SPIRO T. AGNEW, Governor                        169

(a)    There is hereby created and established the school building
construction aid program for the purpose of granting State aid to
the counties and to the City of Baltimore to finance the construc-
tion of school buildings and school facilities.

(b)    For the school year 1967-68 and thereafter, each county
and Baltimore City shall be entitled to and shall be paid by the
State of Maryland each year in the manner and subject to the limita-
tions hereinafter provided an amount to be known as school build-
ing construction aid which shall be calculated as follows:

(1)    The State shall share in an expenditure for school construc-
tion which shall equal 80% of approved expenditures up to $1,500
times the number of "pupils housed" in school buildings for which
construction contracts have been let during the current fiscal year.
For 1967-68 only, THE PRODUCT OF 50% of the number of kinder-
garten pupils enrolled as of September 30, 1966, AND $1,500. shall be
added to the number of such "pupils housed" APPROVED EXPEN-
DITURES in making this calculation.

(2)    The State shall also share in an amount equal to 80% of
the principal and interest payments due during the current fiscal
year on local debt for school construction TO HOUSE PUPILS, AS
DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH (5) OF THIS SUBSECTION, out-
standing or obligated as of June SO, 1967, exclusive of any debt obli-
gated for school construction included in the provisions of subpara-
graph (1) of the subsection. "LOCAL DEBT FOR SCHOOL CON-
STRUCTION" AS USED IN THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL IN-
CLUDE ANY DEBT INCURRED AS THE RESULT OF MONEYS
MADE AVAILABLE TO ANY POLITICAL SUBDIVISION UN-
DER ANY BOND ISSUE OBLIGATING THE CREDIT OF THE
STATE OF MARYLAND.

(3)    The State percentage share shall be the same as that used
for the current expense incentive aid as defined in Section 221(2)
of this Article. This percentage shall be applied to the sum of the
amounts calculated in subparagraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection
to determine the State share.

(4) In no event shall the State school building construction aid
for any county or Baltimore City for any school year be less than
the amount the county or Baltimore City would have received dur-
ing that year under the provisions of the incentive fund for school
construction program in effect in 1966-67.

(5)    The State Department of Education shall develop and the
State Board of Education shall adopt specific regulations for the
administration of the school building construction aid program, in-
cluding the definition of the term "pupils housed" so as to deter-
mine the number of equivalent "pupils housed" in any part of a
school construction project. Such definition shall include all pupils
in grades 1 to 12 or in special programs for children within the
age limit prescribed in the law and 50 per cent of the pupils in
kindergartens.

(6)    The State Superintendent of Schools shall have received from
APPROVE FOR each county and Baltimore City legal commitment
EXPENDITURES of funds for school construction under the terms