It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. The title of chapter 55 of the public laws of 1958 entitled "AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE TOWNS OF CHARLESTOWN AND RICHMOND TOGETHER, OR TOGETHER WITH THE TOWN OF HOPKINTON, TO JOIN A REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT, INCORPORATING SAID REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS, WITHIN SAID REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT," as amended, is hereby further amended and shall hereafter be cited as follows:

"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 OPERATION OF A REGIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR THE JOINT USE OF THE PARTICIPATING TOWNS, WITHIN SAID REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTABLISHED BY THIS ACT."

SECTION 2. Sections 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, and 19 of chapter 55 of the public laws, 1958 entitled "An act authorizing the towns of Charlestown and Richmond together or together with the town of Hopkinton, to join a regional high school district, incorporating said regional high school district, and providing for the issuance of bonds, construction and operation of a regional high school for the joint use of the participating towns, within said regional high school district established by this act," as amended, are hereby further amended to read as follows:

Sec. 1. There shall be held in each of the towns of Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton, within seventy (70) {ADD one hundred twenty (120) ADD} days after the adoption of this act, a special election 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 qualified to vote and called upon to vote upon a question submitted in substantially the following form: Shall an act passed at the January, 1986 session of the General Assembly amending Public Laws, 1958, Chapter 55 as amended and authorizing the Towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton to join in a regional school district, kindergarten through grade 12, and providing for the issuance of bonds in the amount of not more than 12.9 million dollars, construction of a middle school, and renovations to its existing high school be approved?" {ADD "Shall an act passed at the January, 1996 session of the General Assembly amending Public Laws, 1958, Chapter 55 as amended and providing that the acquisition of land and construction of school buildings may be approved by referendum, amending the allocation of construction costs so that such costs are borne equally by the member towns, amending the manner of calculating the apportionment and schedules of payments by the member towns to the regional school district in support of the annual budget, and confirming the authority of the regional school district to borrow and to issue bonds and temporary notes under Chapter 3 of Title 16 of the Rhode Island General Laws, be approved?" ADD}

For the purpose of holding such special election on said question 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 shall state the day, the place, and the laws for casting ballots upon the said question. On the date set for the special election by the Town Council 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. 3. The regional school district incorporated hereunder is hereby authorized and empowered to issue from time to time under its corporate name and seal {ADD bonds in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 3 of Title 16 of the general laws. ADD} additional 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 and the chairperson of the regional school district committee, respectively, 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 regional school district committee may determine from time to time.

Coupons shall bear the facsimile signature of the treasurer and the chairperson of the regional school district committee. 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 school 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 2 hereof, or in payment of the principal of, or interest on temporary notes issued under provisions of section 5 hereof. 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 regional school district committee is hereby authorized to {ADD borrow temporarily and to ADD} issue and sell from time to time such {ADD temporary ADD} interest bearing or discounted notes {ADD in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 3 of Title 16 of the general laws of this state. ADD} in an amount not exceeding the aggregate amount of bonds which it is authorized to issue under section 3 hereof as it may determine for the purpose specified in section 4 of this act. Such notes shall bear the signature of the treasurer and chairperson of the regional school district committee and shall be payable within five (5) years from their date of issue, but of 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 the original note to the maturity of any note issued to renew or pay the same debt or interest thereon shall not exceed two (2) years.

Sec. 9. (1) The annual regional district meetings shall be held on the first Tuesday in March of each year at 7:30 P.M. beginning with the first Tuesday in March A.D., 1988, at the regional high school or at such other place as the regional school district committee may publicly designate in advance. Special meetings may be called by the regional school district 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 said district qualified to vote on the question of the imposition of a tax for the expenditure of money in their respective towns when such petition contains the purpose or purposes for which such special meeting is to be called and when such purpose and 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 regional school district committee. All voters qualified in their respective 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 school district meeting and also all voters qualified to vote in their respective towns and any {ADD upon a ADD} proposition for the imposition of a tax or for the expenditure of money shall be eligible to attend and vote at any regular or special regional school district meeting, even though such voter was not qualified to vote in the financial meeting next preceding the annual or special district meeting, provided such voter shall be certified as meeting such qualifications by the chairperson of the board of canvassers and registration of the town of which such voter claims he has the said right to vote and for which such latter purpose the chairperson of the board of canvassers and registration or the majority of the board of canvassers and registration of the said member towns shall be present at all meetings of the Chariho district to consider the application of such voters demanding the right to vote at any meeting of the Chariho Regional School District.

