It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5A, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of Chapter 55 of the Public Laws, 1958, entitled "AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN, RICHMOND AND HOPKINTON TO JOIN A REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A REGIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS, WITHIN SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT" As Amended are hereby further amended to read as follows and said act is further amended by adding thereto sections 1A, 2A and 20 as follows:

Sec. 1. Within one hundred twenty (120) days after the adoption of this act, at either a general election or a special election held in each of the Towns of Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton, at which the electors of said towns qualified to vote upon a proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money shall be called upon to vote, a question shall be submitted to said electors substantially in the following form: "Shall an act passed at the January, 1994 session of the General Assembly amending Public Laws, 1958, Chapter 55, as amended, and providing for the further amendment of several provisions of said chapter 55, as amended, pertaining to the terms of self-governance of the Regional District, be approved?"

For the purpose of submitting such question at a special election, there shall be issued in each town a warning such as that which is prescribed by law for the calling of a special financial town meeting which shall contain notice of the proposal to accept this act, and which shall state the day, the place, and the laws for the casting of ballots upon the said question. On the date set for any such special election by the Town Council(s) of the respective towns there shall be established in each said town at least one (1) polling place and each such polling place shall be open for the casting of ballots on the question from nine A.M. (9:00) until nine P.M. (9:00). The town clerk of each town shall forthwith after each such special election in the respective towns notify the secretary of state of the results of said special election and the requirement that the voting list be posted at least twenty (20) days before the election shall not be applicable; and the requirement that the local board, as defined in section 17-8-1 of the general laws, shall be in its office for the purpose of receiving registration of voters between the sixty-third and sixtieth day preceding the election shall not be applicable.

Sec. 1A. As used hereafter in this act, the following terms have the meanings set forth below:

(1) The term "Act" means this act.

(2) The term "Regional District" means the regional school district, embracing the towns of Charlestown, Hopkinton and Richmond, which is established pursuant to the provisions of this act.

(3) The term "Member Town" means any of the three (3) towns which are members of the District and the term "Member Towns" means such three (3) towns as a group.

(4) The term "Committee" means the Regional School District Committee which is provided for in section 10 of the act.

(5) The term "school budget" means the annual budget for the Regional District which is provided for in section 15 of the act.

(6) The term "Regional District Meeting" means a properly called meeting of the persons entitled to vote on the School Budget, including a special meeting as well as the annual meeting at which the school budget is voted on.

(7) The term "Building Committee", as used in section 12 of the act, means a regional school district building committee.

Sec. 2. The towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton, upon the approval of the provisions of this act at a special election held in accordance with section 1 of this act, jointly together are hereby incorporated into a regional school district as a body corporate and politic for but not restricted to the following purposes, viz:

(1) To adopt a name and to adopt and use a corporate seal.

(2) To sue and be sued in its corporate name to the same extent as incorporated towns of this state.

(3) To acquire, take over, operate and control all existing public schools situated in the Member Towns including lands, buildings, equipment, furnishings and supplies for the same, for the joint and common use of the Member Towns incorporated into the Regional District, for the education of pupils attending grades kindergarten through 12 inclusive, and with all the powers and duties pertaining to education and schools conferred by law in this state upon towns generally, including the power of eminent domain to take lands for school site purposes, provided, that the amount of the same at any one (1) taking may be more than five (5) but not more than thirty (30) acres.

(4) To dispose of real or personal property by sale, lease or gift whenever such disposal is determined to be in the best interest of the Regional District, as hereinafter provided.

(5) The Regional District, through its committee, shall be authorized to provide a pre-kindergarten program for children deemed in need thereof in accordance with applicable law.

[(5)] Sec. 2A. The Regional District shall be authorized to lease from the respective towns, Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton, for the sum of one dollar ($1.00) per year, existing school buildings and the land upon which they are sited presently owned by the respective towns, and the said towns shall retain title to said buildings and land. The Regional District shall assume and pay for all maintenance, upkeep and operation of the buildings leased by it from the respective towns.

