Section 2. Definitions
Section 3. Findings Clause
Section 4. Powers and Duties
Section 5. Relationship with the Emergency Transitional Education Board of
Trustees and the District of Columbia
Section 6. Special provisions relating to acquisition and transfer of real
property
Section 7. Plans, specifications, and design
Section 8. School Construction, Modernization, and management Authoirty Board
and Its Employees
Section 9. Awarding of Contracts
Section 10. Letting of Construction Contracts for Shared School Site
Developments and Combined Occupancy Structions
Section 11. Contract Guidelines for Purchase of Goods and Services
Section 12. Tax Exemptions
Section 13. Community Participation
Section 14. Funding of the School Authority
Section 15. Lease and other agreements
Section 16. Notes and bonds of the School Authoirty
Section 17. Reserve Funds, appropriations and other funds and
accounts
Section 18. Agreement with the District
Section 19. District’s right to require redemption of bonds
Section 20. Remedies of noteholders and bondholders
Section 21. Notes and bonds as legal investments
Section 22. [There is no section 22]
Section 23. Actions by and against the School Authoirty
Section 24. Annual report of Trustees
Section 25. Act not affected if in part unconstitutional or
ineffective
Section 26. Conforming amendments
Section 25 [sic]. Inconsistent provisions of other laws
superseded
Section 26 [sic]. Effective Date
Councilmember Kevin P. Chavous
A BILL IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
To establish a School Construction, Modernization, Maintenance and Management Authority
in the District of Columbia to design and implement a comprehensive long-term program for
the repair, improvement, maintenance and management of the District of Columbia Public
School facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this act may be cited as
the "School Construction, Modernization, Maintenance, and Management Authority
Establishment Amendment Act of l 996".
For the purposes of this act, the term:
(1) "School Authority" means School Construction, Modernization, Maintenance
and Management Authority, the corporate governmental agency created by this act.
(2) "Financial Authority" means the Financial Responsibility and Management
Assistance Authority, established pursuant to the District of Columbia Financial
Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority Act of 1995, effective April 17, 1995
(109 Stat.116, D.C. Code § 47-392).
(3) "Board" or ‘Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees"
means the appointed Board of Education of the District of Columbia.
(4) "Chief Executive Officer" or "CEO" or Superintendent"
means the Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
(5) "District" means the District of Columbia.
(6) "District agency" means any officer, administration, department, Board,
division, commission, bureau, agency or instrumentality of the District of Columbia.
(7) "Mayor" means the Mayor of the District of Columbia.
(8) "Community" means all residents of the District of Columbia and
businesses and other entities located in the District with an interest in or being
affected by the implementation of any program to revitalize the public school facilities
of the District of Columbia.
(9)(a) "Local school and community" means the principal, parents, teachers,
staff, and students of a school that is being considered for a specific construction,
renovation, development, partnership, project, and the neighborhood immediately adjacent
to that school, including local businesses, ANC, neighborhood associations, and other
local entities in the immediate vicinity of the school.
(9)(b) "Local School Planning Committee" means a committee comprised of 1
representative from the Local School Restructuring Team, or its successor, of the affected
school, 1 representative from the Advisory Neighborhood Commission of the affected school,
and 1 representative from the community development organization located in the
neighborhood of the affected school.
(9)(c) "Community Planning Committee" means a committee which is comprised of
1 representative from each ward in the District from the following categories: computer
technology professionals; community development corporations, community based
organizations, civic associations; Advisory Neighborhood Commissions; education advocacy
organizations; and local businesses.
(9)(d) "Executive Committee of the Community Planning
Committee" means a committee consisting of 6 persons chosen from the Community
Planning Committee; 2 parents from each ward of the District with children in public
school; and 1 chair person.
(10) "Bonds" and "notes" means bonds and notes
respectively, issued by the school authority pursuant to section 17 of this act.
(11) "Combined occupancy structure" means any improvement on
real property or any interests consistent with the height restrictions in the District of
Columbia, including fee interest, easements, space rights or air rights, containing school
accommodations or other facilities of the Emergency Transitional Education Board of
Trustees of the District of Columbia in combination with other compatible and lawful
non-school uses designed and intended to increase, from both a planning and an economic
viewpoint, the efficient utilization of available land areas. A combined occupancy
structure shall also include a structure in a project or development under the auspices of
the school authority wherein non- school portions of structures placed upon the overall
site are not built in space rights over the school portion, so long as some part of the
non-school portion is constructed over or under any part of the school portion of the
development.
(12) "Shared School Site Development" includes a school site
containing separate school and non-school structures.
(13) "Development Partnership" means a contractual
relationship between the School Authority and a developer pursuant to an Emergency
Transitional Education Board of Trustees resolution that allows the use of a portion of or
all of a school site for commercial or residential purposes in exchange for funds to be
used for the renovation or modernization of public schools.
(14) "Chief Financial Officer" means the Chief Financial
Officer of the District of Columbia;
(15) "Corporation Counsel" means the Corporation counsel of
the District of Columbia.
(16) "Developer" includes any private individual,
partnership, trust, private or public corporation approved by the Board of Education as
being qualified and eligible to enter into 1 or more leases, subleases or other agreements
with the School Authority providing for the construction, acquisition, reconstruction,
rehabilitation, or improvement of 1 or more combined occupancy structures or shared school
site developments; which agreements shall be subject to approval by the Emergency
Transitional Board of Trustees.
(17) "Letting agency" means the Emergency Transitional
Education Board of Trustees.
(18) "Maximum debt service reserve fund requirement" shall
mean the amount of money required to be deposited in a debt service reserve fund
authorized by section 18 established pursuant to a resolution of the School Authority.
(19) "Lessee" shall include any private individual,
partnership, trust, or private or public corporation, taking possession of the non-school
portion of a combined occupancy structure pursuant to a lease, sub-lease, conveyance, or
other agreement, or acquiring fee title to or a leasehold or other interest in such
non-school portion.
(20) ”Office Planning" means the Office of Planning of the
District of Columbia.
(21) "NCPC" means the National Capital Planning Commission.
(22) "DCRA" means the District of Columbia Department of
Consumer and Regulatory Affairs;
(23 ) "DCPS" means the District of Columbia Public Schools.