(2) The regional school district meeting shall determine the annual regional school budget as to overall amount.

(3) The moderator of the regional school district meeting, beginning with the annual meeting of said district held in the year 1971, shall be 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, and in case of special meetings of said district the moderator for the annual meeting of the year in which the special meeting shall be held, shall be the same moderator as the moderator who presided at the annual meeting of that year of said district meeting; and in the event that the moderator who should preside at any regular or special meeting of said district 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 said regional school district committee; and in no event shall the chairperson of said regional school district committee or any member thereof be elected as moderator; and the clerk of the meeting shall be the clerk of the said committee.

(4) A majority vote of all the voters present at the regional school district meeting and qualified to vote shall be required for the adoption of the annual regional school budget.

(5) A quorum for the regional school district meeting, for either regular or special meetings, shall be seventy-five (75) qualified voters, and such quorums shall consist of not less than twenty-five (25) qualified voters from each member town.

(6) No action shall be taken with respect to the purchase of land, the construction of buildings and the extension of the scope of functions of the regional school district except upon a majority vote of voters of {ADD said regional school district, voting in a referendum ADD} the respective member towns as set forth in section 1 hereof .

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 performing the construction.

(7) All regional school district meetings shall be called and warned by written notices signed by the clerk and chairperson of the regional school district committee notifying the qualified electors of said district of the time and place of said meeting and the business proposed to be transacted thereat, which said notices shall be posted up by the town sergeant, or any constable of any member town in three (3) or more public places within said district, at least one (1) of which must be in each member town, and published in a newspaper of general circulation published within the state, all at least seven (7) days before the date of such meeting.

(8) The regional school district meeting, on the recommendation of the regional school committee for the said district by a majority vote of the voters present and qualified to vote may direct the regional school committee to dispose of real or personal property on such terms or conditions as the meeting may determine are in the best interests of the 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. 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 of any vacancy by death, resignation or incapacity to serve of any term of any member of said regional school district committee, the town council of the member town in which such vacancy occurs shall fill such vacancy by election by a majority vote of the town council of said town for the unexpired term of the member whose office is thus vacated.

(1)(b) Since the United States Census bureau of the census conducts on a decennial basis and in view of the fact that any of the Chariho towns may incur rapid shifts in population which could effect the composition of the Chariho School committee, there may be agreement among the town councils to provide for a census on a five (5) year basis beginning in 1995. A census of the towns taken in 1987 will be used as the basis for school committee composition until the 1990 United States bureau of census data is provided. The cost of the 1987 census will be borne by each town in proportion to its population. Any town objecting to the use of the United States census material may require the making of an actual census in time for the first general election after 1995. The cost of such a census shall be borne equally by the three (3) towns and shall not constitute a reimbursable education expense; provided further that in the event that such an actual census does not result in a count materially different from the numbers contained in material compiled by the United States Bureau of the Census, then the cost of the actual census, shall be borne by the town or towns objecting to the use of such bureau of the census material.

(2) Within ten (10) days after the election and certification of the members of the regional school district committee, said regional school district committee shall meet and organize by selecting one (1) of their number to be chairperson of said committee. The chairperson chosen at the first organized meeting shall serve in such office until the first meeting of said committee following the qualification of new members elected to the regional school district committee at the general election of 1988. At such first meeting of the said committee following the election and qualification of new members, the committee shall elect a chairperson and elect such other officers and are herein or hereafter authorized and each two (2) years thereafter at such first meeting following a general election at which school committee members are elected, the regional school district 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 one of the members of which last served as chairperson in an order of rotation to be agreed upon at the first organization meeting of the said 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 member from one of the member towns which is entitled to the chairmanship at an organization meeting is willing to serve as chairperson, this election shall pass to the next such member town so entitled under said agreement and so on until a chairperson is selected who is going to serve. The said committee shall also appoint a clerk and a treasurer of said committee who shall also be a clerk and treasurer of the said district and the district meetings and the said clerk and treasurer may be the same individual and need not be a member or members of said committee.