Sec. 3. The Regional District is hereby authorized and empowered to issue from time to time under its corporate name and seal bonds to an amount not exceeding twelve million nine hundred thousand dollars ($12,900,000), said bonds being in addition to those bonds authorized in chapter 55 of the Public Laws of 1958. The principal of said bonds and the interest thereon shall be payable in any coin or currency of the United States of America which at the time of payment is legal tender for public and private debts. The bonds of each issue shall mature in equal or diminishing installments, the first such installment to be not later than three (3) years and the last such installment to be not later than twenty-five (25) years after the date of such bonds.

Sec. 4. Said bonds shall be signed by the treasurer of the Regional District and the chairperson of the Committee and shall be issued and sold at not less than par and at such maturities, interest rates and other terms, conditions and details as the Committee may determine from time to time. Coupons shall bear the facsimile signature of such Regional District treasurer and Committee chairperson. The premiums, if any, arising from the sale of said bonds shall be applied to the payment of the cost of preparing, issuing and marketing them, and any balance of such premiums shall be applied to the payment of the principal of said bonds in the order of their maturity. The proceeds arising from the sale of said bonds shall be delivered to the treasurer of the Regional District, and such proceeds, except as hereinbefore provided in respect to the premiums arising from the sale of the bonds, shall be expended for the purpose of constructing a regional middle school for the joint use of the Member Towns as provided for in section 12(4) hereof, or in payment of the principal of or interest on temporary notes issued under the provisions of section 5 of this act. No purchaser of any bonds or notes issued under this act, however, shall be in any way responsible for the proper application of the proceeds derived from the sale thereof.

Sec. 5. The Committee is hereby authorized to issue and sell from time to time such interest bearing or discounted notes to an amount not exceeding the aggregate amount of bonds which it is authorized to issue under section 3 of this act as it may determine for the purpose specified in section 4 of this act. Such notes shall bear the signature of the treasurer of the regional district and the chairperson of the committee, and shall be payable within five (5) years from their date of issue but the principal of and interest on notes issued for a shorter period may be renewed or paid from time to time by the issue of other notes hereunder, provided that the period from the date of issue of the original note to the maturity date of any note issued to renew or pay the same debt or interest thereon shall not exceed two (2) years.

Sec. 5A. To procure funds to pay the construction or operating costs of the Regional District, said Regional District through the Committee is hereby authorized in any fiscal year to borrow temporarily in anticipation of the funds to be received by the Regional District from the Member Towns under section 15(9) of this Act during such fiscal year, by the issuance of temporary notes of the Regional District in an amount which, together with any money borrowed in anticipation of funds due the District in any prior fiscal year which may remain unpaid, shall not exceed in the aggregate the total amounts due from the Member Towns during the then current fiscal year. Notes issued under authority of this section shall be made payable not later than one (1) year from their date, but may be renewed or paid by the issue of new notes bearing a notation identifying their purpose and payable not later than one (1) year from the date of issue of the original notes so renewed or paid. Said notes shall be signed by the treasurer of the Regional District and chairperson of the Committee and may be sold at not less than par and shall bear interest at such rate or may be sold at such discount as may be determined by the Committee, the discount to be treated as interest paid in advance.

Sec. 6. All bonds and all temporary notes issued under the provisions of this Act and the debts evidenced thereby shall be obligatory on the Regional District in the same manner and to the same extent as such debts are obligatory under the laws of this state on incorporated towns of this state and such debt evidenced by said bonds or notes shall not be construed at any time to form a part of the debt of any Member Town for the purpose of ascertaining the borrowing capacity of such town, nor shall said debt contracted by the Regional District under such bonds or notes in any way apply to the operation of section 45-12-2 of the general laws, as amended in respect to any Member Town. The Regional District shall annually appropriate a sum sufficient to pay the principal and interest on any bonds maturing in any year until the bonds and the interest thereon are paid in full.

Sec. 7. Any bonds or notes issued under the provisions of this Act, and coupons on any bonds, if properly executed by officers of the Regional District in office on the date of execution shall be valid and binding according to their terms notwithstanding that before the delivery thereof and payment therefor any or all of such officers shall for any reason have ceased to hold office.