(24) "Council" means the Council of the District of Columbia.
(25) "HFA" means the Housing Finance Agency of the District
of Columbia.
(26) "Real property" means lands, waters, rights in lands or
waters, structures, franchises and interests in land, including air or space rights, and
any and all other things and rights usually included within the same term and includes
also any and all interests in such property less than full title, such as easements
permanent or temporary, rights-of-way, uses, leases, licenses and all other incorporeal
hereditaments in every estate, interest or right, legal or equitable.
(27) "School building" means a separate structure entirely
devoted to use and occupancy for public school purposes; including incidental and
appurtenant recreational and other facilities.
(28) "School portion" or "school portion of combined
occupancy-structure" means that portion of a combined occupancy structure or
designed, constructed, reconstructed, rehabilitated or improved for use and occupancy for
public school purposes; including the real property to be used in connection together with
incidental and appurtenant recreational and other facilities.
The Council of the District of Columbia finds:
(a) That 62% of the District’s public schools are over 45 years old and the average age
of the school buildings is 60 years. Many of the sites within the District of Columbia
Public Schools are lacking in the modern technology and building design needed to prepare
students for the 21st century. Most District of Columbia Public Schools need to be
remodeled to accommodate the needs of the students, faculty, staff, and community.
(b) Pursuant to the ‘FY 1996 Appropriations Act of the District of
Columbia, the Congress of the United States mandated the institution of a Facilities
Revitalization Program that requires the design and implementation of a comprehensive,
long-term program for the repair, improvement, maintenance, and management of the
District’s public schools which allows the establishment of an authority to administer the
Facilities Revitalization Program.
(c) The District of Columbia is in a fiscal crisis, and consequently is
severely limited in its ability to borrow capital funds from the private markets for
school buildings and is unlikely to be able to do so for the next 5 years.
(d) The District of Columbia Public School System in its Long Range
Facilities Master Plan 2007 has identified the need for approximately $2.0 billion of
capital funds over the next 10 years to repair and modernize public schools. The current
level of capital appropriations for the public schools is not sufficient to fund the
capital needs of the schools over the next several years. Therefore, the District must
devise alternative funding sources that can be used to finance the modernization of its
public schools while working to get additional capital funding.
(e) The District of Columbia must identify a stable source of revenue
that will be dedicated to repaying the bonds issued through this School Authority for
school construction and modernization.
(f) There are approximately 700 acres of land surrounding the public
schools that are currently in the inventory of the DCPS and additional acreage
surrounding schools that have been accessed by DCPS have been transferred to the Control
Board for the schools’ use. Some of that land can be developed for residential and
commercial purposes through public/private development partnership projects on school
sites. Other school sites can be developed for school and residential/commercial purposes
as combined occupancy structures.
(g) To encourage the investment of private capital in public/private
development projects on school sites and in combined occupancy structures and enable the
modernization of additional school facilities within existing financial limitations
through the utilization of incidental revenue and payments-in-lieu of taxes
("PILOTS") produced, the District of Columbia School Construction Modernization
and Management Authority should be authorized, through the issuance of its bonds, notes,
or other obligations to the private investing public, to obtain a portion of the funds
necessary to finance the construction or renovation of the schools, in shared school site
developments and in combined occupancy structures, the school portion of such structures.
It should also be authorized to apply the revenues received from non- school developments
to the payment of bonds, notes, or other obligations for school construction and
modernization.
(h) Community participation is an essential component of a
comprehensive public school facilities revitalization program. Additionally, school and
local community participation will help ensure: community support for development
partnerships on school sites; that the proposed project meets the needs of the local
community; that development is consistent with and acceptable to the local school
community and encourage the retention of District residents.
(i) While responsibility for the educational affairs of the District of
Columbia, including, community participation and input, selection of school sites for
development partnerships and modernization must continue in the Emergency Transitional
Education Board of Trustees or its successor of the District of Columbia, title to sites
which will be designated for development partnerships and the school facilities
constructed pursuant to this article should be vested in the School Authority in order to
facilitate the exercise of its powers.
The School Authority shall have the following powers and duties in
addition to those specifically conferred elsewhere in this section:
(a) Have perpetual succession;
(b) With approval of the Emergency Transitional Education Board of
Trustees, the City Council of the District of Columbia, the Mayor, and the Financial
Authority, issue negotiable notes, bonds, and other obligations and provide for the rights
of the holders;
(c) Raise money, and maintain a separate budget accept any gifts, grants, loans, funds,
and property or financial or other aid in any form from the Federal government or any
agency or instrumentality of the Federal government, or the District of Columbia or from
any other source;
(d) Sue and be sued in its own name;
(e) Have an official seal and the power to alter the seal at will;
(f) Pursuant to Title 1 of the District of Columbia Administrative
Procedure Act, approved October 21, 1968 (82 Stat. 1203; D.C. Code sees. 1-1501 et. seq.)
