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Public Act 096-1474
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| HB5515 Enrolled | LRB096 20135 MJR 35672 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section |
17-2.11 as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/17-2.11) (from Ch. 122, par. 17-2.11) |
Sec. 17-2.11. School board power to levy a tax or to borrow |
money and
issue bonds for fire prevention, safety, energy |
conservation, disabled
accessibility, school security, and |
specified repair purposes. |
(a) Whenever, as a
result of any lawful order of any |
agency,
other than a school board, having authority to enforce |
any school building code
applicable to any facility that houses |
students, or any law or regulation for
the protection and |
safety of the environment, pursuant to the Environmental
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Protection Act, any school district having a population of less |
than 500,000
inhabitants is required to alter or reconstruct |
any school building or
permanent, fixed equipment; the district |
may, by proper resolution, levy a tax for the purpose of making |
such alteration or reconstruction, based on a survey report by |
an architect or engineer licensed in this State, upon all of |
the taxable property of the district at the value as assessed |
by the Department of Revenue and at a rate not to exceed 0.05% |
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per year for a period sufficient to finance such alteration or |
reconstruction, upon the following conditions: |
(1) When there are not sufficient funds available in |
the operations and maintenance fund of the school district, |
the school facility occupation tax fund of the district, or |
the fire prevention and safety fund of the district, as |
determined by the district on the basis of rules adopted by |
the State Board of Education, to make such alteration or |
reconstruction or to purchase and install such permanent, |
fixed equipment so ordered or determined as necessary. |
Appropriate school district records must be made available |
to the State Superintendent of Education, upon request, to |
confirm this insufficiency. |
(2) When a certified estimate of an architect or |
engineer licensed in this State stating the estimated |
amount necessary to make the alteration or reconstruction |
or to purchase and install the equipment so ordered has |
been secured by the school district, and the estimate has |
been approved by the regional superintendent of schools |
having jurisdiction over the district and the State |
Superintendent of Education. Approval must not be granted |
for any work that has already started without the prior |
express authorization of the State Superintendent of |
Education. If the estimate is not approved or is denied |
approval by the regional superintendent of schools within 3 |
months after the date on which it is submitted to him or |
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her, the school board of the district may submit the |
estimate directly to the State Superintendent of Education |
for approval or denial. |
In the case of an emergency situation, where the estimated |
cost to effectuate emergency repairs is less than the amount |
specified in Section 10-20.21 of this Code, the school district |
may proceed with such repairs prior to approval by the State |
Superintendent of Education, but shall comply with the |
provisions of subdivision (2) of this subsection (a) as soon |
thereafter as may be as well as Section 10-20.21 of this Code. |
If the estimated cost to effectuate emergency repairs is |
greater than the amount specified in Section 10-20.21 of this |
Code, then the school district shall proceed in conformity with |
Section 10-20.21 of this Code and with rules established by the |
State Board of Education to address such situations. The rules |
adopted by the State Board of Education to deal with these |
situations shall stipulate that emergency situations must be |
expedited and given priority consideration. For purposes of |
this paragraph, an emergency is a situation that presents an |
imminent and continuing threat to the health and safety of |
students or other occupants of a facility, requires complete or |
partial evacuation of a building or part of a building, or |
consumes one or more of the 5 emergency days built into the |
adopted calendar of the school or schools or would otherwise be |
expected to cause such school or schools to fall short of the |
minimum school calendar requirements. |
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(b) Whenever any such district determines that
it is |
necessary for energy conservation purposes that any school |
building
or permanent, fixed equipment should be altered or |
reconstructed and
that such alterations or reconstruction will |
be made with funds not necessary
for the completion of approved |