Sec. 9. (1) There shall be a Regional District Meeting, which shall be held not later than the first Saturday in April of each year beginning with the calendar year 1995, at the regional high school or at such other place as the Committee may publicly designate in advance. Special Regional District Meetings may be called by the Committee in accordance with conditions governing the calling of town meetings generally as prescribed by the laws of this state or by a petition signed by two hundred (200) qualified voters of the Regional District qualified to vote on the question of the imposition of a tax for the expenditure of money in their respective Member Towns provided that such petition states the purpose or purposes for which such special Regional District Meeting is to be called and that such petition, duly certified by the town clerks of the Member Towns as to the qualification to vote of the persons signing the petition, has been delivered to the clerk of the Committee. All voters qualified in their respective Member Towns to vote at the financial town meeting next preceding the annual or special District Meeting shall be eligible to attend and vote at said annual or special Regional District Meeting and also any voter qualified to vote in a Member Town on any proposition for the imposition of a tax or for the expenditure of money shall be eligible to attend and vote at any annual or special Regional District Meeting, even though such voter was not qualified to vote at the financial town meeting next preceding the annual or special Regional District Meeting, provided that such voter shall be certified as meeting such qualifications by the chairperson of the board of canvassers and registration of the town in which such voter claims he has the said right to vote. For the purpose of certifying the qualifications of voters the chairperson of the board of canvassers and registration or the majority of the board of canvassers and registration of each Member Town shall be present at all Regional District Meetings to consider the applications of such voters demanding the right to vote at any Regional District Meeting.

(2) The annual Regional District Meeting shall determine the annual School Budget as to overall amount.

(3) The moderator of each annual or special Regional District Meeting held during any year, beginning with the annual Regional District Meeting held in the year 1971, shall be the duly elected or appointed moderator of one of the Member Towns, alternating each year beginning with the moderator from the town of Charlestown and the next year the moderator from the town of Hopkinton and the next year from the town of Richmond, and so on consecutively alternating in that order and manner, with the same person presiding as moderator at all Regional District Meetings held during the year. In the event that the moderator who should preside at any annual or special Regional District Meeting is absent from said meeting, a moderator shall be elected by a majority vote of said meeting, and in such absence of the moderator the meeting shall be called to order by the chairperson of the Committee but in no event shall the chairperson of the Committee or any other member thereof be elected as moderator. The clerk of each Regional District Meeting shall be the clerk of the Committee.

(4) A majority vote of all the voters present at the annual Regional District Meeting and qualified to vote shall be required for the adoption of the annual School Budget.

(5) A quorum at any Regional District Meeting, for either annual or special meetings, shall consist of twenty-five (25) qualified voters from each Member Town.

(6) No action shall be taken with respect to the purchase of land or the construction of buildings except upon a majority vote of the voters of the Regional District voting on said issue. Nothing in the Act shall prohibit a Member Town from floating bonds for school construction purposes and leasing those facilities to the District. The financial responsibility for retiring these construction bonds will rest with the individual town contracting for the construction.

(7) Every Regional District Meeting shall be called and warned by a written notice signed by the clerk and chairperson of the Committee notifying the qualified electors of the Regional District of the time and place of said meeting and the business proposed to be transacted there at, which notice shall be posted up by the town sergeant or any constable of any Member Town in three (3) or more public places within the Regional District, at least one (1) of which must be in each Member Town, and shall also be published in a daily newspaper (including a newspaper published six (6) times weekly) of general circulation originating within the state, all at least seven (7) days before the date of such Regional District Meeting.

(8) A properly called Regional District Meeting, acting on the recommendation of the Committee, may by a majority vote of the voters present and qualified to vote direct the Committee to dispose of real or personal property of the Regional District on such terms and conditions as the meeting may determine are in the best interests of the Regional District.

Sec. 10. (1)(a) There shall be a regional school committee for said district consisting of eleven (11) members, each member town shall be represented on the committee in direct proportion to its population as determined by the most recent population census figures. The total population of the district shall then be divided by eleven (11) and the resulting quotients thus obtained shall be used as the basis for determining the proportionate representation of each said member town on said committee, and realizing that the mathematical divisions of said formula will not obtain absolute evenness, fractions of .5 or more shall be construed as 1 point and fractions less than .5 shall be construed as 0.

