New Item and Description for the SOQ/Local Real Estate Property Tax Fund (language only)

Item 157.10 #1c

Language
Page 133, after line 35, insert:
A.  The appropriation for the Financial Assistance for Public Education (Standards of Quality) in Item 146 and the appropriation for Financial Assistance for Special State Revenue Sharing in Item 147 include amounts estimated at $167 million the first year and $210.7 million the second year from the amounts transferred to the general fund from the Public Education Standards of Quality/Local Real Estate Property Tax Relief Fund pursuant to Part 3 of this Act which are derived from the ¼ cent increase in the state sales and use tax levied pursuant to House Bill 5018, 2004 Special Session.
These additional funds are provided to local school divisions and local governments in order to relieve the financial pressure education programs place on local real estate taxes.
B.  From the total amounts in paragraph A. above, an amount estimated at $83,500,000 the first year and $105,350,000 the second year (approximately 1/8 cent of sales and use tax) is appropriated in Item 146 to support a portion of the cost of the state’s share of the following revisions to the Standards of Quality pursuant to Chapter 939 if the Acts of Assembly of 2004 (Senate Bill 479), and Chapter 955 of the Acts of Assembly (House Bill 1014): five elementary resource teachers per 1,000 students; one support technology position per 1,000 students in the first year and one support and one instructional technology position per 1,000 students in the second year; 1/4 of the daily planning period for teachers at the middle and high school levels the first year and the full daily planning period for teachers at the middle and high school levels the second year."
C. From the total amounts in paragraph A. above, an amount estimated at $83,500,000 the first year and $105,350,000 the second year (approximately 1/8 cent of sales and use tax) is appropriated in Item 147 to distribute the remainder of the revenues collected and deposited into the Public Education Standards of Quality/Local Real Estate Property Tax Relief Fund on the basis of the most recent triennial census of school age population.”

Explanation
(This is one of a series of amendments related to the Public Education Standards of Quality/Local Real Estate Property Tax Relief Fund, which provides one quarter cent of sales tax revenue for the public education, estimated at $167.0 million the first year and $210.7 million the second year, for a total of $377.7 million for the biennium. These funds shall be transferred to the general fund to support public education programs. Half of that amount (1/8 of a cent) shall be distributed based on the most recent triennial census of school age population collected by the Department of Education, consistent with the distribution of the existing one cent of sales tax dedicated to public education. The remaining half of that amount (1/8 of a cent) shall be allocated to Basic Aid payments to support the following revisions to the Standards of Quality pursuant to Chapter 939 of the Acts of Assembly of 2004 (Senate Bill 479), and Chapter 955 of the Acts of Assembly of 2004 (House Bill 1014): elementary resource teachers, technology positions (one support position in each year of the biennium and one instructional position in the second year of the biennium), and the required planning period in middle schools and high schools (25 percent of the required funding is provided in the first year and 100 percent of the required funding is provided in the second year.))