| (a) Eligibility. Certain restrictions apply to debt and to school districts eligible for the existing debt allotment (EDA). (1) Debt eligible for the EDA is an existing obligation of a school district made through the issuance of a bond for instructional or non-instructional purposes pursuant to Texas Education Code (TEC), Chapter 45, Subchapter A, or through the refunding of bonds as defined in TEC, §46.007. The district must have made a payment on the bonds on or before August 31, 2007. Lease-purchase agreements authorized by Local Government Code, §271.004, are not eligible. Payments demonstrating eligibility for the EDA must appear on the debt service schedule contained in the final official statement (FOS) or bond order. The debt service schedule contained in the FOS (or in the bond order, if the bonds are privately placed) and filed with the state information depository will be used to determine eligible bond payments. To the extent that neither the FOS nor the bond order is filed with the state information depository, such documents shall be filed with the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Bond issues and their related debt service payments that are not reported to the state information depository or the TEA, as applicable, are not eligible to receive EDA state assistance. (2) Eligible debt does not include any portion of an existing obligation that has been approved for financial assistance with the Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA) as defined in §61.1032 of this title (relating to Instructional Facilities Allotment), in accordance with TEC, Chapter 46. (3) Eligible bond payments include regularly scheduled principal and interest payments that are made between September 1 and August 31 each year. (4) Certain other refinanced debt may be eligible for funding under this subsection. (A) A lease purchase refinanced with a general obligation bond shall be eligible for consideration for the EDA in future years based on the date of payment on the new bond and the limits on tax rates that apply. (B) Any portion of a bond issue that refinances a portion of an original lease-purchase agreement that was eligible for IFA consideration but exceeded the IFA limit shall be eligible for consideration in future years pursuant to this subsection based on the date of first payment on the new bond and the limits on tax rates that apply. (C) If a lease purchase that is not funded in the IFA program is refinanced with a general obligation bonded debt, the bonded debt shall gain eligibility for the EDA by the terms of the EDA program. Any interest and sinking (I&S) fund tax effort associated with the bonded debt payments may be counted for purposes of computing the EDA. Qualification pursuant to this subsection shall be according to the terms of the program, including the date of first payment on the bond and the relevant tax rate limitation. (D) Debt that is refinanced in a manner that disqualifies it for eligibility for funding within the IFA program shall be treated as new bonded debt at the time of issuance for the purpose of funding consideration pursuant to the EDA. (b) Qualifying debt service. Certain district revenues may qualify to meet the local share requirement of the EDA when computing state assistance amounts. (1) I&S fund taxes collected in the current school year may qualify toward meeting the local share requirement of the EDA. In addition, other district funds budgeted for the payment of bonds may qualify to meet the EDA local share requirements. (A) Funds budgeted by a district for payment of eligible bonds may include I&S fund taxes collected in the 1999-2000 school year or later school year in excess of the amount necessary to pay the district's local share of debt service on bonds in that year, provided that the taxes were not used to generate other state aid. (B) Funds budgeted by a district for payment of eligible bonds may include maintenance and operations (M&O) taxes collected in the current or previous school year that are in excess of amounts used to generate other state aid. (C) The commissioner of education will provide each district with information about what tax collections were not equalized by state assistance in the preceding school year and worksheets to enable districts to calculate tax collections that will not receive state assistance in a current school year. (D) The commissioner of education will determine the amount of excess collections, if any, to be applied to the EDA local share requirement. (2) If a district issues debt that requires the deposit of payments into a mandatory I&S fund or debt service reserve fund, the deposits will be considered debt payments for the purpose of the EDA if the district's bond covenant calls for the deposit of payments into a mandatory and irrevocable fund for the sole purpose of defeasing the bonds or if the FOS stipulates the requirements of the I&S fund and the bond covenant. (3) An EDA correction form packet is required for any EDA-supported bonds that have undergone changes, including, but not limited to, refinancing, restatement, or any other transaction that materially affects the terms of the bonds, including transactions that materially affect the terms of the underlying bonds. An EDA correction form packet must be submitted to the TEA no later than 180 days following the date on which the transaction was approved by the attorney general, if the transaction required approval by the attorney general. If approval by the attorney general was not required, the EDA correction form packet is due within 180 days of the date that the school board approved the transaction. (4) Failure to submit the EDA correction form packet to the TEA division responsible for state funding within the 180-day period defined in paragraph (3) of this subsection will result in the suspension of EDA state aid payments for the applicable EDA allotment award. This suspension has the following effects. (A) Debt service payments associated with the applicable EDA allotment will be disqualified for EDA state aid upon expiration of the 180-day period defined in paragraph (3) of this subsection. Debt service payments made after the 180-day period expires will not earn EDA state aid. (B) Eligibility for EDA state aid associated with the applicable allotment will resume on the date the EDA correction form packet, including any required supporting documentation, is received. The EDA state aid will be based on eligible debt service payments scheduled on or after the date the EDA correction form packet is received. (C) Current and future EDA state aid payments may be adjusted to reflect the disqualified debt service payments. If no EDA state aid is due in a fiscal year that is affected by such an adjustment, a district will be notified about the disqualified amount and will be required to remit that amount to the TEA no later than 30 days after notification. (D) Unless otherwise requested, payments of EDA state aid based on the updated eligible debt service reported in the completed EDA correction form packet shall be made with the payments due for the following fiscal year in accordance with TEC, §46.035. (5) If a district enters into an interest rate management agreement related to debt that is supported by EDA funds, the district shall provide a schedule or schedules demonstrating the anticipated effect of the interest rate management agreement on the debt service for the related bonds. If a district enters into an interest rate management agreement, the amount of debt service eligible for EDA funding shall be determined as follows. (A) If an interest rate management agreement is executed concurrently with a public offering or private placement of bonds related thereto, the debt service eligible for EDA funding will be equal to the amount of debt service reflected in the debt service schedule contained in the FOS, in the private placement memorandum, or (if no FOS or private placement memorandum is prepared) in supplemental schedule(s) filed with the TEA. (B) If an interest rate management agreement is not executed concurrently with a public offering or private placement of bonds related thereto, the debt service eligible for EDA funding will be equal to the amount of debt service reflected in schedules to be provided by the district to the TEA as required by paragraph (3) of this subsection. (C) Failure to identify the interest rate management agreement transaction to the commissioner within 180 days of its execution, by submitting an EDA correction form packet, may disqualify the debt service on the related bonds from the EDA state assistance as described in paragraph (4) of this subsection. Such debt service will remain ineligible unless the information described in this paragraph is provided to the TEA division responsible for state funding. The commissioner may require that EDA funding paid to a district for such ineligible debt service be refunded by the district. Cont'd... |