adopt rules and regulations to carry out its purposes within 60 days of the enactment of
this act;
(g) Amend and repeal by-laws, rules, and regulations;
(h) Maintain an office at such place or places within the District as
it may designate;
(i) Design, modernize, and or construct buildings for use within the District of
Columbia Public School System with the approval of the Emergency Transitional Education
Board of Trustees
(j) In conformity with the recommendations of the Community Planning
Committee and with the approval of the Board of Education, use the Long Range -Facilities
Master Plan 2007, as a guide for planning the development of the School Authority’s
present and future projects for schools in the District of Columbia;
(k) Control leasing of existing and future school buildings in accordance with the
Disposal of District Owned Surplus Real Property Amendment Act of 1989, effective March
15, 1990, (D.C. Law 8-96, 37, DCR 795);
(1) Oversee repairs made within existing as well as future sites of schools within the
District;
(m) Subject to the terms and conditions of any lease, sublease, or other agreement with
third parties and to the determination of the Emergency Transitional Education Board of
Trustees that such real property is unnecessary for the present or foreseeable future
school building needs of the District of Columbia Public School System, surrender to the
District of Columbia Government, for other public use or for sale, lease or other
disposition in accordance with law, real property held by the School Authority for its
corporate purposes, provided, however, that any proceeds from any such properties
surrendered shall be returned to the School Authority for use in modernization,
maintenance, renovation, and revitalization of the public schools, pursuant to the
"Board of Education Leasing Authority Act of 1982", approved September 29, 1982
(D.C. Law 4-158; 29 DCR 3632);
(n) To make and execute contracts, leases, subleases, and all other instruments or
agreements necessary or convenient for the exercise of its corporate powers and the
fulfillment of its corporate purposes pursuant to this act, subject to the approval of the
Corporation counsel as to form of all such documents to which the District of Columbia is
a party; the term of any such lease or sublease or renewal thereof shall not be limited by
any provision of any general or special law applicable to the District of Columbia or to
the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees;
(o) To procure insurance against any loss in connection with its property and other
assets in such amounts and from such insurers as it deems desirable;
(p) To use agents, employees, and facilities of the Board with the consent of the
Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees;
(q) To engage the services of construction, engineering, architectural, legal, and
financial consultants, surveyors and appraisers, on a contract basis or as employees, for
professional service and technical assistance and advice;
(r) To invest any monies held in any funds or accounts not required for
immediate use or disbursement, at the discretion of the School Authority, in obligations
of the District of Columbia, or the United States government or obligations the principal
of and interest on which are guaranteed by the District of Columbia, or the United States
government or obligations of agencies or instrumentalities of the United States government
which may from time to time be legally purchased by savings banks of the state as
investments of funds belonging to them or in their control; and temporarily to deposit or
invest monies not required for immediate use or disbursement in interest bearing time
deposits or certificates of deposit issued by, a bank or trust company located and
authorized to do business in the District of Columbia, provided, however, that deposits or
certificates of deposit shall be payable within such time as the proceeds shall be needed
and provided further that time deposits or certificates of deposit shall be secured by a
pledge of obligations of the United States of America acting through an agency,
subdivision, department, or division, or-obligations of the District of Columbia or a
corporate agency or instrumentality of the District of Columbia, including the School
Authority itself;
(s) At the request or with the approval of the Emergency Transitional
Education Board of Trustees, to license or lease without public auction or bidding any
real property or any rights or interests, including fee interests, easements, space rights
or air rights, held by it and occupied or reserved for school purposes and needed, by a
private individual or private or public corporation solely and exclusively for the purpose
of developing and constructing a combined occupancy structure, or a part or portion, or
for the purpose of rehabilitating or improving an existing school to become part of a
combined occupancy structure within the meaning of this act subject to a prior and
enforceable agreement approved by the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees
for the reconveyance, retransfer, or leaseback of the school portion, upon completion, for
use and occupancy by the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees in those
instances where a grant, sale, or lease has been made to a private individual or private
or public corporation; provided, however, that no sale, lease, or transfer of lands or
rights is authorized where the development of a combined occupancy structure contemplates
the erection of non-school facilities or improvements over an existing playground unless
the combined occupancy structure that is constructed over a playground shall provide a
playground area at least equal in size to the then existing playground area;
(t) Enter into contractual agreements with private contractors, with
the consent of the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees, and upon approval
of the Council, the Mayor, and the Financial Authority, for the design, modernization,
repair, and construction of schools within the District. In the instance where school
modernization is to be undertaken in a shared school site development, with the advice and
consent of the Local School Planning Committee;
(u) With the approval of the Emergency Transitional Board of Trustees,
purchase, receive, lease or otherwise acquire real and personal property necessary or
convenient for its corporate purposes;
(v) Subject to the terms and conditions of any lease, sublease, or
other agreement with the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees, to possess,
hold, use, and improve real and personal property acquired by or on behalf of the School
Authority so long as its corporate existence shall continue;
(w) In connection with any design, construction, acquisition,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, and repair, to install or have installed
water, sewer, gas, electrical, telephone, heating, air conditioning, and other utility
services, including appropriate connections;
(x) Subject to the terms and conditions of any lease, sublease, or
other agreement with the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees, to maintain
and repair the real property held by it and all combined occupancy structures, schools
developed through development partnerships, and facilities constructed, acquired,
reconstructed, rehabilitated, repaired, or improved pursuant to this act;
(y) To enter into agreements with the Board pursuant to which the Board
shall transfer to the School Authority employees of the Division of Facilities
Management of the District of Columbia Public Schools who shall be available to render
assistance in establishing the operations of the School Authority for 1 year following the
effective date of this act. Any employee transferred to the School Authority who is
retained at the end of the first year of the School Authority’s existence shall become a
permanent employee of the School Authority and shall be retained on the basis of merit;
(z) To set salaries of its employees.
(aa) To do any and all things necessary or convenient to carry out and
exercise the powers given and granted by this act.
In order to most effectively carry out its corporate purposes, the
School Authority shall cooperate with the Emergency Transitional Education Board of
Trustees in matters relating to capital planning for school buildings and facilities.
During the course of construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and improvement of
combined occupancy structures, the School Authority shall consult with personnel of the
Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees and in shared school site developments,
with the Planning Committee as the work progresses in matters relating to space
requirements, site plans, architectural concept, and substantial changes in the plans and
specifications, and in matters relating to the original furnishings, equipment, machinery
and apparatus needed to furnish and equip the school portion of such buildings and
structures, upon the completion of work. The Board, on its part, shall perform such
functions and services for the School Authority as may be requested and the School
Authority shall pay to the Emergency Transitional Board of Trustees, from any monies of
the School Authority available for such purpose, the reasonable cost of such functions and
services.
Sec. 6. Special
provisions relating to acquisition and transfer of real property
Notwithstanding any provisions of any law, rule, or regulation of the
District of Columbia:
(a) Provided that the Trustees of the School Authority shall have
formally approved by a 3/5ths vote the acquisition of such real property for the
development of 1 or more combined occupancy structures, any public corporation or officer
responsible for the acquisition of real property for school purposes in the District of
Columbia is authorized for and on behalf and in the name of the District of Columbia, to
execute and deliver to the School Authority, on such terms and for such consideration, if
any, as may be determined by the public corporation or officer and the School Authority,
but not to exceed the cost of acquisition and the cost of improvements, or lease for a
term not exceeding 95 years, a quitclaim deed.
