Funds made available through this chapter must be used for permanent school instructional facilities and fixed equipment including the costs for construction, improvement, enlargement, or renovation of public school facilities. The district may use its fiscal year 1996-97 allocation for payment of debt service provided that the debt service relates to school facilities as defined herein. In subsequent years, after all construction and renovation needs identified in a district’s school facilities improvement plan have been met, the district may request to use its allocation for payment of debt service provided the debt service relates to school facilities as defined herein.

As used in this chapter, "school facilities" only includes facilities necessary for instructional and related purposes including, but not limited to, classrooms, libraries, media centers, laboratories, cafeterias, physical education spaces, related interior and exterior facilities, and the conduit, wiring, and powering of hardware installations for classroom computers or for area network systems. "School facilities" does not include unimproved real property, centralized district administration facilities, portable classrooms, or other facilities, including those normally identified with interscholastic sports activities. However, for fiscal year 1996-97 only, "school facilities" includes portable classrooms. As used in this chapter, fixed equipment means a fixture as defined in § 36-9-313(1)(a).