Senate Bill 1043 Summary

• Repeals the existing Public Charter School Debt Reserve and establishes a new Public Charter School Revolving Loan Fund in the state treasury to finance facility purchases, improvements, and construction for qualifying charter schools.

• Designates the Idaho Housing and Finance Association as the loan issuer responsible for establishing application guidelines, approval procedures, and loan repayment terms.

• Limits eligible loans to charter schools in preopening stage or first/second year of operation that demonstrate $1,000,000 in available grant support and obtain commitment letters from financial institutions or nonprofits for at least 20% of project financing.

• Caps individual loan amounts at $2,500,000 with first-come, first-served approval based on completed application dates and requires schools to maintain debt service coverage greater than 1.20x.

• Imposes a one-time origination fee of 0.5% of the loan amount plus annual fees not exceeding 30 basis points, and requires participating schools to direct state education payments directly to lenders before receiving remaining funds.

• Effective July 1, 2023, declared as an emergency measure.