Section 257.29. Educational improvement program.

  1.  An educational improvement program is established to provide additional funding for school districts in which the regular program district cost per pupil for a budget year is one hundred ten percent of the regular program state cost per pupil for the budget year and which have approved the use of the instructional support program established in section 257.18. A board of directors that wishes to consider participating in the educational improvement program shall hold a hearing on the question of participation and the maximum percent of the regular program district cost of the district that will be used. The hearing shall be held in the manner provided in section 257.18 for the instructional support program. Following the hearing, the board may direct the county commissioner of elections to submit the question to the registered voters of the school district at an election held on a date specified in section 39.2, subsection 4, paragraph “c”. If a majority of those voting on the question favors participation in the program, the board shall adopt a resolution to participate and shall certify the results of the election to the department of management and the district shall participate in the program. If a majority of those voting on the question does not favor participation, the district shall not participate in the program.

  2.  The educational improvement program shall provide additional revenues each fiscal year equal to a specified percent of the regular program district cost of the district, as determined by the board but not more than the maximum percent authorized by the electors if an election has been held. Certification of a district’s participation for a budget year, the method of funding, and the amount to be raised shall be made to the department of management not later than April 15 of the base year.

  3.  The educational improvement program shall be funded by either an educational improvement property tax or by a combination of an educational improvement property tax and an educational improvement income surtax. The method of raising the educational improvement moneys shall be determined by the board. Subject to the limitation in section 298.14, if the board uses a combination of an educational improvement property tax and an educational improvement income surtax, the board shall determine the percent of income surtax to be imposed, expressed as full percentage points, not to exceed twenty percent.

  4.  The department of management shall establish the amount of the educational improvement property tax to be levied or the amount of the combination of the educational improvement property tax to be levied and the amount of the school district income surtax to be imposed for each school year that the educational improvement amount is authorized. The educational improvement property tax and income surtax, if an income surtax is imposed, shall be levied and imposed, collected, and paid to the school district in the manner provided for the instructional support program in sections 257.21 through 257.26. Moneys received by a school district under the educational improvement program are miscellaneous income.

  5.  Once approved at an election, the authority of the board to use the educational improvement program shall continue until the board votes to rescind the educational improvement program or the voters of the school district by majority vote order the discontinuance of the program. The board shall submit at an election held on a date specified in section 39.2, subsection 4, paragraph “c”, the proposition whether to discontinue the program upon the receipt of a petition signed by not less than one hundred eligible electors or thirty percent of the number of electors voting at the last preceding school election, whichever is greater.

  6.  Participation in an educational improvement program is not affected by a change in the boundaries of the school district, except as otherwise provided in this section. If each school district involved in school reorganization under chapter 275 has approved an educational improvement program, and if the voters have not voted upon the question of participation in the program in the reorganized district, the educational improvement program shall be in effect for the reorganized district that has been approved for the least amount and the shortest time in any of the districts.

  7.  Notwithstanding the requirement in subsection 1 that the regular program district cost per pupil for a budget year is one hundred ten percent of the regular state cost per pupil, the board of directors may participate in the educational improvement program as provided in this section if the school district had adopted an enrichment levy of fifteen percent of the state cost per pupil multiplied by the budget enrollment in the district prior to July 1, 1992, and upon expiration of the period for which the enrichment levy was adopted, adopts a resolution for the use of the instructional support program established in section 257.18. The maximum percent of the regular district cost of the district that may be used under this subsection shall not exceed five percent.

89 Acts, ch 135, §29

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90 Acts, ch 1190, §9

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92 Acts, ch 1171, §2

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92 Acts, ch 1187, §3

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93 Acts, ch 1, §5

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95 Acts, ch 67, §53

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2008 Acts, ch 1115, §34, 35, 71

Limit on total surtax, §298.14