(3) Said regional school committee shall have all the powers and duties conferred by law in this state upon school committees of towns {ADD or regional school districts ADD} , 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 said regional school district did not exist but to the use of which such member towns might be individually excluded by reason of the existence of said district.

(b) To publish an annual report thirty (30) days prior to the annual district meeting containing a detailed financial statement showing the total receipts and expenditures of the period covered by the report together with such additional material and information relating to the maintenance and operation of the school or schools as may be deemed necessary by the regional school committee.

(c) To receive and disburse funds for any regional school district purpose.

(d) To engage legal counsel.

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

(f) Said committee shall annually cause an audit to be made of the accounts of said district, and on completion of each audit a report thereof shall be made to the members of said committee and a copy thereof shall be submitted to the next regional school district meeting.

(g) Compensation for members of the said committee and/or clerk and treasurer thereof shall be determined at and by the regional school district meeting as a part of the consideration and action taken at said meeting in respect to operating costs and expenses of the said district.

(h) The regional school district treasurer shall furnish a surety bond in an amount to be determined annually by the said committee. The expense of said bond shall be chargeable to the said district.

Sec. 12. (1) There shall be an unpaid regional school district finance committee consisting of the district treasurer, the town treasurers of each of the member towns, three (3) members of the regional district school committee, one (1) from each town appointed by the school committee, and three (3) financially knowledgeable residents eligible to vote in regional school district meetings, one (1) from each of the member towns to be appointed by the respective town councils. This committee will advise and make recommendations to the regional district school 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 school committee in a manner so as to insure the retirement of construction renovation bonds in the shortest possible time.

(2) Within ten (10) days after approval and acceptance of this act by the voters of said 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, two (2) members of which building committee from each member town shall be members of the school committee in their respective town, and the remaining members shall be appointed by the respective town councils.

(3) Said regional school district 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 said district and the supervision of the construction; and employ such clerical assistance as may be necessary.

(4) Said regional school district building committee shall construct, furnish and equip a regional middle school including athletic facilities and undertake such renovations, repairs and improvements as it may deem necessary to the existing regional high school building, including for both buildings athletic facilities and improve the grounds upon which the respective schools are located in accordance with the purposes and provisions of this act and shall make all contracts and agreements that may be necessary for the exercise of the powers vested in said building committee 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 hereof 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 school district, determined by the voters qualified present and voting by majority vote at a district meeting, {ADD or by majority vote of the qualified voters of said regional school district voting in a referendum, ADD} subsequent to the termination of office of the original building committee, a new building committee subject to the same conditions and vested with the same powers as those conferred by this act upon the original building committee formed in numbers corresponding to section 10 (1) (a). One (1) of such building committee member from each town shall be a member of the regional school committee who represents that town.

(7) In the event of a vacancy on the building committee said vacancy shall be filled by appointed of the town council of the town from which the vacancy shall occur or from the regional school committee in the same manner as prescribed in 12 (6) above.

(8) No member of the building committee shall be held personally liable for damages in the performance of his duties as a member of said committee.

Sec. 15. (1) It shall be the duty of the district superintendent, or chief administrative officer, to present to the regional school committee, at its regular meeting in the month of November, a preliminary budget containing his estimates of the amount of money needed to operate the regional high school {ADD district ADD} for the ensuing year. The form of said budget shall conform to the accounting system of the state department of education.

(2) The Regional School Committee shall prepare and approve a budget which it believes will efficiently operate the Regional School District for the ensuing year not later than the fifth (5th) day of February in each year.