and recommended projects contained in any safety
survey report |
or amendments thereto authorized by Section 2-3.12 of this Act; |
the district may levy a tax or issue bonds as provided in |
subsection (a) of this Section. |
(c) Whenever
any such district determines that it is |
necessary for disabled accessibility purposes and to comply |
with the school building
code that any
school building or |
equipment should be altered or reconstructed and that such
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alterations or reconstruction will be made with
funds not |
necessary for the completion of approved and recommended |
projects
contained in any safety survey report or amendments |
thereto authorized under
Section 2-3.12 of this Act, the |
district may levy a tax or issue bonds as provided in |
subsection (a) of this Section. |
(d) Whenever any such district determines that it is
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necessary for school
security purposes and the related |
protection and safety of pupils and school
personnel that any |
school building or property should be altered or
reconstructed |
or that security systems and equipment (including but not |
limited
to intercom, early detection and warning, access |
control and television
monitoring systems) should be purchased |
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and installed, and that such
alterations, reconstruction or |
purchase and installation of equipment will be
made with funds |
not necessary for the completion of approved and recommended
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projects contained in any safety survey report or amendment |
thereto authorized
by Section 2-3.12 of this Act and will deter |
and prevent unauthorized entry or
activities upon school |
property by unknown or dangerous persons, assure early
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detection and advance warning of any such actual or attempted |
unauthorized
entry or activities and help assure the continued |
safety of pupils and school
staff if any such unauthorized |
entry or activity is attempted or occurs;
the district may levy |
a tax or issue bonds as provided in subsection (a) of this |
Section. |
(e) If a school district does not need funds for other fire |
prevention and
safety projects, including the completion of |
approved and recommended projects
contained in any safety |
survey report or amendments thereto authorized by
Section |
2-3.12 of this Act, and it is determined after a public hearing |
(which
is preceded by at least one published notice (i) |
occurring at least 7 days
prior to the hearing in a newspaper |
of general circulation within the school
district and (ii) |
setting forth the time, date, place, and general subject
matter |
of the hearing) that there is a
substantial, immediate, and |
otherwise unavoidable threat to the health, safety,
or welfare |
of pupils due to disrepair of school sidewalks, playgrounds, |
parking
lots, or school bus turnarounds and repairs must be |
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made; then the district may levy a tax or issue bonds as |
provided in subsection (a) of this Section. |
(f) For purposes of this Section a school district may |
replace a school
building or build additions to replace |
portions of a building when it is
determined that the |
effectuation of the recommendations for the existing
building |
will cost more than the replacement costs. Such determination |
shall
be based on a comparison of estimated costs made by an |
architect or engineer
licensed in the State of Illinois. The |
new building or addition shall be
equivalent in area (square |
feet) and comparable in purpose and grades served
and may be on |
the same site or another site. Such replacement may only be |
done
upon order of the regional superintendent of schools and |
the approval of the
State Superintendent of Education. |
(g) The filing of a certified copy of the resolution |
levying the tax when
accompanied by the certificates of the |
regional superintendent of schools and
State Superintendent of |
Education shall be the authority of the county clerk to
extend |
such tax. |
(h) The county clerk of the county in which any school |
district levying a
tax under the authority of this Section is |
located, in reducing raised
levies, shall not consider any such |
tax as a part of the general levy
for school purposes and shall |
not include the same in the limitation of
any other tax rate |
which may be extended. |
Such tax shall be levied and collected in like manner as |
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all other
taxes of school districts, subject to the provisions |
contained in this Section. |
(i) The tax rate limit specified in this Section may be |
increased to .10%
upon the approval of a proposition to effect |
such increase by a majority
of the electors voting on that |
proposition at a regular scheduled election.
