HBA-JEK S.B. 116 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 116 By: Wentworth Public Education 3/12/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A number of school districts own historic one-room schoolhouses that are no longer used for educational purposes. Some of these schoolhouses serve as community centers for rural Texas and are maintained by community organizations. Many of the schoolhouse properties need repair if they are to be preserved. Senate Bill 116 authorizes school districts to take action to preserve these historic schoolhouses by transferring the properties to an appropriate entity. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS Senate Bill 116 amends the Education Code to authorize the board of trustees (board) of an independent school district, by resolution, to donate real property and improvements formerly used as a school campus to a municipality, county, or nonprofit organization if the board holds a public hearing concerning the donation and determines that: _the improvements are historically significant; _the transfer will further preserve the improvements; and _the district does not need the real property or improvements for educational purposes at the time of the transfer. The bill also authorizes the board to donate the real property and improvements if they were donated to the district, are used as a community center at the time of the transfer, and the entity to whom the transfer is made has shown to the board's satisfaction that the entity intends to continue to use the donation as a community center for public purposes. S.B. 116 requires the board's president to execute a deed transferring ownership of the real property and improvements to the appropriate entity. The bill provides that the deed must recite the board's resolution authorizing the donation and provide that the ownership of the property and improvements revert to the district if the municipality, county, or nonprofit organization executes a document that purports to convey the property or discontinues the use of the property and its improvements as a community center for public purposes. EFFECTIVE DATE January 1, 2002, only if a constitutional amendment proposed by the 77th Legislature, Regular Session, authorizing donation of surplus school district property of historical significance is approved by the voters.