As Introduced

130th General Assembly
Regular Session
2013-2014
H. B. No. 216


Representative Patterson 

Cosponsors: Representatives Foley, Antonio, Strahorn 

A BILL
To amend sections 3311.24 and 3311.38 and to enact 1
section 3311.241 of the Revised Code to forgive a 2
school district's indebtedness to the Solvency 3
Assistance Fund upon its voluntary consolidation 4
with another district if specified conditions are 5
satisfied.6


BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

       Section 1.  That sections 3311.24 and 3311.38 be amended and 7
section 3311.241 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as 8
follows:9

       Sec. 3311.24.  (A)(1) Except as provided in division (B) of 10
this section, the board of education of a city, exempted village, 11
or local school district shall file with the state board of 12
education a proposal to transfer territory from such district to 13
an adjoining city, exempted village, or local school district in 14
any of the following circumstances:15

       (a) The district board deems the transfer advisable and, if 16
the portion of the district proposed to be transferred is five 17
acres or more, the board has obtained written consent to the 18
transfer from seventy-five per cent of the owners of parcels of 19
real property on the tax duplicate within that portion of the 20
district;21

       (b) A petition, signed by seventy-five per cent of the 22
qualified electors residing within that portion of a city, 23
exempted village, or local school district proposed to be 24
transferred voting at the last general election, requests such a 25
transfer;26

       (c) If no qualified electors reside in that portion of the 27
district proposed to be transferred, a petition, signed by 28
seventy-five per cent of the owners of parcels of real property on 29
the tax duplicate within that portion of the district, requests 30
such a transfer.31

       (2) The board of education of the district in which such 32
proposal originates shall file such proposal, together with a map 33
showing the boundaries of the territory proposed to be 34
transferred, with the state board of education prior to the first 35
day of April in any even-numbered year. The state board of 36
education may, if it is advisable, provide for a hearing in any 37
suitable place in any of the school districts affected by such 38
proposed transfer of territory. The state board of education or 39
its representatives shall preside at any such hearing.40

       (3) A board of education of a city, exempted village, or 41
local school district that receives a petition of transfer signed 42
by electors of the district under division (A)(1)(b) of this 43
section shall cause the board of elections to check the 44
sufficiency of signatures on the petition. A board of education of 45
a city, exempted village, or local school district that receives 46
written consent or a petition of transfer signed by owners of 47
parcels of real property under division (A)(1)(a) or (c) of this 48
section shall cause the county auditor to check the sufficiency of 49
signatures on the consent or petition.50

       (4) Not later than the first day of September the state board 51
of education shall either approve or disapprove a proposed 52
transfer of territory filed with it as provided by this section 53
and shall notify, in writing, the boards of education of the 54
districts affected by such proposed transfer of territory of its 55
decision.56

       If the decision of the state board of education is an 57
approval of the proposed transfer of territory then the board of 58
education of the district in which the territory is located shall, 59
within thirty days after receiving the state board of education's 60
decision, adopt a resolution transferring the territory and shall 61
forthwith submit a copy of such resolution to the treasurer of the 62
board of education of the city, exempted village, or local school 63
district to which the territory is transferred. Such transfer 64
shall not be complete however, until:65

       (a) A resolution accepting the transfer has been passed by a 66
majority vote of the full membership of the board of education of 67
the city, exempted village, or local school district to which the 68
territory is transferred;69

       (b) AnSubject to section 3311.241 of the Revised Code, if 70
applicable, an equitable division of the funds and indebtedness 71
between the districts involved has been made by the board of 72
education making the transfer;73

       (c) A map showing the boundaries of the territory transferred 74
has been filed, by the board of education accepting the transfer, 75
with the county auditor of each county affected by the transfer.76

       When such transfer is complete the legal title of the school 77
property in the territory transferred shall be vested in the board 78
of education or governing board of the school district to which 79
the territory is transferred.80