Such proposition |
may be initiated by resolution of the school board and
shall be |
certified by the secretary to the proper election authorities |
for
submission in accordance with the general election law. |
(j) When taxes are levied by any school district for fire |
prevention,
safety, energy conservation, and school security |
purposes as specified in this
Section, and the purposes for |
which the taxes have been
levied are accomplished and paid in |
full, and there remain funds on hand in
the Fire Prevention and |
Safety Fund from the proceeds of the taxes levied,
including |
interest earnings thereon, the school board by resolution shall |
use
such excess and other board restricted funds, excluding |
bond proceeds and
earnings from such proceeds, as follows: |
(1) for other authorized fire prevention,
safety, |
energy conservation, and school security purposes;
or |
(2) for transfer to the Operations and Maintenance Fund
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for the purpose of abating an equal amount of operations |
and maintenance
purposes taxes. |
Notwithstanding subdivision (2) of this subsection (j), |
through June 30, 2013, the school board
may, by proper |
resolution following a public hearing set by the
school board |
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or the president of the school board (that is
preceded (i) by |
at least one published notice over the name of
the clerk or |
secretary of the board, occurring at least 7 days
and not more |
than 30 days prior to the hearing, in a newspaper
of general |
circulation within the school district and (ii) by
posted |
notice over the name of the clerk or secretary of the
board, at |
least 48 hours before the hearing, at the principal
office of |
the school board or at the building where the hearing
is to be |
held if a principal office does not exist, with both
notices |
setting forth the time, date, place, and subject matter
of the |
hearing), transfer surplus life safety taxes and interest |
earnings thereon to the Operations and Maintenance Fund for |
building repair work. |
(k) If any transfer is made to the Operation and |
Maintenance
Fund, the secretary of the school board shall |
within 30 days notify
the county clerk of the amount of that |
transfer and direct the clerk to
abate the taxes to be extended |
for the purposes of operations and
maintenance authorized under |
Section 17-2 of this Act by an amount equal
to such transfer. |
(l) If the proceeds from the tax levy authorized by this
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Section are insufficient to complete the work approved under |
this
Section, the school board is authorized to sell bonds |
without referendum
under the provisions of this Section in an |
amount that, when added to the
proceeds of the tax levy |
authorized by this Section, will allow completion
of the |
approved work. |
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(m) Any bonds issued pursuant to this Section shall bear |
interest at a rate not to exceed the maximum rate
authorized by |
law at the time of the making of the contract, shall mature
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within 20 years from date, and shall be signed by the president |
of the school
board and the treasurer of the school district. |
(n) In order to authorize and issue such bonds, the school |
board shall adopt
a resolution fixing the amount of bonds, the |
date thereof, the maturities
thereof, rates of interest |
thereof, place of payment and denomination,
which shall be in |
denominations of not less than $100 and not more than
$5,000, |
and provide for the levy and collection of a direct annual tax |
upon
all the taxable property in the school district sufficient |
to pay the
principal and interest on such bonds to maturity. |
Upon the filing in the
office of the county clerk of the county |
in which the school district is
located of a certified copy of |
the resolution, it is the duty of the
county clerk to extend |
the tax therefor in addition to and in excess of all
other |
taxes heretofore or hereafter authorized to be
levied by such |
school district. |
(o) After the time such bonds are issued as provided for by |
this Section, if
additional alterations or reconstructions are |
required to be made because
of surveys conducted by an |
architect or engineer licensed in the State of
Illinois, the |
district may levy a tax at a rate not to exceed .05% per year
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upon all the taxable property of the district or issue |
additional bonds,
whichever action shall be the most feasible. |
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(p) This Section is cumulative and constitutes complete |
authority for the
issuance of bonds as provided in this Section |
notwithstanding any other
statute or law to the contrary. |
(q) With respect to instruments for the payment of money |
issued under this
Section either before, on, or after the |
effective date of Public Act 86-004
(June 6, 1989), it is, and |
always has been, the intention of the General
Assembly (i) that |
the Omnibus Bond Acts are, and always have been,
supplementary |
grants of power to issue instruments in accordance with the
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Omnibus Bond Acts, regardless of any provision of this Act that |
may appear
to be or to have been more restrictive than those |
Acts, (ii) that the
provisions of this Section are not a |
limitation on the supplementary
authority granted by the |
Omnibus Bond Acts, and (iii) that instruments
issued under this |
Section within the supplementary authority granted by the
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Omnibus Bond Acts are not invalid because of any provision of |
this Act that
may appear to be or to have been more restrictive |
than those Acts. |
(r) When the purposes for which the bonds are issued have |
been accomplished
and paid for in full and there remain funds |
on hand from the proceeds of
the bond sale and interest |
earnings therefrom, the board shall, by
resolution, use such |
excess funds in accordance with the provisions of
Section |
10-22.14 of this Act. |
(s) Whenever any tax is levied or bonds issued for fire |
prevention, safety,
energy conservation, and school security |