FILE:  FJ

Cf:  DJ, DJED

Cf:  EB, EBG

ORLEANS PARISH SCHOOL FACILITY PRESERVATION PROGRAM

The Orleans Parish School Board desires to equitably fund the preservation of all public school facilities in Orleans Parish.  To accomplish this purpose, the School Board shall establish the Orleans Parish School Facilities Preservation Program, pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:100.11.  This program shall be designed to provide emergency and planned capital repairs and improvements for public school facilities in Orleans Parish.  The Superintendent or his/her designee shall develop administrative procedures for implementation of this policy.

DEFINITIONS

As used in this policy:

Capital Improvement means work that creates an addition, physical enlargement or expansion of a building; creates an increase in capacity, productivity or efficiency; replaces a major component or structural part of the property; improves the quality of the property; and/or adapts property to a new or different use.

Capital Repair means any repair or replacement, not otherwise defined as maintenance in the charter school facilities lease or Facility Procedures Handbook, of an existing property or structure that updates the property to its previous condition.

Emergency Repair means repair of damage to or a malfunction in buildings or property which involves an emergent and imminent necessity, reconstruction or maintenance in order to permit the safe continuation of a necessary public use or function, to protect the property of the School Board, and/or to protect the life, health, or safety of facility occupants.

Extreme Emergency means a catastrophic event that impedes the use of more than one public school facility.

Facility Funds mean local ad valorem and sales tax revenues designated under state law to fund the Orleans Parish School Facilities Preservation Program.

Public School Facility or Campus means any public school owned by the School Board with a unique site code assigned by the Louisiana Department of Education or any educational program that serves public school students on a campus pursuant to a partnership with the School Board. Public School Facility or Campus includes the school building and all facilities otherwise part of the school, recognized as part of the facilities, and typically available to the school, its students, faculty, and staff.  A single campus may include more than one neighboring school building.  Generally, a single campus includes all facilities sharing a single legal address.  In some cases, more than one school may occupy a single campus, and in other cases, a single school may occupy more than one campus.

School Operator or Operator means the local school board or charter governing board that oversees the operations of a district-operated schools or charter schools that are in a public school facility as defined herein.

FUNDING

Each year, the School Board shall distribute facility funds to school facility accounts, the Facilities Office, the Revolving Loan Fund and the Capital Improvement Fund, as described in this policy, as follows:

1. Beginning with the year following the retirement of all bonds described in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:100.11, the School Board shall annually deposit into each school facility account the amounts described in this policy.  If facility funds are not sufficient to fully fund school facility accounts, the School Board shall deposit available funds in school facility accounts in accordance with the Facility Procedures Handbook.

    

2. To the extent that funds are available from facility funds after funding school facility accounts, the School Board shall fund the Facilities Office as provided by La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:100.11.

    

3. In the first year following retirement of the aforementioned bonds, fifty million dollars, or whatever lesser amount of facility funds remains after funding school facility accounts and the Facilities Office, shall be deposited in the Revolving Loan Fund. If facility funds remain after such deposit, the School Board shall distribute the remaining funds to the Revolving Loan Fund and the Capital Improvement Fund, in accordance with the Facility Procedures Handbook.  In each subsequent year, the School Board shall transfer remaining facility funds according to the allocation schedule provided by La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:100.11.

    

4. If annual facility funds are not sufficient to fully fund school facility accounts and the Facilities Office, no funding will be provided to the Revolving Loan Fund or Capital Improvement Fund.

School Facility Accounts

The Orleans Parish School Board shall establish facility repair and replacement accounts, called school facility accounts, in which facility funds shall be deposited for each campus covered by this policy.  School operators shall have access to a school facility account for each campus under their control, in accordance with the Facility Procedures Handbook. Funds in the school facility account shall be the property of the School Board.

If more than one school operator occupies a campus, the school facility account will be assigned to the primary tenant.  The School Board will manage school facility accounts established for “swing space facilities” and “incubation facilities” as defined in the NOLA-PS Facility Plan.

Each fiscal year, the School Board shall deposit into each school facility account either eight hundred dollars or five hundred dollars per student as authorized by La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:100.11.

