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An Act To Ensure the 3 Percent Tax on Incomes over $200,000 Is Distributed Proportionally Based on Student Counts
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §15697, sub-§3, ¶A, as enacted by IB 2015, c. 4, §1, is amended to read:
 
A. If the General Fund appropriation for the state contribution for general purpose aid for local schools as finally enacted in any year is insufficient to meet the annual target established by section 15752, the commissioner shall use the fund to supplement the state contribution. These supplemental funds must be used to enable the State to meet the annual target established by section 15752 or to decrease the amount by which state funding from all other sources falls short of the target. The commissioner shall announce the increased state contribution amounts made possible by the supplemental amounts obtained from the fund within 14 days after final enactment of the General Fund appropriation for general purpose aid for local schools. The commissioner shall distribute the increased state contribution amounts on the basis of the pupil count arrived at under section 15674. Every school administrative unit must receive the same amount of supplemental funds per pupil regardless of the local cost share expectation calculated under the essential programs and services formula set forth in this chapter.
Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §15697, sub-§3, ¶C, as enacted by IB 2015, c. 4, §1, is repealed.
 
SUMMARY
This bill provides that the supplemental revenue funds allocated to school administrative units by the Commissioner of Education from the Fund to Advance Public Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education must be distributed proportionally based on the average October and April pupil enrollment counts for that fiscal year. The bill requires that every school administrative unit receives the same amount of supplemental state revenue contribution funds per pupil regardless of the local cost share expectation calculated under the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act. This bill also repeals the authorization for the Department of Education to use the fund for administrative costs.