(1) Subject to funds provided in the General Appropriations Act, the High Growth District Capital Outlay Assistance Grant Program is hereby established. Funds provided pursuant to this section may only be used to construct new student stations.

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   (2) In order to qualify for a grant, a school district must meet the following criteria:

   (a) The district must have levied the full 2 mills of nonvoted discretionary capital outlay millage authorized in s. 1011.71(2) for each of the past 4 fiscal years.

   (b) Fifty percent of the revenue derived from the 2-mill nonvoted discretionary capital outlay millage for the past 4 fiscal years, when divided by the district’s growth in capital outlay FTE students over this period, produces a value that is less than the average cost per student station calculated pursuant to s. 1013.72(2), and weighted by statewide growth in capital outlay FTE students in elementary, middle, and high schools for the past 4 fiscal years.

   (c) The district must have equaled or exceeded twice the statewide average of growth in capital outlay FTE students over this same 4-year period.

   (d) The Commissioner of Education must have released all funds allocated to the district from the Classrooms First Program authorized in s. 1013.68, and these funds were fully expended by the district as of February 1 of the current fiscal year.

   (e) The total capital outlay FTE students of the district is greater than 15,000 students.

   (3) The funds provided in the General Appropriations Act shall be allocated pursuant to the following methodology:

   (a) For each eligible district, the Department of Education shall calculate the value of 50 percent of the revenue derived from the 2-mill nonvoted discretionary capital outlay millage for the past 4 fiscal years divided by the increase in capital outlay FTE students for the same period.

   (b) The Department of Education shall determine, for each eligible district, the amount that must be added to the value calculated pursuant to paragraph (a) to produce the weighted average value per student station calculated pursuant to paragraph (2)(b).

   (c) The value calculated for each eligible district pursuant to paragraph (b) shall be multiplied by the average increase in capital outlay FTE students for the past 4 fiscal years to determine the maximum amount of a grant that may be awarded to a district pursuant to this section.

   (d) In the event the funds provided in the General Appropriations Act are insufficient to fully fund the maximum grants calculated pursuant to paragraph (c), the Department of Education shall allocate the funds based on each district’s prorated share of the total maximum award amount calculated for all eligible districts.

s. 37, ch. 2005-290; s. 5, ch. 2007-60.