(1)(b) Subject to limitations aforesaid, the members of said committee from each of the member towns to be elected or appointed for terms hereinafter set forth shall be determined as of the time of each bi-annual election and each of the said member towns, based upon the census aforesaid. The first such regional school committee shall be elected in the general election in November 1988. In the general election 1988 each town electing three (3) members of the school committee shall elect two (2) members to serve a term of four (4) years and one (1) member to serve a term of two (2) years. A town electing more than three (3) representatives shall elect three (3) members for a term of two (2) years and additional members for a term of four (4) years. Thereafter members shall be elected for a term of four (4) years. Until such time as those elected in that election shall be certified and qualified, the existing Chariho Regional High School District Committee shall serve as the Regional School Committee. In the event there shall occur any vacancy during any term of any member of said regional school district committee, whether by death, resignation or incapacity to serve, the town council of the member town in which such vacancy occurs shall fill such vacancy by a majority of the town council of said town. The person appointed to fill such vacancy shall serve in such capacity until the next bi-annual general election at which school committee members may be elected.

(1)(c) Since the United States Bureau of the Census conducts its business on a decennial basis, and in view of the fact that any of the Member Towns may incur rapid shifts in population which could affect the composition of the Committee, there may be agreement among the town councils of the Member Towns to provide for a census on a five (5) year basis beginning in 1995. A census of the towns taken in 1987 shall be used as the basis for Committee composition until the 1990 United States Bureau of Census data are provided. The cost of the 1987 census will be borne by each Member Town in proportion to its population. Any Member Town objecting to the use of the United States census material may by written demand delivered to the town councils of the other Member Towns require the making of an actual census of each town in time for the first general election after 1995 or in time for the first general election next to occur after any subsequent year ending with the number 5; and in the event such an actual census shall be used as the basis of determining representation on the Committee until the next United States Census Bureau census is conducted. The cost of any such census shall be borne equally by the three (3) Member Towns and shall not constitute a reimbursable education expense, except that if less than all of the Member Towns agree on having such actual census made and the census does not result in the representation on the Committee of a Member Town which requested such census being increased over what it would be if the U.S. census figures had been used, then such Member Town's share of the census cost shall be increased to fifty percent (50%) and if another Member Town joined in the request for an actual census and also failed to have its representation on the Committee so increased such two Member Towns shall share equally the entire cost of the census. In the event that any actual census is taken between U.S. censuses, the results of such actual census shall be used as the basis for determining the representation of each Member Town on the Committee in all elections of Committee members until the next U.S. census figures becomes available.

(2) Within ten (10) days after the election and certification of the members of the Committee, the Committee shall meet and organize by selecting one (1) of its number to be chairperson of the Committee. The chairperson chosen at the first organizational meeting shall serve in such office until the first meeting of the Committee following the qualification of new members elected to the Committee at the general election of 1988. At such first meeting of the Committee following the election and qualification of new members, the Committee shall elect a chairperson and elect such other officers as are herein or hereafter authorized; and each two (2) years thereafter at the first Committee meeting following a general election at which Committee members are elected the Committee shall organize and elect or appoint such officers. A person may not succeed himself/herself in the office of chairperson unless no other member of the Committee is willing to serve as chairperson and at such organizational meetings the chairmanship shall first be offered to a Committee member from a town other than the town represented by the member who last served as chairperson in an order of rotation to be agreed upon at the first organization meeting of the Committee which shall provide that each Member Town shall have the opportunity of having one (1) of its members serve as chairperson in a fixed order of selection. In the event that no Committee member from the Member Town which is entitled to the chairmanship at an organization meeting is willing to serve as chairperson, this selection shall pass to the next Member Town so entitled under said agreement and so on until a chairperson is selected who is willing to serve. The Committee shall also appoint a clerk and a treasurer of the District and of District Meetings and the said clerk and treasurer may be the same individual and need not be a member or members of the Committee. A majority of the members of the full Committee shall constitute a quorum at any regular or special meeting of said Committee.

(3) The Committee shall have all of the powers and duties conferred by law in this state upon school committees of towns generally including but not limited to the following:

(a) To apply for and receive, accept and use any town, state or federal funds or assistance, or both, as may be provided, whether in the form of a grant or a loan or both, including specifically such funds or assistance from state or federal sources as the Member Towns would otherwise be entitled to apply for and receive from such sources in the event that the Regional District did not exist but to the use of which such Member Towns might be individually excluded by reason of the existence of the Regional District.

(b) To publish at least thirty (30) days prior to the annual Regional District Meeting an annual report containing a detailed financial statement showing the total receipts and expenditures of the annual period covered by the report together with such additional material and information relating to the maintenance and operation of the schools in the Regional District as may be deemed necessary by the Committee.