(b) The quitclaim deed shall convey to the School Authority all right,
title, and interest of the public corporation and of the District of Columbia and to any
of the lands acquired by the public corporation or officer for school purposes, and in any
of the improvements, for the purpose of constructing, reconstructing, rehabilitating, or
improving 1 or more combined-occupancy structures pursuant to this act for subsequent
lease or sublease of the non-school portion of the combined occupancy structures to the
public corporation or officer, in accordance with the terms of an agreement entered into
among them pursuant to this act.
(c) The School Authority is authorized to lease, sub-lease sites and
improvements and all or any part of the buildings or structures constructed,
reconstructed, rehabilitated, or improved, to third parties and to a public corporation or
officer the public corporation in accordance with the provisions of this act, and to hold
the same, subject to the terms of any lease or sublease. A public corporation or an
officer of the public corporation is authorized to lease or sublease from the School
Authority any such lands, or improvements, or the school portion of any combined occupancy
structure, constructed, reconstructed, rehabilitated, or improved pursuant to this act or
other provisions of law, and to hold the sites, improvements, buildings, and school
portions of any combined occupancy structure subject to the terms of any such lease or
sublease.
(d) In the event that the School Authority fails, within 5 years from
the date of a lease or sublease authorized pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, to
construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, or improve the buildings or structures for which the
lease or sublease was made, as provided for in a lease, or sublease, entered into with a
public corporation or officer of the public corporation, or in the event that such
buildings or structures shall cease to be used for the purposes intended, then and in
either event; but subject to the terms of any lease or sublease, undertaken by the School
Authority, the Board shall have the right of re-entry, and such lease shall be made
subject to such conditions.
(e) As a condition precedent to the exercise of such right of re-entry
the Board, or the public corporation or office of the public corporation, shall pay to the
School Authority an amount equal to the cost of any buildings or structures constructed,
reconstructed, rehabilitated, or improved, and all other costs of the School Authority
incident to the financing of construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or improvement
relating to such buildings or structures, all as provided in a lease, or sublease entered
into with the Board, public corporation, or officer of the public corporation.
Sec.7. Plans,
specifications and designs
(a) (1). No combined occupancy structure and no shared school site
development shall be acquired, leased, erected, repaired, enlarged, or remodeled by the
School Authority until the detailed plans, education specifications and cost estimates for
the school portion have been submitted to the Emergency Transitional Education Board of
Trustees and the Local School Planning Committee, and have been approved.
(2) The Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees shall also
review and approve the architectural concept, including schematic, and design development,
plans and specifications, of the non- school portion of any combined occupancy structure
to be erected, repaired, enlarged, or remodeled in accordance with the provisions of any
lease or other agreement between the School Authority and any developer.
(b) Every contract, lease, or other agreement executed by or on behalf
of the School Authority which provides for the construction, acquisition, reconstruction,
rehabilitation, or improvement of the school portion of any combined occupancy structure
or shared school site development shall include a provision that an architect or engineer
retained specifically for the purpose of supervision, shall observe and monitor the work
to be performed through to completion and shall see to it that the materials furnished are
in accordance with the drawings, plans, specifications and contractual provisions of that
agreement. The architect or engineer shall also notify the School Authority of any
non-compliance or deviation from the approved design.
Sec. 8. School
Construction, Modernization and Management Authority Board and Its Employees.
(a)(1). The School Authority shall be comprised of a 7 member Board
of Trustees who shall be residents of the District of Columbia. The term of office for the
Mayoral appointee, the Council appointee, and the Community Representatives shall be 3
years. Members first appointed to the School Construction, Modernization and Management
Authority Board shall serve the following terms:
(A) One member shall serve for 1 year;
(B) Two members shall serve for 2 years,
(C) Three members shall serve for 3 years, and;
(D) The chairperson’s term shall be 1 year term.
The Mayor shall appoint 1 member from a list of nominees prepared by
the following organizations: The District of Columbia Parent and Teachers Association
("DCPTA"). The Washington Parent Group Fund ("WPGF"), and Parents
United ("PU"). The Mayoral appointee shall be a person who advocates for greater
community involvement in public school utilization and access. The Chairman of the Council
shall appoint 1 member, and the remaining members shall be the President of the Board of
Education, the Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools, and 2 persons
designated by the Community Planning Committee.
(2) The person appointed by the Mayor shall have 4 years of experience
in architecture, engineering, or industrial design.
(3) The person appointed by the Chairman of the Council shall have 4
years of experience in education and information technology.
(4) Of the people designated by the Community Planning Committee, one
shall have at least 4 years experience in school utilization and facilities management and
one shall have at least 4 years experience in community affairs or urban planning.
(5) The President of the Emergency Transitional Education Board of
Trustees shall serve as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees.
(b) The Trustees of the School Authority shall serve without salary,
but each Trustee shall be entitled to reimbursement for his actual and necessary expenses
incurred in the performance of his official duties.
(c) The Mayoral appointee, the Council’s appointee, and the persons
designated by the Community Planning Committee may engage in private employment, or in a
profession or business, subject to the limitations contained in this act. The School
Authority, for the purposes of this section, shall be a District agency and the Trustees
shall be officers of the agency.
(d) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of law, rule or
regulation, no officer or employee of the District of Columbia, or of any agency, shall be
deemed to have forfeited or shall forfeit his office or employment by reason of his
acceptance of appointment as a Trustee, officer or agent of the School Authority;
provided, however, that a Trustee, officer or agent who holds any other public office or
employment shall receive no additional compensation, fee or allowance for services
rendered pursuant to this act, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for his actual and
necessary expenses incurred in the performance of such services.
(e) Any Trustee shall be automatically suspended from serving as a Trustee after the
Trustee has been found guilty of a felony by a court of competent jurisdiction. Upon a
final determination of the Trustee’s guilt or innocence, the Trustee shall automatically
terminate or be reinstated. The Board of Trustees shall have the power to remove any
member, after fair notice and an opportunity to be heard, at any time for adequate
cause which relates to a member’s character or efficiency as a Trustee in accordance with
section 8(i).
