Statutes

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 1.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1331.         School Foundation and Equalization Act; terms, defined.  As used in sections 79-1330 to 79-1344, unless the context otherwise requires:
         (1) Classroom teacher shall mean a certificated teacher who has major responsibility for the instruction of one or more classes of pupils;
         (2) District shall mean a school district approved for continued legal operation under rules and regulations established by the State Board of Education pursuant to subdivision (c), subsection (5) of section 79-328;
         (3) Per pupil cost shall mean a district's current operating expense for the preceding year, as shown in the district's annual financial report to the State Department of Education, divided by the average daily membership of resident and nonresident pupils for the preceding school year;
         (4) Operating funds shall mean a district's current operating revenue for the preceding fiscal year as shown in the district's annual financial report to the State Department of Education; and
         (5) Summer school program shall mean a program consisting of thirty days of school at three hours per day, or the equivalent, conducted by a district to meet the academic needs of its pupils during a period other than the regular school year.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 2.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1332.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; funds appropriated by Legislature; administration.  There is hereby established in the state treasury a special fund to be known as the School Foundation and Equalization Fund.  Such fund shall consist of such sums as the Legislature may appropriate, and shall be administered by the State Board of Education.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 3.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1333.         Financial support to districts; payment; dates; assistance, reduction, when.  All state financial assistance to districts pursuant to sections 79-1330 to 79-1344 shall be based upon the annual financial reports of such districts as required by section 79-451, and shall be paid in equal installments on the first day of December and the first day of April of the following fiscal year.  Such reports shall be submitted to the State Board of Education by Class I, II, III, or VI school districts on or before the first day of September of each year, and by Class IV and V school districts on or before the first day of November of each year.  When any Class I, II, III, or VI school district fails to submit its report by the first day of September, any state assistance granted pursuant to sections 79-1330 to 79-1344 shall be based on the amount granted for the previous fiscal year, and shall be reduced by ten per cent of that amount, and when any such district fails to submit its report by the first day of October, it shall forfeit all assistance pursuant to sections 79-1330 to 79-1344 for that year.  When any Class IV or V school district fails to submit its report by the first day of November any state assistance granted pursuant to sections 791330 to 79-1344 shall be based on the amount granted for the previous fiscal year, and shall be reduced by ten per cent of that amount, and when any such district fails to submit its report by the fifteenth day of November, it shall forfeit all assistance pursuant to sections 79-1330 to 79-1344 for that year.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 4.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1334.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; financial support; amount.  Each district shall receive financial support from the School Foundation and Equalization Fund as follows:  Twelve dollars and fifty cents per kindergarten pupil, twenty-five dollars per pupil in grades one through six, thirty dollars per pupil in grades seven and eight, and thirty-five dollars per pupil in grades nine through twelve, the applicable sum for each category to be multiplied by the preceding year's average daily membership of resident and nonresident pupils in each category.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 5.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1335.         Aid; requirements.  To be eligible for aid, except for foundation aid under the provisions of section 79-1334, from the School Foundation and Equalization Fund each district shall have levied, in the manner prescribed by law, a tax on the valuation of all taxable property within the district for the preceding year, except intangible property, as follows:  (1) For Class I districts, not less than ten mills; (2) for Class II, III, IV, and V districts, not less than sixteen mills; and (3) for Class VI districts, not less than seven mills.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 6.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1336.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; support of schools; allocation.  Subject to the conditions imposed by sections 79-1330 to 79-1344, the School Foundation and Equalization Fund shall be used to insure each district the following total financial support:
         (1) The smaller of the following calculations:  (a) Two hundred twenty-five dollars per kindergarten pupil, four hundred fifty dollars per pupil in grades one through six, five hundred dollars per pupil in grades seven and eight, and five hundred fifty dollars per pupil in grades nine through twelve, the applicable sum for each category to be multiplied by the average daily membership for the preceding year of resident and nonresident pupils in each category, or (b) one hundred eight per cent of the district's per pupil cost for the preceding year multiplied by the district's average daily membership for the preceding year; and