(c) To receive and disburse funds for any Regional District purpose.

(d) To engage legal counsel.

(e) To engage and employ a superintendent of schools for the Regional District, who may also be a principal of a school or schools in the Regional District, on a contractual basis for either a definite or indefinite term as the Committee shall determine. The person so employed shall have all of the powers and duties imposed upon a superintendent of schools by law.

(4)(a) The Committee shall annually cause an audit to be made of the accounts of the Regional District, and on completion of each audit a report thereof shall be made to the members of the Committee and a copy thereof shall be submitted to the next Regional District Meeting.

(b) Compensation for members of the Committee and the clerk and the treasurer of the Regional District shall be determined at and by the Annual District Meeting as a part of the consideration and action taken at said meeting in respect to operating costs and expenses of the Regional District.

(c) The Regional District treasurer shall furnish the Regional District a surety bond in an amount to be determined annually by the Committee and otherwise satisfactory to the Committee. The expense of said bond shall be chargeable to the Regional District.

Sec. 11. The curriculum of the schools in the Regional District shall be governed by the Committee and shall be adapted to the unique requirements of the locality and subject to the approval of the state board of education.

Sec. 12. (1) There shall be an unpaid Regional District finance committee consisting of the Regional District treasurer, the town treasurers of the Member Towns, three (3) members of the Committee, consisting of one (1) from each Member Town appointed by the Committee, and three (3) financially knowledgeable residents who are eligible to vote in Regional District Meetings, consisting of one (1) from each of the Member Towns to be appointed by the respective town councils. This finance committee shall advise and make recommendations to the Committee on all fiscal considerations including, but not limited to, budget, long-range fiscal planning, development of a maintenance fund and investment of funds received by the Regional District in a manner so as to insure the retirement of school construction and renovation bonds in the shortest possible time.

(2) Within ten (10) days after approval and acceptance of this Act by the voters of the Member Towns, a regional school district Building Committee consisting of five (5) members from each of the towns of Charlestown and Richmond and seven (7) members from the town of Hopkinton shall be established. Two of each Member Town's representatives on such Building Committee shall be members of and chosen by the regional school district Committee and the remaining representatives of each Member Town shall be appointed by the town council of such town.

(3) Said Building Committee shall secure competent architectural and engineering services for the purpose of the making of surveys, the preparation of plans and specifications and selection of site for the construction and equipping of a regional middle school in the Regional District and the supervision of the construction; and such Building Committee shall employ such clerical assistance as may be necessary.

(4) Said Building Committee shall cause the construction, furnishing and equipping of a regional middle school including athletic facilities and shall have such renovations, repairs and improvements as it may deem necessary made to the existing regional high school building, including for both buildings athletic facilities and improvement of the grounds upon which the respective schools are located in accordance with the purposes and provisions of this Act, and such Building Committee shall make all contracts and agreements that may be necessary for the exercise of the powers vested in it, provided, however, that said Building Committee shall not make any expenditures or incur any liability unless the necessary appropriations have been authorized by the referendum set forth in section 1 of this Act and the bonds authorized therein have been successfully sold.

(5) The term of said Building Committee shall be until such time as the authorized building or buildings shall have been constructed and accepted by the architects engaged by the Building Committee and for one (1) year thereafter whereupon the term of office of said committee shall terminate.

(6) In the event of additional building requirements for the purpose of the Regional District, as approved by the voters qualified, present and voting by majority vote at a District Meeting, subsequent to the expiration of the term of the original Building Committee, a new Building Committee shall be formed, subject to the same conditions and vested with the same powers as those conferred by this Act upon the original building committee. The new Building Committee shall be formed in numbers corresponding to section 10(1)(a). The members of such new Building Committee shall be appointed by a majority vote of the respective town councils of the Member Towns, provided, however, that one of each Member Town's representatives serving on said new Building Committee shall be a member of the regional school district Committee representing such Member Town, who shall be appointed by majority vote of the regional school district Committee.

(7) In the event that any member of a Building Committee shall cease to serve, the resulting vacancy shall be filled by the body which appointed such member (that is, by a town council or the regional school district Committee according to whichever is appropriate).

