1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; providing for 
  1.3             telecommunications/Internet access equity aid; 
  1.4             appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2002, 
  1.5             section 127A.45, subdivision 11; proposing coding for 
  1.6             new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 125B. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  [125B.26] [TELECOMMUNICATIONS/INTERNET ACCESS 
  1.9   EQUITY AID.] 
  1.10     Subdivision 1.  [COSTS TO BE SUBMITTED.] (a) A district or 
  1.11  charter school shall submit its actual 
  1.12  telecommunications/Internet access costs for the previous fiscal 
  1.13  year, adjusted for any e-rate revenue received, to the 
  1.14  department by August 15 of each year as prescribed by the 
  1.15  commissioner.  Costs eligible for reimbursement under this 
  1.16  program are limited to the following: 
  1.17     (1) ongoing or recurring telecommunications/Internet access 
  1.18  costs associated with Internet access, data lines, and video 
  1.19  links providing: 
  1.20     (i) the equivalent of one data line, video link, or 
  1.21  integrated data/video link that relies on a transport medium 
  1.22  that operates at a speed of 1.544 megabytes per second (T1) for 
  1.23  each elementary school, middle school, or high school under 
  1.24  section 120A.05, subdivisions 9, 11, and 13; including the 
  1.25  recurring telecommunications line lease costs and ongoing 
  1.26  Internet access service fees; or 
  2.1      (ii) the equivalent of one data line or video circuit, or 
  2.2   integrated data/video link that relies on a transport medium 
  2.3   that operates at a minimum speed of 1.544 megabytes per second 
  2.4   (T1) for each district; including recurring telecommunications 
  2.5   line lease costs and ongoing Internet access service fees; 
  2.6      (2) recurring costs of contractual or vendor-provided 
  2.7   maintenance on the school district's wide area network to the 
  2.8   point of presence at the school building up to the router, 
  2.9   codec, or other service delivery equipment located at the point 
  2.10  of presence termination at the school or school district; 
  2.11     (3) recurring costs of cooperative, shared arrangements for 
  2.12  regional delivery of telecommunications/Internet access between 
  2.13  school districts, postsecondary institutions, and public 
  2.14  libraries including network gateways, peering points, regional 
  2.15  network infrastructure, Internet2 access, and network support, 
  2.16  maintenance, and coordination; and 
  2.17     (4) service provider installation fees for installation of 
  2.18  new telecommunications lines or increased bandwidth. 
  2.19     (b) Costs not eligible for reimbursement under this program 
  2.20  include: 
  2.21     (1) recurring costs of school district staff providing 
  2.22  network infrastructure support; 
  2.23     (2) recurring costs associated with voice and standard 
  2.24  telephone service; 
  2.25     (3) costs associated with purchase of network hardware, 
  2.26  telephones, computers, or other peripheral equipment needed to 
  2.27  deliver telecommunications access to the school or school 
  2.28  district; 
  2.29     (4) costs associated with laying fiber for 
  2.30  telecommunications access; 
  2.31     (5) costs associated with wiring school or school district 
  2.32  buildings; 
  2.33     (6) costs associated with purchase and/or installation of 
  2.34  Internet filtering; and 
  2.35     (7) costs associated with digital content, including 
  2.36  on-line learning or distance learning programming, and 
  3.1   information databases. 
  3.2      Subd. 2.  [E-RATES.] To be eligible for aid under this 
  3.3   section, a district or charter school is required to file an 
  3.4   e-rate application either separately or through its 
  3.5   telecommunications access cluster and to have a current 
  3.6   technology plan on file with the Department of Education.  
  3.7   Discounts received on telecommunications expenditures shall be 
  3.8   reflected in the costs submitted to the department for aid under 
  3.9   this section. 
  3.10     Subd. 3.  [REIMBURSEMENT CRITERIA.] The commissioner shall 
  3.11  develop criteria for approving costs submitted by school 
  3.12  districts and charter schools under subdivision 1. 
