Committee advances bill to raise school bond capacity from 5% to 8%

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted Friday to send House Bill 147 to the full House with a due-pass recommendation. The bill, introduced by Representative Ben Furman, would raise the percentage used to calculate a school district's bonding capacity from 5% to 8%, a change sponsors say would give many rural districts a better chance to fund school construction or renovations.

Representative Ben Furman, R., of District 30 (Butte County), said he brought the bill after the Shelley School District failed to pass a school bond and he discovered that construction costs have risen faster than assessed property values. "The cost of constructing a new high school has increased by 43.25% over the past 6 years," Furman said, and, he added, the existing 5% capacity limit can leave districts unable to present a bond that matches local needs.

The measure does not change the voter-approval requirement for school bonds; it changes only the statutory cap that…