(8) No member of any Building Committee shall be held personally liable for damages by reason of any act or omission on his/her part in connection with the performance of his/her duties as a member of said committee.

Sec. 13. (1) A student who enters an elementary school in kindergarten will be assured of matriculation at that school through grade 4 unless the family relocates outside the elementary school attendance district. Siblings, also, will be assured of matriculation in the same elementary school as long as another sibling is in attendance.

(2) Transportation of pupils shall be considered an operational cost of the Regional District and shall be governed by the Committee.

Sec. 14. (1) All employees employed by the respective school committees of the Member Towns who are subject to a collective bargaining agreement shall be employed by the Regional District. Any such employee who on the date of his or her contract of employment with the Regional District is on tenure shall continue thereafter to serve on a tenured basis. All such employees who become employees of the Regional District shall be given full credit for their employment with the school committees of the Member Towns for the purpose of seniority, pensions and all other relevant purposes. All other employees employed by the respective school committees of the Member Towns shall be given preferred consideration for similar positions in the Regional District schools to the extent that such positions exist therein.

(2) In the event of a subsequent determination by any Member Town to withdraw from the Regional District, such employees whose services are no longer required by the Regional District shall become employees of the Member Town withdrawing from the Regional District with full credit for prior service in both the Member Town and/or the Regional District, provided that these positions are required by the withdrawing town.

Sec. 15. (1) It shall be the duty of the Regional District superintendent, or his/her designee, to present to the Committee, at its regular meeting in the month of November, a preliminary School Budget containing his/her estimates of the amount of money needed to operate the schools of the Regional District for the ensuing year. The form of said budget shall conform to the accounting system of the state department of education.

(2) The Committee shall prepare and approve a School Budget which it believes will provide for efficient operation of the Regional District for the ensuing year not later than the fifteenth (15th) day of February in each year.

(3) At least thirty (30) days before the annual Regional District Meeting at which the School Budget is to be adopted, the Committee shall hold a public hearing on the proposed budget at which any citizen entitled to vote at the said Regional District Meeting may be heard. Notice of the date and place of such meeting and hearing shall be given at least twelve (12) days in advance thereof by publication at least once in a daily newspaper (including a newspaper published six (6) times weekly) or journal of general circulation within the District which is published in Rhode Island. Subsequent to said public hearing on the proposed budget, but not later than twenty-five (25) days prior to the date of the Regional District Meeting in each year, the Committee shall adopt a final proposed School Budget. The regional school district finance committee, established in accordance with the provisions of section 12 hereof, may by and through its individual members or by appointed delegates attend budget hearings and provide advice and assistance to the Committee on budget matters.

(4) The final School Budget as adopted by the Committee shall be submitted to the annual Regional District Meeting for a vote or votes thereon, which said recommended budget may be lowered in amount by a majority vote of said meeting but shall not be increased in amount unless a notice of intent to do so, together with a notice specifying the amount and purpose of such increase signed by one hundred fifty (150) qualified electors of the Regional District, has been filed with the clerk of the Regional District within seven (7) days after the date of the adoption of the final School Budget by the Committee in accordance with the provisions of section 15(3) hereof. Any such petition duly filed shall be included in the notice of the district meeting required by Section 9(7) hereof.

(5) Operating costs shall include all costs of the Regional District not included in the construction costs payable out of the receipts and realizations from the sale of bonds or notes provided for or authorized by this Act.

(6) Operating expenses for each fiscal year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among the Member Towns in proportion to the relationship of their average daily membership in the Regional District during the previous school year to the daily average total membership in the District during the such previous school year.

(7) Within ten (10) days following the adoption of the School Budget by the Regional District Meeting, the treasurer of the Regional District shall certify to the Member Towns the total cost of operating the Regional District for the next budget year (July through June 30), including therein operating costs, operating expenses, and all other anticipated expenses expected to be incurred in the operation of the Regional District. This sum shall then be divided by the number of students enrolled in the Regional District as determined in subsection (6) of this section and the resulting figure shall then be determined as the annual pupil charge. The charge so determined shall be certified by said Regional District treasurer to the respective treasurers of the Member Towns not later than ten (10) days following the adoption of the School Budget by the Regional District Meeting. Each Member Town shall then pay to the treasurer of the Regional District, in the manner provided in subsection (9) of this section, a sum equal to the number of pupils enrolled in the Regional District from that town multiplied by the annual pupil charge.

