Agenda - Council - 08/13/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Building Lease Aid Under the Act, the School is eligible for Building Lease Aid which must be used to pay for facility occupancy and certain related costs. The amount of Building Lease Aid the School receives and will receive in the future is determined by a statutory formula. Under the current formula, effective July 1, 2012, a charter school receives as Building Lease Aid equal to the lesser of (i) 90% of the approved cost of the lease or (ii) a cap of $1,200 per weighted student unit. The prior formula for lease aid that expired on June 30, 2011 provided up to $1,500 per weighted student pupil unit for the School. The Building Lease Aid cap is adjusted by a factor of 0.612 for kindergarten students by a factor of 1.115 for students in grades 1-3, by a factor of 1.06 for students in grades 4-6 and by a factor of 1.3 for students in grades 7-12. This formula has been revised somewhat by recent legislation. See Appendix B, below. However, the amendments will not materially affect the total amount of lease aid available to Harvest. PACT received Building Lease Aid of approximately $XXX,XXX for the 2011- 2012 school year. The School [anticipates receiving] Building Lease Aid in the amount of $XXX,XXX for the 2012-2013 school year. 4. 2013 LEGISLATIVE ACTION The Minnesota legislature convened on January 8, 2013 and adjourned May 20, 2013. The K-12 "Omnibus Bill" covering funding and regulation of education in Minnesota was among the final bills adopted, which Governor Mark Dayton signed into law on May 22, 2013. Legislators and Governor Mark Dayton agreed to put $485 million in new funding into programs from preschool through 1211) grade over the next two years. Called the "capstone" of the education bill, by Democratic supporters, $134 million will provide all -day kindergarten for all kids —with no charge to parents. The new state funding will also bring savings totaling $26 million over two years to 10,000 families that now pay several thousand dollars per year for expanded -day programs. Another $40 million will be devoted to need -based scholarships for state -approved preschools. Scholarships of up to $5,000 will go to provider education to about 8,000 lower -income 3- and 4-year-olds. A total of $234 million -- $78 per student in the first year and $80 per student in year two — will increase the basic formula -drive amount that districts received. An additional $40 million will help schools with soaring special -education costs. Although the bill was hailed as a step forward for educational funding, it will have no material impact on the manner in which charter public schools are funding and overseen. The essentials of funding for each public charter school arc identical for funding for students attending traditional district managed public schools. Public Charter schools still must be authorized (formerly "sponsored") by non-profit 501(c)(3) qualified tax-exempt organizations, post -secondary institutions and public school districts. Once approved by an authorizer, MDS must review and approve the charter school as well. Because of the all -day kindergarten, there were some adjustments to the calculation of WADM, and the maximum per -pupil amount of lease aid was increased to $1,314, which will A-11