(f) Any vacancy occurring in the School Authority Board shall be filled
within 45 days after the occurrence of the vacancy. If a vacancy occurs during a term due
to removal, resignation, or death of a member, the new appointee’s term of office shall be
for the remainder of the unexpired term. No person shall serve for more than 2 consecutive
terms.
(g) Upon expiration of a Trustee’s term, the Trustee may continue to
serve for a period not to exceed 180 days or until a successor has been chosen, which ever
event occurs first.
(h) The chairperson of the School Authority shall preside over all
meetings of the Trustees and shall have such other duties as the Trustees may direct. A
vice-chairperson who shall preside over all meetings of the School Authority in the
absence of the chairperson and who shall have such other duties as the Trustees may direct
may be designated from time to time by the Trustees from among the other Trustees.
(i) The powers of the School Authority shall be vested in and exercised
by no less than 4 of the Trustees then in office. The School Authority may delegate to 1
or more of its Trustees, or officers, agents or employees, such powers and duties as the
Trustees may deem proper, provided, however, that for all contracts involving an estimated
expense of $25,000 or more and all leases, subleases, or other agreements to be entered
into pursuant to this act shall be approved prior to execution by no less than 4 Trustees
of the School Authority with the approval of the Financial Authority.
(j) The School Authority may appoint any officers, employees, and
agents as it may deem advisable and may prescribe their duties and fix their
compensation.
(k) Support staff and other personnel, hired by the School Authority,
shall have their salaries, benefits, and retirement plans as determined by D.C. Civil
Service regulations, pursuant to the District of Columbia Appropriations Act of 1906, D.C.
Code § 1-503 effective, June 20, 1906 (33 Stat.. 883, D.C. Code § 1 -503). Support staff
and other personnel, previously hired by the D C. Public School system shall have their
salaries, benefits, and retirement plans as determined by D.C. Public Schools, pursuant to
The District of Columbia Appropriations Act, effective June 20, 1906 (33 Stat. 883, D.C.
Code § 31- 102). Employees previously employed with the D.C. Public Schools shall retain
all merit and seniority benefits for purposes of retirement and salary determination for
the 1 st year of the existence of the School Authority and shall, from the beginning of
the second year of the existence of the School Authority be compensated and retained on
the basis of merit.
(1) Members of the School Authority and its support staff and personnel
may engage in private employment or in a profession or business, provided however that the
outside employment is not involved in any conflict of interests against the School
Authority or that the employment is not in a firm or organization that is under contract
with the School Authority.
(m) The School Authority shall adhere to equal employment opportunity
policies in hiring employees pursuant to the Affirmative Action in District Government
Employment Act of 1976, effective May 6, 1976 (D.C. Law 1-63, D.C. Code § 1-511).
(a) All contracts for the construction, reconstruction, improvement,
rehabilitation, maintenance, repair, furnishing, equipping of or otherwise providing for
educational facilities within the D.C. Public School System may be awarded in accordance
with this act provided, however, that contracts awarded under this act for purchase,
lease, construction or renovation of any energy system to be used in a school facility
shall provide for management of any gas or electrical utility in a manner that conserves
energy and results in energy costs savings to the school system.
(b)(l) All purchase contracts for supplies, materials, or equipment
involving an estimated expenditure of less than $9000 shall be awarded by the School
Authority to the lowest responsible bidder after obtaining sealed bids in the manner set
within this act.
(2) Any contract for goods, or construction exceeding $50,000, or for
services exceeding $25,000 shall be submitted to the Financial Authority prior to award or
execution pursuant to The District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Act
of 1995, effective April 17, 1995 (109 Stat. 116, D.C. Code §47-392)
(c) The School Authority may reject all bids and obtain new bids in the
manner provided in subsection (h) of this section when it deems in the public interest to
do so. Nothing within this section shall obligate the School Authority to seek new bids
after the rejection of bids or after cancellation of an invitation to bid. Nothing in this
section shall prohibit the evaluation of bids on the basis of costs or savings, including
life cycle costs for items to be installed, discounts, and inspection services so long as
the invitation to bid reasonably states the criteria to be used in evaluating such costs
or savings. Life cycle costs may include but shall not be limited to costs or savings
associated with installation, energy use, maintenance, operation and salvage disposal.
(d) The School Authority may prepare a list of pre-qualified bidders
and shall establish guidelines governing the qualifications of bidders entering into
contracts for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, maintenance,
repair, refurbishing, equipping of, or otherwise providing for schools and school sites
designated by the Board as eligible for development within the District of
Columbia. The bidding may be restricted to those who have qualified prior to the receipt
of bids according to standards fixed by the School Authority, provided, however that the
award of contracts shall be in accordance to subsection (b)(1) of this section.
(e) In determining whether a prospective bidder qualifies for inclusion
on a list of pre-qualified bidders, the School Authority shall consider: (1) The
experience and past performance of the prospective bidder; (2) The prospective bidder’s
ability to undertake work, and; (3) The financial capability, responsibility and
reliability of prospective bidders. The School Authority may also consider other factors
when appropriate.
(f) The School Authority shall, no less than twice a year, publish in a
newspaper of general circulation in the District of Columbia, an advertisement requesting
prospective bidders to submit qualification statements. Lists of pre-qualified bidders
shall be reviewed and updated no less than annually by the School Authority. The School
Authority shall delete from the list of pre-qualified bidders any bidder who has failed to
perform adequately or satisfactorily for the School Authority, the Board of Education, the
Council, the Mayor, or any other agency or authority within the District of Columbia.
Lists of pre- qualified bidders may be established on a project-specific basis; provided
however, that any such list shall have no less that 5 bidders.
(g) (1) Advertisements for bids or services, materials, or products
other than for renovation, modification, or development of a combined occupancy structure
or a shared school site, when required by this section, shall be published at least once
in a newspaper of general circulation within the District of Columbia. Publication in such
a newspaper shall not be required if bids for contracts for supplies, materials, or
equipment are of a type regularly purchased by the School Authority and are to be
solicited from a list of potential suppliers, such list is or has been developed,
consistent with subsection (f) or if bids are to be solicited from a list of pre-qualified
bidders pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any advertisement shall contain a
statement of the time and place where all bids received pursuant to such notice will be
publicly opened and read. At least 14 days shall elapse between the first publication of
such advertisement or the solicitation of bids, as the case may be, and the date of
opening and reading of bids.