         (2) When the population density in any county is less than four persons per square mile, as determined from the most recent federal decennial census, the total financial support under subdivision (1) of this section insured for each district in the county shall be increased by the following percentages:   (a) If the population density is three or more but less than four persons per square mile, ten per cent; (b) if the density is two or more but less than three persons per square mile, twenty per cent; (c) if the density is one or more but less than two persons per square mile, thirty per cent; and (d) if the density is less than one person per square mile, forty per cent; Provided, any school district within a qualifying county showing a density greater than provided in this subdivision shall not qualify for such percentage increases.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 7.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1337.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; support of schools, special programs.  In its calculations under section 79-1336, a district which provides a special program for (1) gifted children, or (2) culturally and educationally deprived children, shall be entitled to count each pupil regularly enrolled in such programs during the preceding year as one and one-fourth and two students respectively.  To qualify for such adjustment, such programs must be approved by the State Board of Education.  Criteria for the classification of gifted and culturally and educationally deprived children shall be established by the State Board of Education.  In addition, each student eligible to be transported by bus according to the provisions of section 79-490, shall be counted as one and one-fourth students.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 8.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1338.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; support of schools; calculated.  From the sum calculated pursuant to section 79-1336, each district shall subtract operating funds obtained from (1) the State of Nebraska under section 79-1334, (2) the qualifying levy prescribed in section 79-1335; Provided, operating funds received from that portion of the local tax levy which exceeds the minimum prescribed in section 79-1335 shall be excluded from this computation, (3) tuition, (4) fines, (5) license fees, (6) transportation reimbursements, (7) the Insurance Tax Fund, (8) funds received under the provisions of Chapter 79, article 13, (9) subsections (3) (a) and (3) (b) of Public Law 874, 81st Congress, as amended, and (10) the Johnson-O'Malley Act, 25 United States Code 452, as amended; Provided, a district which does not apply for the federal funds referred to in subdivisions (9) and (10) of this section shall have the amount which it would receive upon such application subtracted from the amount of equalization aid it would otherwise receive under section 79-1339.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 9.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1339.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; support of schools; particular districts.  If, for a particular district, the total determined pursuant to section 79-1336 exceeds that determined pursuant to section 79-1338, such district shall be entitled to receive the difference from the School Foundation and Equalization Fund.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 10.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1340.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; support of schools; incentive payments.  Each district shall receive the following additional incentive payments from the School Foundation and Equalization Fund:
         (1) Three hundred fifty dollars for each certificated instructor holding a doctorate degree;
         (2) Two hundred fifty dollars for each certificated instructor having completed an approved six-year college program, or holding a master's degree or the equivalent;
         (3) One hundred fifty dollars for each certificated instructor holding a bachelor's degree; and
         (4) Twenty cents per student hour for each student participating in a summer school program.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 11.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1341.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund, support of schools; additional funds.  For a district in which actual per pupil cost, in any particular year, exceeds the total financial support prescribed by sections 79-1336, 79-1337, and 79-1340 the following limitation shall apply.  Notwithstanding the grant provisions of sections 79-1333, 79-1334, 79-1336, 79-1337, and 79-1340, funds received under sections 79-1330 to 79-1344, when added to operating funds received from all other sources, shall not exceed the larger of the following amounts:
         (1) The sum necessary to support an increase in per pupil expenditures which, when added to the increases and decreases of the four preceding fiscal years, results in a mean annual increase in per pupil costs for the five-year period of eight per cent; or
         (2) The sum necessary to support a per pupil cost eight per cent above that of the preceding year; Provided, a district which may suffer undue financial hardship because of such limitations, such hardship being a result of an abnormal change in enrollment, depreciation in the value of school properties, alteration of property values within the district, or other abnormalities or emergencies of similar magnitude or consequence may file a written application for relief with the State Board of Education, which may grant whatever relief, if any, it deems appropriate by altering the percentage limitations of this section.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 12.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1342.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund; support of schools; inadequate, proportionate reduction.  If money available in the School Foundation and Equalization Fund is, at any particular time, inadequate to pay districts the total amount due under sections 79-1330 to 79-1344, the State Board of Education shall apportion money available among the qualifying districts; Provided, the sum granted each district shall represent a proportionate reduction from the sum that it would otherwise receive.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 13.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1343.         School Foundation and Equalization Fund, support of schools; 1967-1969 biennium.  For the 1967-69 biennium only, the funding requirements of section 79-1334 shall have first priority and the funding requirements of section 79-1340 shall have second priority on money available from the School Foundation and Equalization Fund.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 14.

Effective date October 23, 1967.

79-1344.         Approval of funds; state officials.  Except for the approval of programs as required by sections 791337, 79-1340, and 79-1341, no state official, department, committee, or commission shall exercise any discretionary power over any funds made available under sections 79-1330 to 79-1344.

Source:  Laws 1967, c. 514, § 15.

Effective date October 23, 1967.