  3.13     Subd. 4.  [DISTRICT AID.] For fiscal year 2005 and later, a 
  3.14  district or charter school's Internet access equity aid equals 
  3.15  90 percent of the district or charter school's approved cost for 
  3.16  the previous fiscal year according to subdivision 1 exceeding 
  3.17  $15 times the district's adjusted marginal cost pupil units for 
  3.18  the previous fiscal year. 
  3.19     Subd. 5.  [TELECOMMUNICATIONS/INTERNET ACCESS SERVICES FOR 
  3.20  NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS.] (a) Districts shall provide each year upon 
  3.21  formal request by or on behalf of a nonpublic school, not 
  3.22  including home schools, located in that district or area, 
  3.23  ongoing or recurring telecommunications access services to the 
  3.24  nonpublic school either through existing district providers or 
  3.25  through separate providers. 
  3.26     (b) The amount of district aid for telecommunications 
  3.27  access services for each nonpublic school under this subdivision 
  3.28  equals the lesser of: 
  3.29     (1) 90 percent of the nonpublic school's approved cost for 
  3.30  the previous fiscal year according to subdivision 1 exceeding 
  3.31  $10 times the number of weighted pupils enrolled at the 
  3.32  nonpublic school as of October 1 of the previous school year; or 
  3.33     (2) the product of the district's aid per adjusted marginal 
  3.34  cost pupil unit according to subdivision 4 times the number of 
  3.35  weighted pupils enrolled at the nonpublic school as of October 1 
  3.36  of the previous school year. 
  4.1      (c) For purposes of this subdivision, nonpublic school 
  4.2   pupils shall be weighted by grade level using the weighing 
  4.3   factors defined in section 126C.05, subdivision 1. 
  4.4      (d) Each year, a district providing services under 
  4.5   paragraph (a) may claim up to five percent of the aid determined 
  4.6   in paragraph (b) for costs of administering this subdivision.  
  4.7   No district may expend an amount for these telecommunications 
  4.8   access services which exceeds the amount allocated under this 
  4.9   subdivision.  The nonpublic school is responsible for the 
  4.10  Internet access costs not covered by this section. 
  4.11     (e) At the request of a nonpublic school, districts may 
  4.12  allocate the amount determined in paragraph (b) directly to the 
  4.13  nonpublic school to pay for or offset the nonpublic school's 
  4.14  costs for telecommunications access services, however, the 
  4.15  amount allocated directly to the nonpublic school may not exceed 
  4.16  the actual amount of the school's ongoing or recurring 
  4.17  telecommunications access costs. 
  4.18     Subd. 6.  [SEVERABILITY.] If any portion of this section is 
  4.19  found by a court to be unconstitutional, the remaining portions 
  4.20  of the section shall remain in effect. 
  4.21     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 127A.45, 
  4.22  subdivision 11, is amended to read: 
  4.23     Subd. 11.  [PAYMENT PERCENTAGE FOR REIMBURSEMENT AIDS.] One 
  4.24  hundred percent of the aid for the previous fiscal year must be 
  4.25  paid in the current year for the following aids:  
  4.26  telecommunications/Internet access equity aid according to 
  4.27  section 125B.26, special education special pupil aid according 
  4.28  to section 125A.75, subdivision 3, aid for litigation costs 
  4.29  according to section 125A.75, subdivision 8, aid for 
  4.30  court-placed special education expenses according to section 
  4.31  125A.79, subdivision 4, and aid for special education 
  4.32  out-of-state tuition according to section 125A.79, subdivision 8.
  4.33     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATIONS.] 
  4.34     Subdivision 1.  [DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.] The sum 
  4.35  indicated in this section is appropriated from the general fund 
  4.36  to the Department of Education for the fiscal year designated. 
  5.1      Subd. 2.  [INTERNET ACCESS EQUITY AID.] For 
  5.2   telecommunications/Internet access cost equity aid under 
  5.3   Minnesota Statutes, section 125B.26: 
  5.4        $.,...,...     .....     2005 
  5.5      If the appropriation for fiscal year 2005 is insufficient, 
  5.6   the aid for that year shall be prorated among participating 
  5.7   schools and districts so as not to exceed the total authorized 
  5.8   appropriation for that year.  The budget base for this program 
  5.9   for fiscal year 2006 and later is $........