(2) The School Authority may designate any officer or employee to open
the bids at the time and place bids are to be opened and may designate an officer to award
the contract. The office or the employee shall make a record of all bids in such form and
detail as the School Authority shall prescribe. All bids received shall be publicly opened
and read at the time and place specified in the advertisement or at the time of
solicitation, or to which the opening and reading have been adjourned by the School
Authority. All bidders shall be notified of the time and place of such advertisement.
(h) Notwithstanding subsection (g)(2), the School Authority may by
resolution, approved by a vote of its members, declare that competitive bidding for
non-construction contracts is impractical or inappropriate because of the existence of any
of the circumstances set forth in this section or that competitive bidding for
construction contracts is impractical or inappropriate because of the existence of the
circumstances set forth in subsection (g) within this section. In each case where the
School Authority declares competitive bidding impractical or inappropriate, it shall state
the reason in writing and summarize any negotiations that have been conducted and shall be
made available upon request. Except for contracts awarded prior to the enactment of this
act, the School Authority shall not award any contract pursuant to this subdivision
earlier that 30 days from the date on which the School Authority declares that competitive
bidding is impractical or inappropriate.
(i) Competitive bidding may only be declared impractical or inappropriate where:
(1) The existence of an emergency involving danger to life, safety, or
property requires immediate action and can not await competitive bidding or the item to be
purchased is essential to efficient operation or the adequate provision of service by the
Board of Education, and as a consequence of unforeseen circumstance the purchase can not
await competitive bidding;
(2) The School Authority receives no responsive bids or only a single
responsive bid in response to an invitation for competitive bids.
(3) The item is available through an existing contract between a vendor
and another District agency provided that the agency utilized a process of competitive
bidding or a process of competitive requests for proposals to award such contracts or, the
Council provided that in any case when under this paragraph the School Authority
determines that obtaining such item would be in the public interest and sets forth the
reason for such determination.
(j) The School Authority shall accept sole responsibility for any
payment due the vendor as a result of the School Authority’s order or when the School
Authority determines that it is in the public interest to award contracts pursuant to a
process for competitive requests for proposals as set forth in this subsection. For
purposes of this section, a process for competitive requests for proposals shall mean a
method of soliciting proposals and awarding a contract on the basis of a formal evaluation
of the characteristics, such as quality, cost delivery schedule, and financing of such
proposals against stated selection criteria. Public notice of the requests for proposals
shall be given in the same manner as provided in subsection (g) and shall include the
selection criteria. In the event the School Authority makes a material change in the
selection criteria from those previously stated in the notice, it will inform all
proposers of the change and permit proposers to modify their proposals.
(k) The School Authority may award a contract pursuant to this section
only after a resolution approved by a vote of its Trustees at a public meeting of the
School Authority in-which the resolution: discloses the other proposers and the substance
of their proposals, summarizes the negotiation process including the opportunities, if
any, available to proposers to present and modify their proposals, and setting forth the
criteria upon which the selection was made.
(1) Nothing in this paragraph shall require or preclude negotiations
with any proposers following the receipt of responses to the request for proposals or the
rejection of any and all proposals at any time. Upon the rejection of all proposals, the
School Authority may solicit new proposals or bids in any manner prescribed within this
section.
(m) Upon the adoption of a resolution by the School Authority stating
for reasons of efficiency, economy, compatibility, or maintenance reliability, that there
is a need for standardization, the School Authority may establish procedures to identify
particular supplies, materials, or equipment on a qualified products list . The procedures
shall provide for products or vendors to be added to or deleted from the list and shall
include provisions for public advertisement of the manner in which these lists are
complied. The School Authority shall review the list no less than twice a year for making
modifications. Contracts for particular supplies, materials, or equipment identified on a
qualified products list may be awarded by the School Authority to the vendor after
obtaining sealed bids in instances when the item is available from only a single source,
except that the Authority may dispense with advertising provided that it mails copies of
the invitation to bid to all vendors of the particular item on the qualified products
list.
(n) The School Authority shall compile a list of potential sources of
supplies, materials or equipment regularly purchased. The School Authority shall by
resolution, set forth the procedures it has established to identify new sources and to
notify new sources of the opportunity to bid for contracts for the purchase of supplies,
materials, or equipment. The procedures shall include, but not be limited to advertising
in trade journals and two community newspapers.
(o) The School Authority shall, by resolution, establish procedures for
the fair and equitable resolution of contract disputes. Prior to the establishment of such
policy, the School Authority shall publish in two newspapers of general circulation and
two community publications a notice of such policy and invite comment from interested
parties, including, but not limited to representatives of construction organizations. Such
notice shall also state that the School Authority will hold a public hearing to consider
the policy at a specified item and place on a date not less than 10 days after the
publication, and the School Authority shall conduct the public hearing pursuant to that
notice.
The procedures for awarding of contracts in shared school site
developments and combined occupancy structures shall include:
(a) The designation of a qualification review panel whose function it
will be to review and select at least two developers who have been previously determined
as qualified by the School Authority.
(b) The panel shall include: the project manager, 1 financial analyst,
1 architect, and the Local School Planning Committee.
(c) The panel will review the scope of development and development
scenario for each developer designated as qualified by the School Authority and
will select the first choice developer and an alternate developer:
Sec. 11. Contract Guidelines
for Purchase of Goods and Services
(a) Notice of the invitation to bids for contracts to be awarded,
pursuant to this section, shall state the time and place of the receipt and opening of the
bids.
(b) (1) A bidder shall submit to the School Authority, prior to the
opening of a bid for the award of a contract under this section, a sealed list identifying
the names of each subcontractor the bidder proposes to utilize under the contract
for the performance of the following subdivisions of work: plumbing and gas fitting, steam
heating, hot water heating, ventilation, and air conditioning apparatus, roof
replacements, electric wiring, and standard illuminating fixtures.
