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 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, 9, 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:

Section 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 approvided?" {ADD "Shall an act passed at the January, 1996 session of the General Assembly amended Public Laws, 1958, Chapter 55 as amended and amending the requirements for the calling of a special district meeting and for the qualifications for petitions to increase the annual budget to be presented at any annual district meeting, amending the date for the annual meetings of said district, amending the schedule for the development, public hearing and school committee adoption of proposed annual budgets, and eliminating the existence and functions of the Entrance, Expansion and Exit Committee, 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 (9:00) a.m. until nine (9:00) p.m. 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. 9. (1) The annual regional district meeting shall be held on the first Tuesday in March {ADD not later than the first Saturday in April ADD} of each year at 7:30 p.m. beginning with the frist Tuesday in March A.D., 1988, at the regional high school or {ADD in April, 1997, ADD} at such other place {ADD and at such time ADD} as the regional school district committee may publicly designate in advance. Special meetings may be called by 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 the town meetings generally as prescribed by the laws of this state or by a petition signed by two hundred (200) {ADD not less than two and one-half (2 1/2%) of all the ADD} qualified voters of said district {ADD who were ADD} qualified to vote on the question of the impositon of a tax for the expenditure of money in their respective towns {ADD at the financial town meeting next preceeding the last annual or special meeting of the regional school district, ADD} 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 {ADD and the total number of qualified voters in such town, ADD} has {ADD have ADD} 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, providing 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 annual 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 function of the regional school district except upon a majority vote of voters of 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 interest of the district.

Section. 15. (1) It shall be the duty of the district superintendent, or chief administrative officer, to present to the regional school committee, at {ADD not later than the date of ADD} its {ADD first ADD} regular meeting in the month of November {ADD January ADD} , 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 ensuring year not later than the fifth (5th) day of February {ADD forty-five (45) days before the annual district meeting ADD} in each year.

(3) At least twenty (20) {ADD thirty (30) ADD} 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) {ADD ten (10) ADD} days in advance thereof by publication at least once in a newspaper or journal circulation within the said district and published in Rhode Island. Not later than February 28 {ADD twenty (20) days before the date of the annual district meeting ADD} 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) {ADD not less than two and one-half percent (2.5%) of all the ADD} qualified voters of said district {ADD who were qualified to vote on the question of the imposition of a tax for the expenditure of money in their respective member towns at the financial town meeting next preceding the last annual or special meeting of the regional school district, ADD} 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 shall include all costs 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 enrollment in the said district school system on October 1 of the previous calendar year to the total pupil enrollment in said school system on said date. 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 {ADD ensuing ADD} 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. The charge 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 all other costs and expenses of the district shall be operating costs. In each year subsequent to 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 district. 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.

(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 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 and construction costs for that fiscal year.

(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 subsection (7) and (8) of this section.

Section 18. (1) No member town shall withdraw from the district until bonded indebtedness incurred in accordance with the provisions of section 1 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 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 idenified 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.

Section 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 sites for said regional school 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 towns .

APPROVAL QUESTION

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, amending the requirements for the calling of a special district meeting and for the qualifications for petitions to increase the annual budget to be presented at any annual district meeting, amending the date for the annual meetings of said district, amending the schedule for the devleopment, public hearing and school committee adoption of proposed annual budgets, and eliminating the existence and functions of the Entrance, Expansion and Exit Committee, 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.