       (B) Whenever the transfer of territory pursuant to this 81
section is initiated by a board of education, the board shall, 82
before filing a proposal for transfer with the state board of 83
education under this section, make a good faith effort to 84
negotiate the terms of transfer with any other school district 85
whose territory would be affected by the transfer. Before the 86
state board may hold a hearing on the transfer, or approve or 87
disapprove any such transfer, it must receive the following:88

       (1) A resolution requesting approval of the transfer passed 89
by the school district submitting the proposal and, if applicable, 90
evidence of the consent of affected property owners to the 91
transfer;92

       (2) Evidence determined to be sufficient by the state board 93
to show that good faith negotiations have taken place or that the 94
district requesting the transfer has made a good faith effort to 95
hold such negotiations;96

       (3) If any negotiations took place, a statement signed by all 97
boards that participated in the negotiations, listing the terms 98
agreed on and the points on which no agreement could be reached.99

       Negotiations held pursuant to this section shall be governed 100
by the rules adopted by the state board under division (D) of 101
section 3311.06 of the Revised Code. Districts involved in a 102
transfer under division (B) of this section may agree to share 103
revenues from the property included in the territory to be 104
transferred, establish cooperative programs between the 105
participating districts, and establish mechanisms for the 106
settlement of any future boundary disputes.107

       Sec. 3311.241.  (A) In the case of a voluntary transfer of 108
the territory of a school district in accordance with section 109
3311.38 or division (A)(1)(a) of section 3311.24 of the Revised 110
Code, and where the transfer results in the complete consolidation 111
and dissolution of the transferring district, the net indebtedness 112
owed to the solvency assistance fund created under section 3316.20 113
of the Revised Code by the transferring district shall be 114
canceled, provided that all of the following conditions are 115
satisfied:116

       (1) The amount owed by the transferring district to the 117
solvency assistance fund is greater than or equal to thirty-three 118
per cent of the transferring school district's operating budget 119
for the current fiscal year, but does not exceed ten million 120
dollars.121

       (2) The transferring district has remained in a state of 122
fiscal emergency pursuant to section 3316.03 of the Revised Code 123
during the previous two fiscal years.124

       (3) The acquiring district is in the same county or in a 125
county contiguous to the county in which the receiving district is 126
located.127

       (4) The acquiring district has voluntarily accepted the 128
transfer.129

       (5) The acquiring district has submitted to the state board 130
of education a five-year written projection of solvency which 131
takes into account the fiscal effects of acquiring the 132
transferring district. 133

       (B) If the conditions in division (A) of this section are 134
satisfied, the acquiring district shall acquire the transferring 135
district's territory free and clear of any amount owed by the 136
transferring district to the solvency assistance fund. However, 137
the acquiring district shall assume the obligations of all other 138
liens, encumbrances, and debts of the transferring district.139

       (C) Upon the making of a transfer pursuant to this section, 140
the board of education of the transferring district is thereby 141
abolished, and the district is thereby dissolved.142

       Sec. 3311.38.  The state board of education may conduct, or 143
may direct the superintendent of public instruction to conduct, 144
studies where there is evidence of need for transfer of local, 145
exempted village, or city school districts, or parts of any such 146
districts, to contiguous or noncontiguous local, exempted village, 147
or city school districts. Such studies shall include a study of 148
the effect of any proposal upon any portion of a school district 149
remaining after such proposed transfer. The state board, in 150
conducting such studies and in making recommendations as a result 151
thereof, shall consider the possibility of improving school 152
district organization as well as the desires of the residents of 153
the school districts which would be affected.154

       (A) After the adoption of recommendations growing out of any 155
such study, or upon receipt of a resolution adopted by majority 156
vote of the full membership of the board of any city, local, or 157
exempted village school district requesting that the entire 158
district be transferred to another city, local, or exempted 159
village school district, the state board may propose by resolution 160
the transfer of territory, which may consist of part or all of the 161
territory of a local, exempted village, or city school district to 162
a contiguous local, exempted village, or city school district.163

       The state board shall thereupon file a copy of such proposal 164
with the board of education of each school district whose 165
boundaries would be altered by the proposal and with the governing 166
board of any educational service center in which such school 167
district is located.168

