1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; modifying the definition of 
  1.3             district for school district lease purchase or 
  1.4             installment buys; amending Minnesota Statutes 1996, 
  1.5             section 124.91, subdivision 7. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 124.91, 
  1.8   subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 7.  [LEASE PURCHASE, INSTALLMENT BUYS.] (a) Upon 
  1.10  application to, and approval by, the commissioner in accordance 
  1.11  with the procedures and limits in subdivision 1, a district, as 
  1.12  defined in this subdivision, may: 
  1.13     (1) purchase real or personal property under an installment 
  1.14  contract or may lease real or personal property with an option 
  1.15  to purchase under a lease purchase agreement, by which 
  1.16  installment contract or lease purchase agreement title is kept 
  1.17  by the seller or vendor or assigned to a third party as security 
  1.18  for the purchase price, including interest, if any; and 
  1.19     (2) annually levy the amounts necessary to pay the 
  1.20  district's obligations under the installment contract or lease 
  1.21  purchase agreement. 
  1.22     (b) The obligation created by the installment contract or 
  1.23  the lease purchase agreement must not be included in the 
  1.24  calculation of net debt for purposes of section 475.53, and does 
  1.25  not constitute debt under other law.  An election is not 
  2.1   required in connection with the execution of the installment 
  2.2   contract or the lease purchase agreement. 
  2.3      (c) The proceeds of the levy authorized by this subdivision 
  2.4   must not be used to acquire a facility to be primarily used for 
  2.5   athletic or school administration purposes. 
  2.6      (d) For the purposes of this subdivision, "district" means: 
  2.7      (1) a school district required to have a comprehensive plan 
  2.8   for the elimination of segregation whose plan has been 
  2.9   determined by the commissioner to be in compliance with the 
  2.10  state board of education rules relating to equality of 
  2.11  educational opportunity and school desegregation; or 
  2.12     (2) a school district that participates in a joint program 
  2.13  for interdistrict desegregation with a district defined in 
  2.14  clause (1) if the facility acquired under this subdivision is to 
  2.15  be primarily used for the joint program; or 
  2.16     (3) a school district that has received lease levy 
  2.17  authority under subdivision 1 for no fewer than four consecutive 
  2.18  years and has failed to receive approval from voters to 
  2.19  authorize debt under section 475.58 no fewer than three times 
  2.20  within a period of five fiscal years preceding approval under 
  2.21  this subdivision. 
  2.22     (e) Notwithstanding subdivision 1, the prohibition against 
  2.23  a levy by a district to lease or rent a district-owned building 
  2.24  to itself does not apply to levies otherwise authorized by this 
  2.25  subdivision. 
  2.26     (f) For the purposes of this subdivision, any references in 
  2.27  subdivision 1 to building or land shall include personal 
  2.28  property.