(8) Construction costs of the Regional District shall be all costs of retirement of principal or payment of interest of bonds or notes hereinbefore authorized or which may by special legislative act be authorized for future construction within the Regional District, or such costs as may be financed by means other than the issue of bonds or notes for the purpose of construction or renovation of buildings, land acquisition, or extraordinary repairs to buildings, and all other costs and expenses of the Regional District shall be operating costs. In each year subsequent to the passage of this Act, construction costs shall be borne by each Member Town in the same proportion as the enrollment of students from that town bears to the total student enrollment of the Regional District. The Regional District treasurer annually shall determine the share of each Member Town of construction costs by dividing the construction costs for the current year of operation by the number of pupils enrolled in the Regional District, as determined in subsection (6) of this section. The Regional District treasurer shall then certify to the treasurers of the Member Towns each town's share of the construction costs determined as hereinbefore provided at the same time and in the same manner as estimated operating costs are certified to each town pursuant to subparagraph (7) above.

(8A) The amount of construction costs certified by the treasurer of the Regional District to the treasurers of the Member Towns shall for the purpose of section 45-12-11 of the general laws be deemed an indebtedness of the town or interest thereon for which a Member Town may assess its ratable property in any one (1) year in excess of three and one-half percent (3-1/2%) of its ratable value.

(9) The sums payable annually to the Regional District by each Member Town as its share of the Regional District's operating costs for the fiscal year, determined pursuant to subsection (7) above, and its share of construction costs for the fiscal year, determined pursuant to subsection (8) above, shall be paid in installments as follows: five percent (5%) in each of the months of July and August and nine percent (9%) in each of the remaining ten (10) months of the fiscal year. Each Member Town shall cause its treasurer to deposit each such installment in cash or other immediately available funds to the Regional District's account in a bank designated by the Regional District treasurer which has a place of business in the State of Rhode Island on the third business day of the month between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. In the event of late payment of any such installment, including payment on the due date later than 2:00 p.m., simple interest shall accrue daily and be payable on such past due sum from the date of default to the date of payment of such sum at a per annum rate one-fourth of one percent (1/4%) above the average seven (7) day compounded yield of taxable money market funds as published weekly by IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report, such interest being intended to compensate the Regional District for loss of use of the funds that should have been paid to it rather than as a penalty. For the purpose of calculating such rate of interest, said average money market fund yield published by IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report on or during the six (6) days immediately preceding the date of default shall be applied, except that if such default continues until the date of the next weekly publication of such average money market fund yield by IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report the latter yield shall be applied commencing on such date, and the same procedure for calculating the rate of interest shall be followed thereafter on a weekly basis until the default ends. In the event that such IBC/Donoghue's Money Fund Report (including a successor to such report with a different name) shall cease to be published, the per annum rate of interest charged shall be one-half of one percent (1/2%) above the three (3) month U.S. treasury bill rate as published on the date of default or, if not published on that date, as published on the next preceding business day. However, if the default continues beyond seven (7) days, the three (3) month U.S. treasury bill rate in effect on the eighth (8th) day of default shall be applied commencing on such date in calculating the rate of interest, and the same procedure for calculating the interest rate shall be followed thereafter on a weekly basis until the default ends.

(10) The Regional District fiscal year shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30.

(11) The superintendent of schools of the Regional District shall certify to the commissioner of education on or before July 15 of each year such information as may be needful in conformity to the laws of this state, such information to be provided upon such official forms or in such other form as the commissioner of education shall require.

(12) The electors in the Member Towns qualified to vote in their respective towns upon a proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money shall in their respective towns, in annual or special financial town meetings legally assembled, appropriate and raise sufficient monies for their respective towns to meet the requirements of the costs of construction for and operation the Regional District as determined by the annual Regional District Meeting and allocated among the Member Towns as provided in subsections (7) and (8) of this section.

Sec. 16. The Regional District shall have, in any meeting of the electors of the Regional District who are qualified to vote upon a proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money in their respective Member Towns, the power and authority to act in any way necessary and proper, including the power to elect or appoint committees and agents to carry out any act in furtherance of the general corporate purposes and objects of the Regional District.