       The state board may, not less than thirty days following the 169
adoption of the resolution proposing the transfer of territory, 170
certify the proposal to the board of elections of the county or 171
counties in which any of the territory of the proposed district is 172
located, for the purpose of having the proposal placed on the 173
ballot at the next general election or at a primary election 174
occurring not less than ninety days after the adoption of such 175
resolution.176

       If any proposal has been previously initiated pursuant to 177
section 3311.22, 3311.231, or 3311.26 of the Revised Code which 178
affects any of the territory affected by the proposal of the state 179
board, the proposal of the state board shall not be placed on the 180
ballot while the previously initiated proposal is subject to an 181
election.182

       Upon certification of a proposal to the board of elections of 183
any county pursuant to this section, the board of elections of 184
such county shall make the necessary arrangements for the 185
submission of such question to the electors of the county 186
qualified to vote thereon, and the election shall be counted and 187
canvassed and the results shall be certified in the same manner as 188
in regular elections for the election of members of a board of 189
education.190

       The electors qualified to vote upon a proposal are the 191
electors residing in the local, exempted village, or city school 192
districts, containing territory proposed to be transferred.193

       If the proposed transfer be approved by a majority of the 194
electors voting on the proposal, the state board, subject to the 195
approval of the board of education of the district to which the 196
territory would be transferred, shall make such transfer prior to 197
the next succeeding July 1.198

       (B) If a study conducted in accordance with this section 199
involves a school district with less than four thousand dollars of 200
assessed value for each pupil in the total student count 201
determined under section 3317.03 of the Revised Code, the state 202
board of education, with the approval of the educational service 203
center governing board, and upon recommendation by the state 204
superintendent of public instruction, may by resolution transfer 205
all or any part of such a school district to any city, exempted 206
village, or local school district which has more than twenty-five 207
thousand pupils in average daily membership. Such resolution of 208
transfer shall be adopted only after the board of education of the 209
receiving school district has adopted a resolution approving the 210
proposed transfer. For the purposes of this division, the assessed 211
value shall be as certified in accordance with section 3317.021 of 212
the Revised Code.213

       (C) UponSubject to section 3311.241 of the Revised Code, if 214
applicable, upon the making of a transfer of an entire school 215
district pursuant to this section, the indebtedness of the 216
district transferred shall be assumed in full by the acquiring 217
district and the funds of the district transferred shall be paid 218
over in full to the acquiring district, except that any 219
indebtedness of the transferred district incurred as a result of a 220
loan made under section 3317.64 of the Revised Code is hereby 221
canceled and shall not be assumed by the acquiring district.222

       (D) Upon the making of a transfer pursuant to this section, 223
when only part of a district is transferred, the net indebtedness 224
of each original district of which only a part is taken by the 225
acquiring district shall be apportioned between the acquiring 226
district and the original district in the ratio which the assessed 227
valuation of the part taken by the acquiring district bears to the 228
assessed valuation of the original district as of the effective 229
date of the transfer. As used in this section "net indebtedness" 230
means the difference between the par value of the outstanding and 231
unpaid bonds and notes of the school district and the amount held 232
in the sinking fund and other indebtedness retirement funds for 233
their redemption.234

       (E) Upon the making of a transfer pursuant to this section, 235
when only part of a district is transferred, the funds of the 236
district from which territory was transferred shall be divided 237
equitably by the state board between the acquiring district and 238
that part of the former district remaining after the transfer.239

       (F) If an entire school district is transferred, the board of 240
education of such district is thereby abolished. If part of a 241
school district is transferred, any member of the board of 242
education who is a legal resident of that part which is 243
transferred shall thereby cease to be a member of that board.244

       If an entire school district is transferred, foundation 245
program moneys accruing to a district accepting school territory 246
under the provisions of this section shall not be less, in any 247
year during the next succeeding three years following the 248
transfer, than the sum of the amounts received by the districts 249
separately in the year in which the transfer became effective.250

       Section 2.  That existing sections 3311.24 and 3311.38 of the 251
Revised Code are hereby repealed.252