(a) Beginning with the 2016-2017 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, the legislature shall consider making an appropriation and bond authorization to the commission for the design, planning, construction, repair, and maintenance of public charter school improvements to address issues of health, safety, and legal compliance; expand or improve instructional space; provide for food services; or provide restroom facilities. The appropriation and bond authorization for charter schools shall be separate from, and in addition to, any appropriation made to charter schools pursuant to this section and § 302D-28. These amounts shall be prioritized for allocation by the charter school facilities funding working group.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-29.5

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • charter: means a fixed-term, bilateral, renewable contract between a public charter school and an authorizer that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party to the contract. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Commission: means the state public charter school commission established pursuant to [section] 302D-3 as a statewide authorizer. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Department: means the department of education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Executive director: means the executive director of the state public charter school commission. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. Source: FDIC
(b) The governor, pursuant to chapter 37, may impose restrictions or reductions on appropriations for charter schools similar to those imposed on department schools.
(c) This section shall not limit the ability of the director of finance to modify or amend any allotment pursuant to chapter 37.
(d) There is established a charter school facilities funding working group within the department of education, which shall consist of the following members, or their designees:

(1) The chairperson of the commission;
(2) The executive director of the commission;
(3) The director of finance;
(4) The comptroller;
(5) The superintendent of education;
(6) An individual with expertise in real estate, to be appointed by the chairperson of the commission; and
(7) An individual with expertise in finance, to be appointed by the chairperson of the commission.

The commission shall develop criteria to determine the distribution of funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) to the charter schools. The criteria shall include distribution based on the need and performance of the charter schools, overall benefit to the surrounding community, amount of risk and availability of recourse to the State, and whether a particular charter school received facilities funding through other state funding, including grants-in-aid or a separate appropriation.

The charter school facilities funding working group shall be exempt from chapter 92 and shall act in an advisory capacity to prioritize the allocation of general fund appropriations and bond proceeds for public charter schools to expend based on the criteria established by the commission.

(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed as restricting the authority of the commission to support the facilities needs of the charter schools through other means.