RCW 28A.300.780 Hold harmless payments. (Expires December 31, 2020.)

(1) For the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall allocate a hold-harmless payment to school districts if the sum of (b) of this subsection is greater than the sum of (a) of this subsection for either of the respective school years or if a school district meets the criteria under subsection (2) of this section.

(a) The current school year is calculated as the sum of (a)(i) through (iii) of this subsection using the enrollments and values in effect for that school year for the school district's:

(i) Formula-driven state allocations in part V of the state omnibus appropriations act for these programs: General apportionment, employee compensation adjustments, pupil transportation, special education programs, institutional education programs, transitional bilingual programs, highly capable, and learning assistance programs;

(ii) Local effort assistance funding received under chapter 28A.500 RCW; and

(iii) The lesser of the school district's voter-approved enrichment levy collection or the maximum levy authority provided under RCW 84.52.0531 for that school year.

(b) The baseline school year is calculated as the sum of (b)(i) through (iii) of this subsection using the current school year enrollments and the values in effect during the 2017-18 school year for the school district's:

(i) Formula-driven state allocations in part V of the state omnibus appropriations act for these programs: General apportionment, employee compensation adjustments, pupil transportation, special education programs, institutional education programs, transitional bilingual programs, highly capable, and learning assistance programs;

(ii) Local effort assistance funding received under chapter 28A.500 RCW; and

(iii) Maintenance and operation levy collection under RCW 84.52.0531 in the 2017 calendar year.

(2) From amounts appropriated in chapter 266, Laws of 2018, the superintendent of public instruction must prioritize hold harmless payments to districts that meet both the following criteria:

(a) The sum of the school district's enrichment levy under RCW 84.52.0531 and 2017 3rd sp.s. c 13 s 203 and local effort assistance under RCW 28A.500.015 is less than half of the sum of the maintenance and operations levy and local effort assistance provided under law as it existed on January 1, 2017. For purposes of the calculation in this subsection, the maintenance and operations levy is limited to the lesser of the voter-approved levy as of January 1, 2017, or the maximum levy under law as of January 1, 2017; and

(b) The adjusted assessed value of property within the school district as calculated by the department of revenue is greater than twenty billion dollars in calendar year 2017.

(3) Districts eligible for hold-harmless payments under subsection (1) of this section shall receive the difference between subsection (1)(b) and (a) of this section through the apportionment payment process in RCW 28A.510.250.

(4) The voters of the school district must approve an enrichment levy under RCW 84.52.0531 to be eligible for a hold-harmless payment under this section.

(5) This section expires December 31, 2020.

[ 2019 c 411 § 2; 2018 c 266 § 401.]

NOTES:

Effective date—2019 c 411 §§ 1 and 2: See note following RCW 84.52.065.