(1) The commissioner, through the department, shall administer the Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund. The commissioner shall allocate or reallocate funds as authorized by the Legislature. Copies of each allocation or reallocation shall be provided to members of the State Board of Education and the Board of Governors and to the chairs of the House of Representatives and Senate appropriations committees. The commissioner shall provide for timely encumbrances of funds for duly authorized projects. Encumbrances may include proceeds to be received under a resolution approved by the State Board of Education authorizing the issuance of public education capital outlay bonds pursuant to s. 9(a)(2), Art. XII of the State Constitution, s. 215.61, and other applicable law. The commissioner shall provide for the timely disbursement of moneys necessary to meet the encumbrance authorizations of the boards. Records shall be maintained by the department to identify legislative appropriations, allocations, encumbrance authorizations, disbursements, transfers, investments, sinking funds, and revenue receipts by source. The Department of Education shall pay the administrative costs of the Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund from the funds which comprise the trust fund. (2)(a) The Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund shall be comprised of the following sources, which are hereby appropriated to the trust fund:1. Proceeds, premiums, and accrued interest from the sale of public education bonds and that portion of the revenues accruing from the gross receipts tax as provided by s. 9(a)(2), Art. XII of the State Constitution, as amended, interest on investments, and federal interest subsidies.
2. General revenue funds appropriated to the fund for educational capital outlay purposes.
3. All capital outlay funds previously appropriated and certified forward pursuant to s. 216.301. (b) Any funds required by law to be segregated or maintained in separate accounts shall be segregated or maintained in such manner that the relationship between program and revenue source is retained. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed so as to limit the use by the Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund of the resources of funds so segregated or maintained.
(3) Upon the request of each board, the department shall distribute to the board an amount sufficient to cover capital outlay disbursements anticipated from encumbrance authorizations for the following month. For projects costing in excess of $50,000, contracts shall be approved and signed before any disbursements are authorized.
(4) The department may authorize each board to enter into contracts for a period exceeding 1 year, within amounts appropriated and budgeted for fixed capital outlay needs; but any contract so made shall be executory only for the value of the services to be rendered, or agreed to be paid for, in succeeding fiscal years. This subsection shall be incorporated verbatim in all executory contracts of a board.
(5) No board shall, during any fiscal year, expend any money, incur any liability, or enter into any contract which, by its terms, involves expenditure of money in excess of the amounts appropriated and budgeted or in excess of the cash that will be available to meet the disbursement requirements. Prior to entering into an executory, or any other, contract, a board shall obtain certification from the department that moneys will be available to meet the disbursement requirements. Any contract, verbal or written, made in violation of this subsection shall be null and void, and no payment shall be made thereon.
(6) The State Board of Administration is authorized to invest the trust funds of any state-supported retirement system, and any other state funds available for loans, to the trust fund at a rate of interest that is no less favorable than would have been received had such moneys been invested in accordance with authorized practices.
(7) Boards and entities authorized to participate in the trust fund are district school boards, the Florida College System institution boards of trustees, the Trustees of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, and university boards of trustees and other units of the state system of public education, and other educational entities for which funds are authorized by the Legislature.
(8) The department shall make a monthly report, by project, of requests for encumbrance authorization from each agency. Each project shall be tracked in the following manner:(a) The date the request is received;
(b) The anticipated encumbrance date requested by the agency;
(c) The date the project is eligible for encumbrance authorization; and
(d) The date the encumbrance authorization is issued.
(9) The department shall make a monthly report:(a) Showing the amount of cash disbursed to the agency from each appropriated allocation and the amount of cash disbursed by the agency to vendors or contractors from each appropriated allocation, by month.
(b) Showing updated adjustments to the budget fiscal year forecast for appropriations, encumbrances, disbursements, and cash available for encumbrance status.
