H1600B2811A05312 BIL:JSL 01/14/08 #90 A05312
AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE BILL NO. 1600
Sponsor: REPRESENTATIVE METCALFE
Printer's No. 2811
1 Amend Title, page 1, line 1, by striking out "and"
2 Amend Title, page 1, line 2, by removing the period after
3 "Fund" and inserting
4 ; and providing for school district budget election.
5 Amend Bill, page 10, by inserting between lines 2 and 3
6 CHAPTER 13
7 SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET ELECTION
8 Section 1301. School budget election.
9 Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary,
10 the electors of each school district shall vote upon the
11 appropriation of the necessary funds to meet the estimated
12 expenditures in the electors' school district at the primary
13 election immediately preceding the proposed budget
14 implementation.
15 Section 1302. Responsibility of board of school directors to
16 prepare budgets.
17 (a) Presentation.--The board of school directors of each
18 school district shall present its preliminary budget proposal
19 under section 311 of the Taxpayer Relief Act at a public hearing
20 held no more than 14 days nor less than seven days before the
21 school budget election established in section 1301.
22 (b) Contents.--The preliminary proposed budget shall be
23 written in plain language with categories of revenues,
24 expenditures and fund balance information, as well as comparison
25 data from the prior year's budget, set forth in such a manner as
26 to best promote comprehension and readability.
27 (c) Salary information.--A board of school directors shall
28 attach to the preliminary budget proposal the salaries, benefits
29 and any in-kind or other form of compensation of the
30 superintendent, assistant or associate superintendent and any
31 administrator or employee of the school district who will earn
32 more than $97,000 in the upcoming year.
33 (d) Report card.--A board of school directors shall also
34 attach to the preliminary budget proposal an annual report card
35 prepared by the department which measures the academic
36 performance of the district on a school-by-school basis. The
37 report card must compare academic performance to Statewide
38 averages for all schools of comparable wealth, size and need.
39 (e) Notice.--A board of school directors shall notify the
1 electors of school districts of the time and place of the public
2 hearing in accordance with the act of June 21, 1957 (P.L.390,
3 No.212), referred to as the Right-to-Know Law.
4 (f) Procedure.--The published notice shall appear four times
5 within the seven weeks preceding the public hearing. The first
6 publication shall be at least 45 days before the hearing. The
7 notice shall appear in two newspapers, if there are two, having
8 general circulation within the school district. When no
9 newspaper has general circulation therein, the notice shall be
10 posted in at least 20 of the most public places in the district
11 45 days before the date of the hearing. The notice of the
12 hearing shall state the time and location of the hearing.
13 (g) Proposal available to public.--A board of school
14 directors shall be required to have the preliminary budget
15 proposal available upon request to residents within the school
16 district seven days before the public hearing. As part of the
17 notice of the hearing under subsection (e), the board of school
18 directors shall inform electors where to obtain a copy of the
19 budget and provide a time and place where preliminary budget
20 proposals shall be available.
21 Section 1303. Adoption of budget.
22 The school district budget shall be presented to the electors
23 for their approval. If the voters fail to approve the budget,
24 the board of school directors must adopt the previous year's
25 approved budget as a conditional budget.
26 Section 1304. Total expenditures not to exceed budget
27 appropriations.
28 A school district shall maintain its expenditures within
29 legally authorized appropriations as approved by the electors of
30 the school district.
31 Section 1305. Internal controls.
32 When administering a conditional budget, school districts
33 must implement and maintain controls whereby appropriations and
34 actual expenditures shall be monitored for compliance. The
35 school district may be required to present evidence that these
36 monitoring controls are in place and operating as designed.
37 Controls may be integrated into existing accounting and
38 reporting systems or built onto existing systems, such as
39 through the use of spreadsheets or database applications
40 software.
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