Each year, the School Board shall determine the total number of students attending school at each campus.  For the purposes of this policy, the total student enrollment number shall be determined biannually based on the October 1 and February 1 Minimum Foundation Program count for each campus, excluding the following students:

• Students paying tuition to attend a preschool program;

• Students attending a preschool program at a Type III Early Learning Center in partnership with a public school; and

• Students who do not reside in Orleans Parish.

The school facility account shall be segregated, and funds therein shall not be comingled with other school district funds.  Funds in each account shall be used only for the benefit of the campus for which it was established.

A school operator may make a loan to the school facility account.  The loan shall be made only from excess fund balances or other funds not designated for instructional purposes.  All loans shall be interest free.  If the tenant of a public school facility has an outstanding loan to the campuses school facility account, the new tenant must pay back the loan under the same terms as the prior tenant.  If a school is lending money to the school facility account, the loan may be repaid with funds from the school facility account.

School facility accounts shall be audited annually by the School Board and each school operator shall submit requested information for ongoing monitoring of the school facility account as necessary.

The funds in the school facility account may be used for the costs of capital and emergency repairs, capital improvements, including debt services and other costs associated therewith.  Expenditures for capital repairs or replacements and capital improvements and finance costs associated with such expenditures shall be approved in advance by the charter school governing board, if the school is a charter school, and the School Board.  Expenditures for planned capital repairs shall reflect the long-term capital plan for the campus, performance standards, district education specifications, and construction quality standards as set forth in the Facility Procedures Handbook.

Requests for expenditures for capital repairs that are not reflected in the long-term capital plan for the campus shall be submitted for review to the Facilities Office for approval, in accordance with the Facility Procedures Handbook.  In evaluating such requests, the Facilities Office shall consider the availability of funds and capital repair priorities defined in the Facility Procedures Handbook.  If approved by the Facilities Office, the expenditure request shall be submitted to the charter school governing board, if the school is a charter school, and the School Board for approval.

After the retirement of bonds described in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:100.11, school operators are responsible for updating long-term capital plans subject to the requirements developed by the School Board and subject to the approval of the Facilities Office.  The school operator may pay for updated long-term capital plans with school facility account proceeds upon approval of the Facilities Office.

The funds in the school facility account may be applied towards debt service and other financing costs associated with repairs or improvements authorized by this policy based on criteria defined in the Facility Procedures Handbook.  If the tenant of a public school facility with outstanding debt payments is no longer in operation, and a new tenant occupies the facility, the new tenant must pay back the loan under the same terms as the prior tenant.  If no new tenant occupies the public school facility, the original tenant remains responsible for repayment of the debt.  In no instance shall the School Board be responsible for the debt.

The funds in the school facility account may be used for emergency repairs and do not require advance approval by the charter school governing board, if the school is a charter school, or the School Board.  Emergency repair requests shall be submitted to the Facilities Office for approval.  Emergency repairs will only be approved if the repair is required for the safe ongoing operation of a school.

Project Management

All expenditures of the School Facility Account shall be procured as defined by OPSB policies DJE, Purchasing, and DJED, Bids and Quotations.  Procurement that does not meet these policy requirements may result in the termination of school operator’s management of the School Facility Account.

The School Board may terminate a school operator’s authority to access and manage projects funded by the program if the school operator is found to have improperly used funds from the program or if the school operator violated any portion of this Policy.

If the School Board determines that an improper use of funds has occurred, the school operator shall be given formal written notice of the violation and shall have 30 calendar days to resolve the issue.  If the issue is not resolved within 30 days, the OPSB may terminate the school operator’s authority to use funds and manage projects.  The School Board may take such action to recover funds improperly used including, but not limited to, deduction of minimum foundation program funds to recover unapproved costs or damages, and provide direct management of the School Facility Account for no more than three years.

A school operator may choose to transfer management of projects funded by this program to the school board.  Such transfer of management shall be done by formal written agreement between the school operator and the School Board.  The Facilities Office shall manage all requirements for transferred School Facility Accounts.  The Facilities Office may charge an administration fee based on the cost of expenditures for the ongoing management of transferred School Facility Accounts pursuant to written agreement with the school.  A transferred School Facility Account will remain under the management of the School Board for no less than three years after the request to transfer management is made after the first year of full implementation of the program.

