24 Pa. Stat. § 6-690
Any school district shall have the power to create a special fund, which may be designated as a Capital Reserve Fund, and to accumulate therein moneys to be expended, in accordance with the provisions of this act, during a period not to exceed five years from the date when the first payment was made into the fund, for the purpose of constructing a school building project or projects under a long-term project program approved by the Department of Public Instruction. The proposed project program may include the cost of acquiring suitable sites for school buildings, the cost of constructing new school buildings, or the cost of providing needed additions or alterations to existing buildings. The department of Public Instruction may approve any project programs if it shall find in the case of all school districts, except school districts of the first class, first class A and second class which are not part of a county-wide plan, that each component of the proposed project program is in conformity to plans for the orderly development of improved attendance areas and administrative units and for the improved housing of public schools in the Commonwealth and in the case of all school districts, that the building or buildings will conform to standards prescribed by the State Board of Education with respect to educational and architectural design, building materials, fixtures and equipment, location, usefulness for community activities, safety, comfort and convenience and that the school district will have the ability to meet from current revenues the rental or sinking fund charge which may be necessary to amortize that portion of the cost of the proposed project or projects which is not covered by anticipated accumulation of money in the district's capital reserve fund. Moneys accumulated in the district's capital reserve fund may be paid as a lump sum at the time that construction of the project or projects is begun or payment of such accumulated sums may be spread over a period of years as a part of the annual rental or sinking fund charge approved by the Department of Public Instruction for the proposed project or projects.
The capital reserve fund herein provided for shall consist of receipts from a special tax which each board of school directors or board of education is hereby authorized to levy in accordance with the provisions of this act. Such tax levy may not exceed three mills in any one year; nor may the tax be levied, on account of any one project program, for a period of more than five years. Furthermore, such tax may be levied only for the purpose of financing a school building project or projects which have been approved by the Department of Public Instruction for construction within five years from the date of the approval given by that department. Upon the total and final completion of a project program which for the purpose herein contemplated, may include the construction, reconstruction, or renovation of more than one building, the board of school directors may proceed to set up a new project program for later construction and may establish a new capital reserve fund to finance such project program.
If for any reason the project program for which the capital reserve fund was established fails to materialize, the moneys accumulated in the fund shall be reverted to the district's general fund in equal amounts spread over a period of five years.
24 P.S. § 6-690