Section 130.30  Allowable Expenditures for Determining Per Capita Cost

a)         All local education agencies operating special educational facilities shall maintain evidence of their accountability for funds as prescribed in the accounting rules.

b)         Accounting dimensions used to record expenditures used in calculating per capita costs shall include at least the fund, fiscal year, four-digit function number and object.  Functions and objects must correspond to and be traceable to the official budget and annual financial report of the local education agency.

c)         Expenditures for equipment necessary for the operation of a special educational facility either shall be included in the expenditures in the year of purchase, if the total cost is less than $5,000, or shall be depreciated on a five-year schedule, if the total cost is $5,000 or more.  If equipment is purchased solely for the benefit of one pupil and billed in that manner, the district billed is the owner of the equipment.

d)         Per capita instructional costs recorded in functions 1201-1220 of the accounting rules shall be calculated by dividing the allowable expenditures, minus individual student costs such as individual aides, by the average daily enrollment of the pupils served in the specific special education program.

e)         Per capita expenditures recorded in the functional accounts 2120 (Guidance Services), 2130 (Health Services), 2210 (Improvement of Instruction), and 2220 (Educational Media Services) as specified in the accounting rules shall be calculated as provided in this subsection (e).

1)         Expenditures in each functional area shall be allocated as follows:

A)        All expenditures for specific special education programs;

B)        All expenditures that are incurred in support of all eligible pupils and that cannot be directly allocated to a specific special education program as required in subsection (e)(1)(A); and

C)        All expenditures that are incurred in support of the general pupil population, including eligible pupils.

2)         Per capita pupil support services costs for a specific special education program shall be calculated by dividing the allowable expenditures by the average daily enrollment of the pupils served in the program.

3)         Per capita pupil support services costs incurred in support of all eligible children shall be calculated by dividing the allowable expenditures by the total number of special education pupils enrolled.

4)         Per capita pupil support services costs incurred in support of the general pupil population shall be calculated by dividing the allowable expenditures by the total number of pupils enrolled.

f)         Per capita expenditures recorded in the functional accounts 2113 (Social Work Services), 2140 (Psychological Services), and 2150 (Speech Pathology and Audiology Services) as specified in the accounting rules shall be calculated by dividing the allowable expenditures by the total number of special education pupils enrolled.

g)         Per capita expenditures for general administrative services recorded in the functional accounts 2310 (Board of Education Services), 2320 (Executive Administrative Services), 2330 (Special Area Administrative Services), 2410 (Office of the Principal Services), 2510 (Direction of Business Support Services), 2520 (Fiscal Services), 2570 (Internal Services), and 2600 (Support Services Central) as specified in the accounting rules shall be calculated by dividing the allowable expenditures by the total number of pupils enrolled.

h)         Per capita special education administration costs recorded in the functional account 2330 (Special Area Administrative Services) shall be calculated by dividing the allowable expenditures by the total number of special education pupils enrolled.

i)          Operation and Maintenance

1)         Expenditures for the operation and maintenance of buildings owned by a local education agency shall be allocated to each program according to the number of classrooms used and the average cost per classroom.  The average cost per classroom shall be identified by dividing the total amount of expenditures for operations and maintenance, excluding capital outlay, by the total number of classrooms.

2)         If a privately owned building is used, the portion of the operation and maintenance costs attributable to a specific program shall be determined by dividing the square footage of the portion of the building so used by the square footage of the building or buildings for which operation and maintenance costs are incurred.

j)          Depreciation and Rent

1)         Depreciation of physical facilities owned by the local education agency shall be calculated using the rate provided in Section 14-7.01 of the School Code.  The local education agency may not rent facilities from itself.  The depreciation rate specified in Section 14-7.01(f) of the School Code must be applied to all owned facilities.  Operations and maintenance costs for owned facilities may be claimed as provided in subsection (i) of this Section.

2)         If the local educational facility is rented by the local education agency, the actual rent paid for the physical facilities is to be divided by the average daily enrollment of the pupils served within the facility.  If the rented facility is used for both instructional and administrative functions, the square footage used for instruction shall be divided by the total square footage rented.  The result of this division shall be multiplied by the rental fee paid to determine the portion of rent applicable to the program.

k)         Interest paid for costs of operating a program approved pursuant to Section 14-7.02b or 14-7.03 of the School Code shall be segregated in the accounts of the local agency and claimed in total.  Per capita interest costs shall be computed by dividing the other interest expenditures recorded in the 5000 series of functions, less interest for capital expenditures, by either:

1)         the total number of pupils enrolled, if the local education agency serves both special and regular education students; or

2)         the total number of special education pupils enrolled, if the local education agency serves only special education students.

l)          Twenty percent of the total cost incurred for special education pupil transportation, or the total cost minus reimbursement received during the current year from the State of Illinois under Section 14-13.01(b) of the School Code, whichever is less, may be included in the computation of the per capita cost.  However, for pupils claimed under Section 14-7.03 of the School Code, one hundred percent of the transportation costs shall be included in the computation and not claimed for special education pupil transportation reimbursement.

m)        Non-special education (i.e., regular) program costs charged to other districts must be calculated in accordance with Section 10-20.12a of the School Code and billed to the district of residence based on a percentage of the student's time spent in non-special education classes.

n)         Social Security and Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund contributions by the employer; the amounts recovered shall be returned to the funds from which the expenditures were made.

o)         Expenditures for liability insurance; the amounts recovered shall be returned to the funds from which the expenditures were made.

(Source:  Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 3840, effective February 28, 2019)