(a) Except in the case of a school district for which a local share is not required by any school construction bond authorization act, the state share apportioned to a school district by such school construction bond authorization act shall not be expended unless the local share for such school district shall have been deposited with the State Treasurer not later than 2 years after the effective date of a school construction bond authorization act.

(b) The local share for each school construction project, excluding minor capital improvement projects, which is contained in a school construction bond authorization act, shall be computed as specified in this subsection. A local share ratio shall first be computed for each school district, including vocational districts, and 1 for each county, for each fiscal year and shall be used in computing the local share of funding for that school district for each school construction project contained in the school construction bond act for that fiscal year. In the event that the funding of a project is spread over more than 1 school construction bond authorization act, the local share ratio which applies to that project in the school construction bond authorization act in which it first appears shall apply to all subsequent school construction bond authorization act allocations for that project. The local share ratio shall be computed by multiplying the school district ability index for the school district, or in the case of vocational schools or special schools, the county wide ability index, as defined in § 1707 of Title 14, by .40, providing, however, that the product shall not exceed .40 or be less than .20 for any school district. The local share ratio shall be rounded to the nearest one-hundredth and the result multiplied by the total cost of the school construction project in order to determine the local share.

The local share for each school construction project may include an additional amount, not to exceed 15% of the local cost as calculated in the preceding paragraph, to match additional state funds that may be appropriated to address increases in the cost of school construction projects. Provided the district receives referendum approval for this additional amount and the State appropriates additional funds subsequent to referendum passage, the district may increase its local share in accordance with the local share ratio for the project and the approved referendum subject to local school board approval.

Inclusion of a project and designation of a local share for a vocational school in a school construction bond authorization act shall be considered authorization for the vocational district to establish a tax rate sufficient to pay the principal and interest on the bonds for the local share of the project.

For the statewide autistic program, the Delaware School for the Deaf, the John G. Leach School, the Kent County Community School, the John S. Charlton School, the Sussex Consortium, Sussex County Orthopedic School, the Charles W. Bush Early Education Center, and the Howard T. Ennis School, construction shall be 100% state-funded. State funding for these schools shall include, but not be limited to, school construction projects serving students, ages three and older, who meet the criteria established in 14 Del. C. c. 31.

Inclusion of a project and designation of a local share for a special school shall be considered authorization for the school district administering the special school to obligate itself for the required bonds and for the school district to collect the revenues required to pay the principal and interest on those bonds through tuition payments authorized in § 602 of Title 14. The school district collecting the tuition for payment of bonds and interest shall maintain such debt service receipts in a separate account for the special school.

(c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section to the contrary notwithstanding, for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1992, through June 30, 1994, the local share ratio for reorganized school districts with ability indices less than 1.0 shall be computed as follows:

FY’92:

FY’93:

FY’94:

For purposes of this subsection the value of the ability index used in these calculations for any school district shall not be less than .50. This subsection shall not apply to vocational-technical school districts or to special schools.

29 Del. C. 1953, § 7503; 54 Del. Laws, c. 345; 68 Del. Laws, c. 156, § 72(a), (b); 69 Del. Laws, c. 77, § 80; 72 Del. Laws, c. 489, § 128; 73 Del. Laws, c. 95, § 110; 73 Del. Laws, c. 350, § 103; 76 Del. Laws, c. 79, § 142; 77 Del. Laws, c. 87, § 119; 78 Del. Laws, c. 262, § 2; 82 Del. Laws, c. 86, § 159.