265.1 Authority.

The state board of regents is authorized to establish and operate elementary and secondary laboratory schools at the institutions of higher education under its control. For the purpose of this chapter, laboratory school shall mean a school operated by an educational institution for the purpose of instructing students, training teachers, and advancing teaching methods.

265.2 Buildings and facilities.

Existing buildings and facilities now used for said purposes together with any additions to or alterations thereof and any new structures and facilities therefor, as the board shall determine to be suitable and authorize for said purposes, shall be set aside as the area on the respective campuses constituting the laboratory school for all purposes of this chapter.

265.3 Financing.

A laboratory school at each institution where so established shall constitute a self-liquidating improvement unit to the extent funds are not appropriated by the general assembly and shall qualify for and may be financed as such under the provisions of sections 262.44 through 262.53.

265.4 Purposes.

For the purposes of this chapter, the state board of regents and the board of directors of any school district in the state of Iowa may enter into contracts for the laboratory schools to furnish instruction to the pupils of such school district and to train teachers on an agreed basis for tuition and other compensation to be paid by the school district. Such contracts shall be in writing and may extend for any stipulated period not to exceed fifteen years. During the agreed period, such contracts shall be obligatory on both the school district and the state board of regents.

265.5 Allocations to debt retirement fund.

The state board of regents may out of funds appropriated or otherwise available for the operation of the institution at which the laboratory school is located allocate an annual payment to the debt retirement fund for the buildings, areas, and facilities used by the institution for the laboratory school until such time as said improvement is fully paid. The board of regents may pledge said annual allotment together with the tuition received from school districts and all other income received from the operation of said laboratory school as security for the mortgage, bonds, or other debt by which said laboratory school is financed as authorized herein.

265.6 State aid applicable.

If the state board of regents has established a laboratory school, it shall receive state aid pursuant to chapters 256B and 257 for each pupil enrolled in the laboratory school in the same amount as the public school district in which the pupil resides would receive aid for that pupil and shall transmit the amount received to the institution of higher education at which the laboratory school has been established. If the board of a school district terminates a contract with the state board of regents for attendance of pupils in a laboratory school, the school district shall inform the department of management of the number of these pupils who are enrolled in the district on the third Friday of the following September. The department of management shall pay to the school district, from funds appropriated in section 257.16, an amount equal to the amount of state aid paid for each pupil in that school district for that school year in payments made as provided in section 257.16.

265.7 Debt limit provisions not applicable.

The obligations of any school district on any contract between it and the state board of regents entered into pursuant to this chapter shall be payable only out of current receipts from taxes, tuition or other income available therefor each year, and shall not constitute a debt for the purposes of any statutory or constitutional provision limiting the obligations said school district may incur.