(3) At least twenty (20) days before the annual district meeting, at which the budget is to be adopted, the regional school committee shall hold a public hearing on the budget at which any citizen entitled to vote at the said 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 newspaper of general circulation within the said district and published in Rhode Island. Not later than February 28 in each year and subsequent to the hearing on the proposed budget, the district school committee shall adopt a final proposed 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 school committee on budget matters.

(4) The final budget as adopted by the said school committee shall be submitted to the annual school district meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in March of each year for a vote or votes thereon, which said recommended budget may be lowered by a majority vote of said meeting but shall not be increased except when a notice of intent to do so, together with the specification of the amount and purpose of such increase signed by fifty (50) qualified electors of the said district, have been filed with the clerk of said district at least seven (7) days before the date of said annual meeting and then in such case, said recommended budget may be increased by a majority vote of said meeting within the limits of the amount specified in the last mentioned notice.

(5) Operating costs {ADD expenses ADD} shall include all costs {ADD expenses ADD} of the said school district not included in the construction costs paid out of the receipts and realizations of the sale of bonds or notes as hereinbefore provided.

(6) Operating expenses for each fiscal year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns in proportion to the relationship of their respective pupil enrollments in the said district school system on October 1 , {ADD based upon Average Daily Membership (as that term is defined in R.I. Gen. Laws Section 16-7-16) ADD} of the previous calendar {ADD fiscal ADD} year to the total pupil enrollment {ADD Average Daily Membership ADD} in said school system on said date {ADD during said prior fiscal year ADD} . In the event that enrollment in the said district school system has not been accomplished on October 1 of any year, operating expenses for the ensuring year or portion thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns in proportion to the ratio that the total number of students enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12, inclusive, residing in each of said towns and receiving education at such town's expense as of said October 1, bears to the total number of such students in the entire district.

(7) On or before March 15 of each year, the treasurer of the regional school district shall determine the total cost of operating the school district for the next budget year, including therein operating costs, operating expenses, and all other anticipated expenses, incurred in the operation of the school district. This sum shall then be divided by the number of students enrolled in the school district as of October 1 of the current school year and the resulting figure shall then be determined as the annual pupil charge {ADD according to the proportionate shares of each member town as determined in subsection 15.(6), above ADD} . The charge {ADD proportionate share of each member town of the total cost of operating the regional school district for the next budget year ADD} so determined shall not later than the fifteenth (15th) day of March in each year be certified by said district treasurer to the respective treasurers of each member town. Each member town shall then pay to the treasurer of the district a sum equal to the number of pupils enrolled in the district from that town multiplied by the annual pupil charge.

(8) Construction costs of the regional school district shall be all costs of retirement of principal or payment of interest of bonds or notes hereinbefore authorized or which may be by special act authorized for future construction within the said 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 a {ADD A ADD} ll other costs and expenses of the district shall be operating costs {ADD expenses ADD} . In each year subsequent to the passage of this act, construction costs shall be borne by each {ADD the ADD} member town{ADD s ADD} in the same proportion as the enrollment of students from that town bears to the total student enrollment of the district {ADD in equal shares, with one share for each member town ADD} . The 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 district on October 1 of the current school year {ADD member towns of the district ADD} . The district treasurer shall then certify to the treasurer of the member towns the shares of each town of construction costs determined as hereinbefore provided at the same time and in the same manner as operating costs {ADD expenses ADD} are certified to each town.

(8A) The amount of construction costs certified by the treasurer of said school district to the town 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 treasurer of each member town shall forward monthly to the regional school district treasurer the proportioned operating {ADD expenses ADD} and construction costs for that fiscal year{ADD , in installments as follows: five percent (5%) of the member town's proportionate share of such annual expenses and costs shall be paid in each of the months of July and August; and an amount equal to nine percent (9%) of such annual expenses and costs shall be paid in each of the remaining ten (10) months of such fiscal year. All monthly installments are to be paid not later than the fifteenth (15th) day of each month. Any installment which shall be unpaid on the date when same is due shall accrue interest, until the date such payment is received by the said regional school district treasurer, at an annual rate equal to the statutory rate of interest on judgments for money under R.I. Gen. Laws section 9-21-8. ADD}

(10) The regional school district fiscal year shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30.

