21-15-115. Statewide standards for school building and facility adequacy; adequacy assessment.

(a) The commission shall by rule and regulation establish and maintain uniform statewide standards for the adequacy of school buildings and facilities necessary for providing educational programs prescribed by law for the public schools. If a building owned by a district meets the applicable standards under this subsection for use by the district to educate students and was previously used for the purpose of educating students, no municipal or county zoning requirements shall be construed or applied so as to prevent the district from using the building for the purpose of educating students, or to require the district to make any modification to the building as a condition of using the building for the purpose of educating students. The uniform standards shall at minimum include:

(i) Requirements for educating students in a safe environment including all applicable building, health, safety and environmental codes and standards required by law for all public buildings;

(ii) Building site requirements;

(iii) Building performance standards and guidelines including energy efficiency criteria;

(iv) Assurances for the special needs of identified student populations including children with disabilities;

(v) Guidelines for adequacy and functionality of educational space for required educational programs;

(vi) Building capacity criteria aligned to the prescribed state educational program, with consideration given to utilization differences between school sizes and school levels in accordance with W.S. 21-15-117(e)(iv);

(vii) Technological capacity criteria sufficient to meet required educational program needs and the requirements imposed under the state education technology plan;

(viii) Building and facility accessibility.

(b) The department shall maintain the comprehensive assessment of the adequacy of existing school buildings and facilities and of future space requirements within the state. Maintenance of the assessment shall include district reporting of new construction and major building and facility repair and replacement activities in accordance with guidelines prescribed by rule and regulation of the commission, the results of department on-site visitations and inspections of buildings and facilities and needs assessment data and verification of building and facility ratings through periodic review. The assessment shall be designed and maintained to provide timely and uniform statewide data on all of the following:

(i) The condition of school buildings and facilities, seismic ratings and structural integrity. Each school building and facility component or system shall be rated as excellent, good, fair, poor or failure;

(ii) School building and facility longevity and space requirements;

(iii) Student educational and safety requirements;

(iv) The ability to accommodate educational technology;

(v) Site requirements of school buildings and facilities;

(vi) Inventory of exterior and interior building and facility space.

(c) The commission shall not less than once every four (4) years, review and evaluate the building and facility adequacy standards established under subsection (a) of this section. Review and evaluation of the standards shall include the identification of local enhancements to buildings and facilities during this review and evaluation period, and based upon criteria and procedures developed by the commission, a determination as to whether and how any local enhancements should be incorporated into the statewide standards. The review and evaluation under this subsection shall extend to components of the annual evaluation of school buildings, the facility remediation schedule and the needs prioritization process established by the commission under W.S. 21-15-117. Findings and recommendations pursuant to this subsection shall be reported to the select committee on school facilities before the next convening date of the legislative session immediately following completion of the review and evaluation, and shall specifically address any need to expand the needs assessment, to conduct a reassessment of building and facility adequacy or to modify the needs prioritization process.

(d) The commission shall not hinder or curtail the right of a school district to undertake local enhancements to buildings and facilities which are in excess of state building adequacy standards, as permitted by law.