April 2015 Committee on School Finance Permanent School Fund Item 1
Attorney General Opinion on the Calculation of the PSF Bond Guarantee Limit for the Charter School Bond Guarantee Program
April 16, 2015
COMMITTEE ON SCHOOL FINANCE/PERMANENT SCHOOL FUND: DISCUSSION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: NO ACTION
SUMMARY: This item provides the committee an opportunity to discuss a recent attorney general opinion related to the calculation of capacity under the bond guarantee program for charter schools.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §7.102(c)(33) and §45.063, and the Texas Constitution, Article VII, Section 5.
PREVIOUS BOARD ACTION: None.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES: The TEC, §7.102(c)(33), authorizes the SBOE to adopt rules for the implementation of the Permanent School Fund (PSF) Bond Guarantee Program as authorized in the TEC, Chapter 45, School District Funds, Subchapter C, Guaranteed Bonds. The TEC, §45.063, authorizes the SBOE to adopt rules necessary for the administration of the program. Texas Administrative Code §33.65 is the rule the SBOE adopted to implement the program for school districts and §33.67 is the SBOE rule adopted to implement the program for charter schools.
The TEC, §45.0532, limits the amount of charter district bonds that can receive the guarantee to a percentage of the fund’s overall capacity for guaranteeing bonds reflective of the number of charter students in the total public school student population. The capacity available to charter schools is a function of the total capacity available under the program. The commissioner recently sought an Attorney General Opinion on whether that limitation applies to the capacity available on a monthly basis or whether the limitation applies to the cumulative total of charter district bond issuances.
In Texas Opinion Attorney General KP-0005, the attorney general concluded that a court would likely construe TEC, §45.0532, as being a limitation on the cumulative total amount of outstanding charter bond guarantees, rather than a monthly capacity calculation.
This presents the board with the opportunity to discuss the Attorney General Opinion.
FISCAL IMPACT: This item is presented for discussion only. No fiscal impact is anticipated.
PUBLIC AND STUDENT BENEFIT: This item is presented for discussion only. No fiscal impact is anticipated.
PROCEDURAL AND REPORTING IMPLICATIONS: None.
LOCALLY MAINTAINED PAPERWORK REQUIREMENTS: None.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: None.
ALTERNATIVES: None.
OTHER COMMENTS AND RELATED ISSUES: None.
Staff Members Responsible:
Von Byer
General Counsel
Lisa Dawn-Fisher, Associate Commissioner
School Finance / Chief School Finance Officer
Attachment:
Attorney General Opinion KP-0005 (PDF, 1,994KB)