a schoolhouse due to a decrease in enrollment, then the city, town or regional school district shall submit a decommissioning plan to the MSBA and to the Department of Education. 

The authority shall waive the deductions required under the provision of section 15B of chapter 70B if the district successfully demonstrates the following: (1) there is at least a 15% decrease in enrollment across the entire city, town, or regional school district since the opening of the assisted structure; (2) the enrollment decrease for the assisted structure is greater than 25% of projected enrollment during the design and building process and this enrollment decrease is not due to redistricting; and (3) the district will not have the required capacity if it removes a non-assisted structure; and the authority finds that: (1) the schools within a five mile radius of the assisted structure are not experiencing overcrowding, and (2) the district’s 10 year projected enrollment does not exceed the capacity of the remaining operating schoolhouses; and the commissioner of education has certified that: (1) the district’s decommissioning plan is educationally sound. 

Upon the decommissioning of the assisted structure, the district shall sell or lease the assisted structure or facility, or portion of that structure or facility, which shall be for no less than fair market value as determined by independent appraisal, unless the eligible applicant receives prior written approval from the authority to do otherwise, and the proceeds from the sale or lease shall be divided between the authority and the general funds of the applicable eligible applicant in proportion to the commonwealth’s and authority’s prior investments in the assisted structure or facility under this chapter or said chapter 645, as applicable.