EDUCATION LAW
TITLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 9. SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND SITES


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NY CLS Educ § 416 (2008)


§ 416. School taxes and school bonds
1.A majority of the voters of any school district, present and voting at any annual or special district meeting, duly convened, may authorize such acts and vote such taxes as they shall deem expedient for making additions, alterations, repairs or improvements, to the sites or buildings belonging to the district, or for altering and equipping for library use any former schoolhouse belonging to the district, or for the purchase of other sites or buildings, or for a change of sites, or for the purchase of land and buildings for agricultural, athletic, playground or social center purposes, or for the erection of new buildings, or for building a bus garage, or for buying apparatus, implements, or fixtures, or for paying the wages of teachers, and the necessary expenses of the school, or for the purpose of paying any judgment, or for the payment or refunding of an outstanding bonded indebtedness, or for such other purpose relating to the support and welfare of the school as they may, by resolution, approve.
2.On all propositions arising at said meetings involving the expenditure of money, or authorizing the levy of a tax in one sum or by installments, the vote thereon shall be by ballot, or ascertained by taking and recording the ayes and noes of such qualified voters attending and voting at such meetings; and they may direct the moneys so voted to be levied in one sum, or by installments, which shall be of such amounts and levied in such years as may be determined, within such limitations as may be fixed by the voters, by the trustees or board of education. No such tax shall be authorized to be levied by installments as a condition precedent to the issuance of bonds or capital notes unless the notice of the meeting shall state that such tax will be proposed and the object or purpose thereof. Such notice shall comply with the requirements of section 41.10 of the local finance law.
3.No addition to or change of site or purchase of a new site or tax for the purchase of any new site or structure, or for grading or improving a school site, or for the purchase of an addition to the site of any schoolhouse, or for the purchase of lands and buildings for agricultural, athletic, playground or social center purposes, or for building any new schoolhouse or for the erection of an addition to any schoolhouse already built, or for the payment or refunding of an outstanding bonded indebtedness, shall be voted at any such meeting in a union free school district or a city school district which conducts annual budget votes in accordance with article forty-one of this chapter pursuant to section twenty-six hundred one-a of this chapter, unless a notice by the board of education stating that such tax will be proposed, and specifying the object thereof and the amount to be expended therefor, shall have been given in the manner provided herein for the notice of an annual meeting. In a common school district the notice of a special meeting to authorize any of the improvements enumerated in this section shall be given as provided in section two thousand six. The board of education of a union free school district or a city school district which conducts annual budget votes in accordance with article forty-one of this chapter pursuant to section twenty-six hundred one-a of this chapter, may determine that the vote upon any question to be submitted at a special meeting as provided in this section shall be by ballot, in which case it shall state in the notice of such special meeting the hours during which the polls shall be kept open. Printed ballots may be prepared by the board in advance of the meeting and the proposition or propositions called for in the notice of the meeting may be submitted in substantially the same manner as propositions to be voted upon at a general election.
4.And whenever a tax for any of the objects hereinbefore specified shall be legally voted, the board of trustees or board of education shall make out their tax list, and attach their warrant thereto, in the manner provided in article seventy-one[n1] of this chapter, for the collection of school district taxes, and shall cause such taxes or such instalments to be collected at such times as they shall become due.
5.No vote to raise money shall be rescinded, nor the amount thereof be reduced at any subsequent meeting, unless it be an adjourned meeting or a meeting called by regular and legal notice, which shall specify the proposed action, and at which the vote upon said proposed reduction or rescinding shall be taken by ballot or by taking and recording the ayes and noes of the qualified voters attending and voting thereat.
6.Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, propositions for the construction of a new schoolhouse or an addition to a present schoolhouse at the same site shall not be submitted for a vote more than twice during any twelve month period and in no event shall a proposition be submitted for a vote less than ninety days after a vote on the same or similar proposition. However, the prohibition of this subdivision shall not apply to a proposition to approve an additional amount necessary to carry out a construction project, where the voters have approved an initial building project and it is determined that the bids for such project are in excess of the approved amount.
7.The provisions of this section shall not apply to a city school district in a city having a population of one hundred twenty-five thousand inhabitants or more.
HISTORY: Add, L 1947, ch 820, eff July 1, 1947, with substance transferred from § 467.
Sub 1, amd, L 1949, ch 687, eff April 18, 1949.
Sub 2, amd, L 1949, ch 175, L 1953, ch 686, eff Apr 13, 1953.
Sub 6, add, L 1973, ch 832; amd, L 1976, ch 295, eff June 8, 1976.
Former sub 6, add, L 1950, ch 762, § 27; renumbered sub 7, L 1973, ch 832, eff June 22, 1973.
Sub 7, formerly sub 6, renumbered sub 7, L 1973, ch 832, eff June 22, 1973.
Sub 3, amd, L 1996, ch 171, § 2, eff Sept 1, 1996 (see 1996 note below).
Sub 7, amd, L 1996, ch 171, § 2, eff Sept 1, 1996 (see 1996 note below).
NOTES:

Editor's Notes

Laws 1996, ch 171, § 23

, eff Sept 1, 1996, provides as follows:
§ 23. This act shall take effect September 1, 1996, and shall apply to the adoption of budgets of city school districts in cities having a population of less than one hundred twenty-five thousand inhabitants and the school district public libraries of such school districts for the 1997-98 school year and thereafter and the conduct of special and annual district meetings on and after such date; provided that nothing in this act shall be construed to limit application of the provisions of sections 259 and 260 of the education law requiring a separate vote on budget propositions for affected school district public libraries for 1997-98 and thereafter and relating to the powers and duties of the trustees of the affected school district public libraries; and provided further that: (Amd, L 1998, ch 400, § 1, eff July 22, 1998, deemed eff Sept 1, 1996.).
(1) section three of this act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after the effective date of chapter 644 of the laws of 1995;
(2) sections eleven and twenty-one of this act shall take effect July 1, 1997;
(3) where the review process has been initiated for a capital project under the state environmental quality review act for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of a school building or facility prior to the effective date of this act, voter approval of such capital project pursuant to this act shall not be required except where voter approval of a bond resolution would have been required under the provisions of paragraph b of section 37.00 of the local finance law or section 2612 of the education law in effect on the date such review is initiated; and.
(4) the provisions of this act shall not apply to bond resolutions approved by the board of education of a city school district prior to the effective date of this act.

New York References:


This section referred to in §§ 1717, 1722, 2007, 2009, 2021, 2530

Research References & Practice Aids:


87 NY Jur 2d, Public Securities §§ 46, 47, 52
94 NY Jur 2d, Schools, Universities, and Colleges §§ 105, 125, 353, 366
68 Am Jur 2d, Schools §§ 78-84, 91-98

Annotations:


Rescission of vote authorizing school district or other municipal bond issue, expenditure, or tax. 68 ALR2d 1041
Tort liability of public schools and institutions of higher learning for accident occuring during school athletic events. 35 ALR3d 725

Case Notes:

1.In general2.Notices of meetings3.Bond issues4.--Purpose described in proposition5.--Percentage of indebtedness6.Elections7.Additional expenditures8.School sites
1.In general

There is no power or authority granted to raise moneys for a planned balance for some later school year or years. Leone v Hunter (1959) 21 Misc 2d 750, 191 NYS2d 334.

Voter was not entitled to injunctive relief on his complaint contesting school board's scheduled meeting concerning spending on school improvements following defeat of bond issue, despite claim that voter's equal protection rights would be violated by second chance that bond issue's supporters would have to resolve matter in their favor, since proposed board vote was concerned with narrower questions than bond issue, voter would have right to vote at meeting, and CLS Educ § 416 expressly provides for potential rescission or modification of vote to raise money. Neuman v Cornwall Cent. School Dist. (1988) 138 Misc 2d 429, 524 NYS2d 1005.

View expressed that specific legislative authority should be sought authorizing school districts to construct highway overpasses and to require pupils to use such overpasses. 1958 Ops Atty Gen Dec 15 (informal).

Voter petition seeking to convene special district meeting for purpose of obtaining services of outside accountant chosen by local clergymen to review school budget seeks to improperly usurp authority and duty of board of education with regard to preparation of budget and board of education need not respond to petition prior to submitting budget to voters. Re Hanel, 1986 Op Comm Ed No. 11738.

Within the limitations noted herein, a union free school district may permit students to make part-time payments on musical instruments while using them towards eventual ownership. 1953 Ops St Compt File #206.

Chairman of a school district meeting has no duty, right or authority to make a determination under section 104.00, par d, of the Local Finance Law. Re Haber, 74 St Dept 81 (1953).
2.Notices of meetings

The provision that the notice required to be published by the Board of Education of a union free school district of a special meeting of the inhabitants of the school district for the purpose of authorizing the purchase of sites and the erection of school buildings, and the raising of money to pay for the same, shall state the amount and object of the sum to be raised, does not require that the amounts to be expended for the various items be separately stated. Lawson v Lincoln (1903) 86 AD 217, 83 NYS 667, affd without op 178 NY 636, 71 NE 1132.

Barring a statutory requirement that the budget of a common school district be prepared and made available for examination prior to the annual meeting, the school board of a common school district which made its budget available one day prior to the annual meeting was in full compliance with Education Law § 1608, where the voters had no authority under Education Law §§ 416 or 2021 to adopt a resolution requiring publication of the budget one week prior to the annual meeting. Ops Comr Ed No 8928.

The action of a meeting authorizing the levy and collection of taxes was not invalidated where only four notices instead of five were posted in conspicuous places. 64 St Dept 51 (1941).

Failure through inadvertence to publish the final newspaper notice of a meeting did not invalidate the action of the meeting authorizing the levy and collection of taxes where the notice was posted in 21 conspicuous places, the meeting was well attended, and the action was not prejudiced by the failure to give the required notice. 64 St Dept 81 (1941).

Where notice of annual meeting did not contain language which could be construed as notice that a proposal to erect a new schoolhouse or an addition to the present schoolhouse would be acted upon at meeting, annual meeting was without authority to consider resolutions to do so. Re Birmingham, 74 St Dept 32 (1953).
3.Bond issues

Petitioner failed to establish that proposed capital project involving construction of swimming pool lacked rational basis, on ground that swimming pool was "a luxury" and its expense was unwarranted, where respondent sought to add swimming pool in order to make swimming part of physical education curriculum and establish competitive swim teams, which constituted valid school district purpose. 2000 Op Comm Ed No. 14,534.

Claim that language of bond proposition as approved for submission to voters was vague and violated requirements of CLS Educ § 416 was dismissed as untimely, where appeal from respondent's refusal to reword proposition was filed more than 30 days after respondent approved proposition language and caused it to be published in local newspaper under CLS Educ § 2004. 2000 Op Comm Ed No. 14326.