(2) The selected bidder shall specify in the list the estimated value
to be paid each subcontractor for the work to be performed by such subcontractor. After
the School Authority has announced the selected bidder at the bid opening, the School
Authority shall open only the winning bidder’s separate sealed list and shall read aloud
the sub contractors listed in the list. All sealed lists except those of the winning
bidder shall be returned unopened to their respective contractors following the awarding
of a contract.
(c) The School Authority shall establish a committee to review and report on contracts
issued pursuant to this section and on the procedure and methodology of the School
Authority in awarding such contracts. The review shall include, but not be limited to, the
degree to which contractors awarded contracts pursuant to section 9(b)(2), and the
subcontractors utilized by them, utilize employees who are represented by labor
organizations, comply with existing labor standards and maintain harmonious labor
relations.
(d) The committee shall, from time to time, issue economic and
statistical reports dealing with the costs of construction under this act. The reports
shall specify the costs of labor, material, equipment, and profit. The committee shall
have no authority to approve or disapprove contracts. The committee shall be composed of 2
representatives from the School Authority, appointed by the chairperson, 1 representative
from the Council, appointed by the chairperson of the Economic Development Committee, 2
representatives from construction-related labor organizations, and 2 representatives from
the construction industry appointed by the chair of the School Authority from a list
prepared by the District of Columbia chapter of the AFL-CIO.
(e) In awarding contracts pursuant to this section, the School
Authority shall consider the following factors when establishing a list of pre-qualified
bidders for construction work:
(1 ) The degree to which a contractor or sub-contractor utilizes
employees who are represented by a labor organization;
(2) The absence of any intentional misrepresentation with regard to
lists of subcontractors previously submitted pursuant to subsection (b) of this section;
and
(3) The record of the bidder in complying with existing labor standards
and maintaining harmonious labor relations.
(f) The School Authority shall provide in its construction, erection,
or alteration contracts a provision that shall require each contractor to make prompt
payment to its subcontractors performing each subdivision of work listed in subsection (b
) of this section, within 7 calendar days of the receipt of any payment of the School
Authority, the contractor shall pay to each subcontractor that portion of the proceeds of
payment representing the value of the work performed by the contractor, based upon
the actual value of the subcontract, which has been paid for by the School Authority, less
an amount necessary to satisfy any claims, liens, or judgments the subcontractor which
have not been suitably discharged and less any amount retained by the contractor as
provided in this act. For this purpose, the subcontract may provide that the contractor
may retain not more than 5% of each payment to the subcontractor or not more than 10% of
each payment if prior to entering into the subcontract, the subcontractor is unwilling to
provide, at the request of the contractor, a performance bond and a labor and material
bond, both in the amount of the subcontract.
(g)(l) At the time of making a payment to the contractor for work
performed by the subcontractors set forth in subsection (b) of this section, the School
Authority shall file in its office for review a record of the payment.
(2) If any subcontractor shall notify the School Authority and the
contractor in writing that the contractor has failed to make a payment as provided in this
section and the contractor shall fail within 5 calendar days after receipt of the notice,
to furnish either proof of the payment or notice that the amount claimed by the
subcontractor is in dispute, the School Authority shall:
(A) Withhold from amounts becoming due and payable to the contractor,
other than from amounts becoming due and payable to the contractor representing the value
of work approved by the School Authority and performed by other subcontractors and which
the contractor is required to pay to such within 7 calendar days as provided in this
section, an amount equal to that portion of the School Authority’s prior payment to the
contractor which the subcontractors claims to be due it;
(B) Remit the amount when and so withheld to the subcontractor and;
(C) Deduct the payment from the amounts than otherwise due and payable
to the contractor, which payment shall, as between the contractor and the School
Authority, be deemed a payment by the School Authority to the contractor.
(3) If the contractor notifies the School Authority that the claim of
the subcontractor is in dispute, the School Authority shall withhold from amounts becoming
due and payable to the contractor, other than from amounts becoming due and payable to the
contract representing the value of work approved by the School Authority and performed by
other subcontractors and which the contractor is required to pay to such subcontractors
within 7 calendar days as provided within this section, an amount equal to that portion of
the School Authority’s prior payment to the contractor which the subcontractor claims to
be due and deposit the amount when and so withheld in a separate interest-bearing account
pending resolution of the dispute.
(4) The amount deposited together with the interest shall be paid to
the party or parties ultimately determined to be entitled, or until the contractor and
subcontractor shall otherwise agree as to the disposition .
(5) In the event the School Authority shall be required to withhold amounts from a
contractor for the benefit of more than 1 subcontractor, the amounts withheld shall be
applied to or for the subcontractors in the order in which the written notices of
nonpayment have been received on the same day, proportionately based upon the amount of
the subcontractor claims received on such day. Nothing in this section shall prevent the
School Authority from commencing an interpleader section to determine entitlement to a
disputed payment.
(6) Payment to a subcontractor shall not relieve the contractor from
responsibility for the work covered by the payment. Except as otherwise provided, nothing
contained in this section shall create any obligation on the part of the School Authority
to pay any subcontractor, nor shall anything provided serve to create any relationship in
contract or otherwise, implied or expressed, between the subcontractor and the School
Authority. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to the subcontractors of
a contractor whose contract is limited to the performance of a single section of work
listed in subsection (b)(1) of this section.
(h) The provisions of this section shall cease to be in effect in the
event that any of the provisions of this section shall be adjudged to be invalid by the
final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction from which judgment of all appeals or
applications for relief have been exhausted or the time has expired, provided however,
that the appeals or applications are pursued promptly.
(a) Pursuant to D.C. Code §47-1802.1 (4), any real or personal
property, while owned or subject to any rights of the School Authority, shall be exempt
from all taxes, special assessments and special ad valorem levies and from the payment of
any and all charges, rents or other payments to the District, other than payments for
municipal services. In addition, any in rem actions or proceedings brought against such
property of the District or any other actions or proceedings brought against the School
Authority by the District, and any such actions or proceedings shall be void and shall be
subject to dismissal upon application of the School Authority at the sole expense of the
District of Columbia.
