SB 843 — School Construction: Local Cost‑Share Alterations (2025)
Status & timeline
- Introduced: January 17, 2025 (Sen. Hershey). Committee action: favorable with amendments; hearings held/scheduled in spring 2025.
- Effective/Duration: Bill text provides an effective date of July 1, 2025 and an automatic termination of June 30, 2028 (3‑year limited term). Fiscal note observes potential impacts on FY2026–FY2029 funding cycles because Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) finalizes awards in May each year.
Purpose / intent
- To create a temporary, targeted adjustment that reduces the local cost‑share and increases the State cost‑share for certain school construction projects in counties meeting multiple equity and need criteria — thereby directing a larger share of State capital dollars to those eligible projects.
Key provisions (what the bill does)
- Establishes new eligibility criteria for a local cost‑share reduction for an “eligible school construction project” in a county if all of the following are true:
1. The county’s percent of students eligible for free or reduced‑price meals (FRPM) is greater than the statewide average.
2. All public schools in the county participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).
3. The county’s current State/local cost‑share formula is 50% State / 50% local.
4. The eligible project is the only elementary, middle, or high school in the county.
5. The total project cost is ≤ $129,000 per State‑eligible student.
- For eligible projects, the county’s local cost‑share is reduced to equal the average local cost‑share among jurisdictions in which all schools participate in CEP; the State share is increased by the same amount to keep project funding whole.
- Other cost‑share adjustments in statute (retained/unchanged) provide percentage increases to the State share for projects serving high concentrations of poverty, certain maintenance/assessment outcomes, or net‑zero construction.
Fiscal and implementation effects
- No change to total statewide school construction funding (that amount is set annually in the capital budget). Instead, the bill redistributes existing State capital dollars: increases State funding for eligible projects and reduces available funds for projects in other jurisdictions.
- The Department of Legislative Services’ fiscal note identifies Kent County as the only county that currently meets all eligibility criteria; under FY2026 assumptions the average State share among CEP counties is about 84% (local 16%), implying a 34 percentage‑point State share increase for a currently 50/50 county that qualifies.
- Example: Kent County requested a $68.5M middle school replacement with ~465 eligible students (~$147,300 per student) — above the $129,000 threshold. If project costs are lowered to meet the threshold and IAC can reissue awards after the bill’s effective date, the bill could affect distributions beginning in FY2026. IAC can implement changes with existing resources.
- Local impact: jurisdictions with eligible projects receive higher State aid for those projects; other jurisdictions receive proportionally less State funding in those capital cycles.
Who is affected
- Directly: local school systems and counties that meet all listed eligibility criteria (fiscal note indicates Kent County as the likely/only current example).
- Indirectly: all other counties and their planned school construction projects, because available State capital dollars are finite and would be reallocated.
Other notes
- The adjustment is temporary (3‑year sunset). The bill attempts a targeted equity shift tied to CEP participation and FRPM rates, with a strict per‑student cost cap to limit application to smaller or mid‑cost projects.
