1. (a) Application process. A school district must complete an application requesting funds under the School Facility Assistance Program. The application shall contain the following elements:

   1. (1) a project description sufficiently detailed to identify the instructional use of the facility;
   2. (2) an estimated cost; and
   3. (3) a description of the source of funds for the district share of project cost.

2. (b) District eligibility.

   1. (1) To be eligible for a grant of state funds, a school district must have property wealth per student in average daily attendance no greater than an amount determined annually by the commissioner of education. For this purpose, the property values to be used shall be the values certified by the Comptroller of Public Accounts for the prior tax year. The count of students in average daily attendance shall be the projected attendance for the school year of the grant as reported to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and used in the legislative payment estimate for the school year.
   2. (2) A district must also have exhibited a total tax rate of $1.30 or a debt service tax rate of $.20 in the last school year of the preceding biennium to be considered eligible. These tax rates are defined as taxes collected from September 1 through August 31 of the last year of the preceding biennium, divided by the values certified by the Comptroller of Public Accounts for the tax year that precedes the year of the collections.
   3. (3) In the case of a district that has used state funds provided by the guaranteed yield as a part of the debt service requirement, credit will be given for debt service tax rate computation as if the district had a tax rate sufficient to service the debt without the use of guaranteed yield funds, but only to the extent of the guaranteed yield funds generated by the debt service tax collections of the district. Districts must be prepared to document this practice in order to receive proper credit. A district that has adopted a strategy of using maintenance funds to service debt to fulfill a maintenance of effort requirement for federal impact aid may have its debt service tax rate computed on the basis of the debt service payment requirement.
3. (c) Payment schedule. Payments shall be made quarterly, beginning in January after the grant award. The payment amount shall be based on a proportionate share of the work completed.
4. (d) Deadlines. The submission deadline for applications seeking funds shall be a date chosen by the commissioner of education and stated in the request for proposal.
5. (e) Reports required. The commissioner may require such information and reports as are necessary to assure compliance with applicable laws.

Source Note:The provisions of this §61.1031 adopted to be effective February 7, 1996, 21 TexReg 582.