(b) The monies and properties of the School Authority, including all
properties constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated, or improved by it or on
its behalf and all properties under its jurisdiction, control, or supervision, and all of
its operations and activates shall be exempt from taxation.
(c) The notes and bonds of the School Authority issued pursuant to this
act and the income and all fees, charges, rents, gifts, grants, revenues, receipts, and
other monies received or to be received by the School Authority shall at all times be free
from taxation, except for estate and gift taxes and taxes on transfers.
(d) In no instance shall title to any property pass to the District of
Columbia, except by deed or other appropriate document of sale, release, or
conveyance executed by the School Authority with the consent of the Emergency Transitional
Education Board of Trustees.
(e) Debts of the School Authority shall not be considered debts of the
District of Columbia.
Sec. 13
Community Participation.
(a) Prior to the commencement of new construction or building
additions of an educational facility or before an acquisition of real property, the School
Authority shall file a copy of the site plan of such facility in its offices and shall
provide a copy to the Community Planning Committee, Housing Finance Agency, the Director
of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Board of Education, the Council, the Chief Financial
Of ficer, the Financial Authority, and the Mayor. Copies of the site plan shall be
provided, upon reasonable notice, to anyone within the general public who makes a request.
The School Authority shall publish notice of the plan within a newspaper of general
circulation, 2 community newspapers, and the D.C. Register.
(b) Within 30 days of publication, the School Authority in conjunction
with the Community Planning Committee, shall conduct a public hearing to discuss the site
plan and how it will affect the community in question. If the proposed site plan will
affect more than 2 wards at once, the School Authority can be asked to combine the 2 wards
and hold the meeting jointly.
(c) Within 15 days after the public hearing, written comments on the
site plan may be submitted to the School Authority and the Community Planning Committee.
Each comment shall be considered by the School Authority and each comment shall receive a
response within 30 days of submission. The School Authority may modify, affirm, or
withdraw any site plan after comments have been reviewed.
(d) The Community Planning Committee shall have the power to conduct
public hearings in regard to the site plan. A determination by the Community Planning
Committee that a site plan should be modified, or withdrawn shall be grounds for the
modification or withdrawal of such site plan. The determination by the Community Planning
Committee shall be made pursuant to a vote by the Community Planning Committee with a
majority of those present and voting.
(e) Prior to the approval of any plan for a shared school site
development or a combined occupancy structure by the Board of Directors of the School
Authority, the School Authority shall:
(1) Announce to the school principal and the Chairperson or
chairpersons of the Local School Restructuring Team and the President of the School
Council, the date and time for a public hearing at the school site for the sole purpose of
providing the local school and local community with the details of any plan for
development; and
(2) Be informed through the adoption of a resolution from the LSRT that
the school community is in support of development of the school site for the purpose of
modernizing the school and providing greater access to the community.
Sec. 14.
Funding of the School Authority.
(a) Funding for the capital budget, including the personnel
services budget, operating expenses and other than personnel services, supplies and
materials, rent, utilities, communications, other services and charges, subsidies and
transfers and equipment currently appropriated to the D.C. Public Schools shall be
transferred to the School Authority, upon the effective date of this act. Any allocations
or any funding in a restricted line item of the DCPS school budget for school repairs,
utilities, rent, communications, subsidies and transfers, other services and charges and
equipment, maintenance, and modernization shall be transferred to the School Authority
upon the effective date of this act.
(b) The Mayor shall dedicate to the School Authority 100% per cent of
property taxes or PILOTS on residential or commercial developments erected on school sites
in the inventory of the DCPS. Monies paid to the District government as PILOTS shall be
appropriated to the School Authority to fund school modernization projects as outlined in
the 5-year capital improvement plan of the DCPS.
(c) Funds that result from public/ private partnerships, or other
revenue raising partnerships through development of DCPS school sites shall be used for
funding the School Authority’s general budget.
(d) One percent of the taxes levied on telecommunications providers
pursuant to the Telecommunications Competition Act of 1996 shall be dedicated to the
School Authority for modernization of schools as outlined in the 5-year capital
improvement plan of the DCPS.
(e) Twenty percent of the revenues derived from any new gaming
enterprises sponsored by the District shall be allocated to the School Authority to fund
modernization projects as outlined in the 5-year capital improvement plan of the DCPS.
Fifty percent of the net proceeds of the D.C. Lottery shall be dedicated to the School
Authority.
(f) All monies of the School Authority, except as otherwise authorized
or provided in this act, shall be paid to the Chief Financial Officer of the District of
Columbia as agent of the School Authority, who shall not commingle these monies with any
other monies. The monies shall be deposited in 2 or more separate bank accounts. The
monies in any account shall be paid out of checks signed by the Chief Financial Officer on
requisition of the Chairman of the School Authority or of such other officer or employee
or officers or employees as the School Authority shall authorize to make such requisition.
All deposits of such money shall, if required by the Chief Financial Officer or the
Trustees of the School Authority, be secured by obligations of the United States or of the
District of a market value equal at all times to the amount of the deposit and all banks
and trust companies are authorized to give such security for such deposits.
(g) Subject to the terms of any lease, sublease, or other agreement
undertaken by the School Authority, any such monies of the School Authority not required
for immediate use may, at the discretion of the School Authority, be invested by the Chief
Financial Officer in obligations of the United States, the District of Columbia or in
obligations the principal and interest of which are guaranteed by the United States or the
District of Columbia.
(h) The chairperson of the School Authority shall annually, on or
before December 21, prepare and submit to the Mayor and the Chief Financial Officer of the
District, on behalf of the Trustees of the School Authority, an itemized budget for the
administration of the School Authority during the District’s next succeeding fiscal year
and information as to the payment or provision for payment of obligations of the
School Authority expected to be required during such year.
(i) The Chief Financial Officer, or his legally authorized
representative, is authorized, from time to time, to examine the books and accounts of the
School Authority including its receipts, disbursements, contracts, reserves, investments,
and any other matters relating to its financial standing. Such an examination shall be
conducted by the Chief Financial Officer once every year; the Chief Financial Officer is
authorized, however, to accept from the School Authority, in lieu of such an examination,
an external examination of its books and accounts made at the request of the Trustees of
the School Authority.