Sec. 17. Any other town or towns may be admitted to the Regional District upon:

(1) Adoption of an appropriate amendment to this Act, by an act of the general assembly accepted and approved by a vote of the electors of the member Towns qualified to vote upon a proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money, present and voting on the question of approval of said act of amendment at an annual or special financial town meeting in their respective towns and like acceptance and approval of the like electors of the town or towns seeking admission; and

(2) Upon compliance with such provisions of law as may be applicable and with such additional requirements as may be set forth in such act of amendment.

Sec. 18. (1) No Member Town shall withdraw from the Regional District until bonded indebtedness incurred in accordance with the provisions of section 1 of this Act has been fully paid and discharged. Thereafter, any member town may petition to withdraw from the Regional District at any annual Regional District Meeting, provided that such petition for withdrawal shall have been approved in the appropriate manner by the governing body of the Member Town seeking to withdraw and shall also have been approved by a majority of the electors of the said town qualified to vote upon a proposition for the imposition of a tax or for the expenditure of money, present and voting in the appropriate manner as prescribed by said town within a period of one hundred twenty (120) days next preceding the date of the annual Regional District Meeting at which the petition is to be submitted. Such petition shall not be approved except upon payment to the treasurer of the Regional District Meeting at which the petition is to be submitted. Such petition shall not be approved except upon payment to the treasurer of the Regional District by the treasurer of such town of any costs which have been apportioned and certified to said town of any costs which have been apportioned and certified to said town in accordance with the provisions hereinbefore set forth for operating costs and construction costs of the Regional District during the year in which such withdrawal is to take place, and such town shall remain liable to the Regional District for its share of the indebtedness of the Regional District outstanding, if any, at the time of such withdrawal, and for interest thereon, to the same extent and in the same manner as if the town had not withdrawn from the Regional district, except as such liability shall be reduced by any amount which said town has paid over at the time of withdrawal and which has been applied to the payment of such indebtedness and interest. Any money received by the Regional District from a withdrawing town for the payment of indebtedness or interest thereon shall be used only for such purpose and until so used shall be deposited in trust in the name of the Regional District with a Rhode Island bank or trust company having a combined capital and surplus of not less than five million dollars ($5,000,000).

(2) On July 1, 1994, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, a committee shall be formed to be known as an Entrance, Expansion and Exit Committee consisting of the following members: The town council president of each Member Town, the Committee chairperson, the chairperson of the finance committee established in section 12(1) hereof, two (2) residents from each Member Town appointed by the town council of said town, three (3) residents of communities not within the Regional District to be appointed by the Committee, and the commissioner of education or his/her designee. This committee shall be charged with the duty of reviewing enrollment data, fiscal impact information, demographic/geographic considerations, impact upon the academic program, issues of governance, impact on this Act and any other pertinent issues identified by the committee as they may be affected by the withdrawal or addition of Member Towns from or to the Regional District. This committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the Committee within six (6) months after its formation. In preparing its report and conducting its studies, the committee shall hold at least one (1) public hearing in each Member Town on the subject matter of withdrawal or additions of Member Towns from or to the District.

Sec. 19. Upon the acceptance and approval of this Act the town councils of the Member Towns are hereby vested with the power and authority to enter into agreements on behalf of their respective towns and with each other, jointly and severally providing for ways and means of obtaining a site for the proposed Regional District middle school and otherwise generally putting into effective operation the objects and purposes of this Act, all in order that the said Regional District middle school shall be finally constructed and the Regional District high school shall be renovated and put into use for the Member Towns.

Sec. 20. This Act shall be known and may be referred to as the Chariho Act.

SECTION 2. The question of the approval of this act shall be submitted to the electors of the towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton at the next general election. The question shall be submitted in substantially the following form: "Shall an act passed at the January 1994 session of the General Assembly entitled 'An act in amendment to and in addition to Chapter 55 of the Public Laws of 1958 entitled An act authorizing the towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton, to join a regional school district, incorporating said regional school district, and providing for the issuance of bonds, construction and operation of a regional school system for the joint use of the participating towns, within said regional school district established by this act' as amended be approved?"

SECTION 3. This section and the foregoing section shall take effect upon passage. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon the approval of this act by a majority of those voting on the question from each town at the election prescribed by the foregoing section.