If a public school facility is no longer used as a school the school facility account dedicated to that facility may be distributed in one of the following ways: the account remains available for the use of that campus by a future school operator, if the campus is designated as surplus funds may be distributed to another school, or funds may be transferred to the Revolving Loan Fund as determined by the School Board.

Facilities Office

The School Board shall create a Facilities Office.  A per student allocation for the total number of students attending public school facilities shall be transferred to the Facilities Office per applicable state law.  The School Board may adjust this per student amount on an annual basis by the lesser of the most recent annual increase in the Consumer Price Index published by the United States Department of Labor or in the minimum foundation program funds.

The Facilities Office funds generated shall be used to fund the activities of the Facilities Office as defined by law and the Facility Procedures Handbook.

Revolving Loan Fund

The School Board shall establish a Revolving Loan Fund for the purpose of making loans from the Fund to schools that are in public school facilities to finance emergency or planned capital repairs.

The Revolving Loan Fund shall maintain a balance of no less than ten million dollars at all times.  If the Revolving Loan Fund is projected to have a balance of ten million dollars or less, funds shall not be used except in the case of an extreme emergency as defined in this policy.

A school operator shall be eligible for a loan only if the school facility account is below seventy-five thousand dollars.  However, if a school operator will use funds from the school facility account to fund a portion of a repair or replacement project, it may receive a loan from the Revolving Loan Fund for that project if its budgeted expenditures for the project will result in a school facility account balance below seventy-five thousand dollars.

A loan application from a school operator shall be approved by the charter school governing board, if the school is a charter school, prior to submission to the School Board for approval, unless the loan is for an approved emergency repair.  Loans shall be interest-free; however, the School Board may charge a loan origination fee not exceeding five percent of the value of the loan or thirty thousand dollars per loan, whichever is less.  School operators shall repay loans in accordance with the terms of the loan agreement from funds to be deposited in their school facility accounts.  No school operator may use proceeds of a loan for operating expenses, maintenance, or insurance costs.

If a school operator vacates a campus for which a loan is outstanding and another school operator becomes the tenant in that campus, the new school operator shall assume the debt.  The School Board may temporarily pause loan payments when a new operator assumes control of a public school facility with an outstanding loan.

All loan applications will be approved based up upon availability of funds and capital repair priorities defined in the Facility Procedures Handbook.  Loans for emergency repairs will be prioritized over loans for planned capital repairs.  Eligible loan applications must meet the following criteria in additional to those criteria identified above;

• An approved expenditure for emergency repairs.

• An approved expenditure for planned capital repairs.

Capital Improvement Fund

The School Board shall establish a Capital Improvement Fund and make grants from the fund to school operators that are in public school facilities to finance preservation, capital improvements, capital repairs and/or construction of school facilities.  The maximum grant a school operator can receive for any one campus is five million dollars.  A request for a Capital Improvement grant shall be approved in advance by the charter schools board if the school is a charter school.  Grants will be approved based upon the following priorities:

• To finance or support debt for capital investment.

• To address lack of educational adequacy.

• To add capacity or amenities to existing facilities where needed to support district wide portfolio needs.

REPORTING

Each year the School Board shall cause to be prepared the following:

1. A report of the amounts, by source, of Facilities Office funds, school facility accounts for each campus, the Revolving Loan Fund and all loans made therefrom, the Capital Improvement Fund and all grants made therefrom, and the per campus student counts used in such calculations.  This report shall be included as a schedule to the annual financial statements of the School Board, audited by its certified public accountant and submitted to the state Department of Education;
   
   

2. The cost and type of all repairs approved and funded by school facility accounts; and
   
   

3. An independent audit of all facility funds.

The report shall be presented annually, at an Orleans Parish School Board meeting.

Ref:    La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:100.11, 17:1990

Board minutes, 3-16-17, 4-23-20, 6-10-21, 1-18-24

Orleans Parish School Board