(11) The superintendent of schools of said district shall certify to the commissioner of education on or before July 15 of each year such information as may be needful for the operation of this agreement and conformity to the laws of this state in such form and upon such blanks as the commissioner of education shall require.

(12) The electors in each of said member towns qualified to vote 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 and operation of said regional school as determined by the said district annual meeting and proportioned to the said member towns as provided in subsections (7) and (8) of this section.

Sec. 18. (1) No member town shall withdraw from the district until bonded indebtedness {ADD and/or indebtedness evidenced by temporary notes of the district incurred ADD} in accordance with the provisions of section{ADD s ADD} 1 {ADD 3 and 5, ADD} herein has been fully paid and discharged. Thereafter, any member town of the regional school district may petition to withdraw from the said district at any annual meeting of said district, provided that such petition for withdrawal shall have been approved by the appropriate method of the said member town seeking to withdraw and shall 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 prescribed by said town within a period of one hundred twenty (120) days next preceding the date of the annual district meeting at which the petition is to be submitted. Such petition shall not be approved except upon payment to the treasurer of the district by the treasurer of such town of any costs which have been apportioned and certified in accordance with the provisions heretofore set forth to said town for the construction and operation of the school district during the year in which such withdrawal is to take place, and such town shall remain liable to the district for its share of the indebtedness of the district outstanding, if any, at the time of such withdrawal, and for the interest thereon, to the same extent and in the same manner as if the town had not withdrawn from the regional school 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 school 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 district with a Rhode Island 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 Chariho School committee chairperson, the chairperson of the finance committee established in section 12 hereof, two (2) residents from each member town of the district appointed by the town councils of said towns, three (3) residents of communities not within the district to be appointed by the Chariho School Committee, and the commissioner of education or designee. This committee will review enrollment data, fiscal impact information, demographic/geographic considerations, impact upon the academic program, issues of governance, impact on the Chariho act and any other pertinent issues identified by the committee as they may be affected by the withdrawal or addition of member towns in whole or in part from and to the regional school district. This committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the Chariho School Committee within six (6) months after its formation. In preparing its report and conducting its studies, the committee shall hold not less than three (3) public hearings on the subject matter of withdrawal or additions to the district said hearings to be held within 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{ADD s ADD} for said regional schools and otherwise generally putting into effective operation the objects and purposes of this act , all in order that the said regional middle school shall be finally constructed and the regional high school shall be renovated and put into use for said town .

SECTION 3. The question of the approval of this act shall be submitted to the electors of the towns of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton qualified to vote on any proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money at a special election to be held at a date not later than one hundred twenty (120) days after the adoption of this act, said date to be set by the present Chariho regional school district committee. The question shall be submitted in substantially the following form:

"Shall an act passed at the January, 1996 session of the General Assembly amending Public Laws, 1958, Chapter 55 as amended and providing that the acquisition of land and construction of school buildings may be approved by referendum, amending the allocation of construction costs so that such costs are borne equally by the member towns, amending the manner of calculating the apportionment and schedules of payments by the member towns to the regional school district in support of the annual budget, and confirming the authority of the regional school district to borrow and to issue bonds and temporary notes under Chapter 3 of Title 16 of the Rhode Island General Laws, be approved?"

The warning for said election shall contain the question to be submitted. From the date the election is warned and until it is held, it shall be the duty of the town clerks of the respective towns of Hopkinton, Charlestown and Richmond to keep a copy of the act available at their offices for public inspection, but any failure of any said clerk to perform this duty shall not effect the validity of the election.

SECTION 4. This section and section 3 of this act shall take effect upon passage of this act; and the remainder of this act shall take effect upon the approval of this act by a majority in each town of those voting on the question at the election prescribed by section 3 hereof.