Public Act 097-0238
 
SB1742 EnrolledLRB097 09922 NHT 50085 b


  
    AN ACT concerning education.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  

  
 
    Section 5. The School Code is amended  by changing Sections 
1C-4 and 1D-1 as follows:
 



    (105 ILCS 5/1C-4)



    Sec. 1C-4. Reports. The State Superintendent of Education, 
in cooperation
with the school districts participating under 
this Article, shall annually
report to the leadership of the 
General Assembly on the progress made in
implementing this 
Article.  By February 1, 1997, the State Board of Education

shall submit to the Governor and General Assembly a 
comprehensive plan for
Illinois school districts, including 
the school district that has been
organized under Article 34 
and is under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Board
of 
Education, to establish and implement a block grant funding 
system for
educational programs that are currently funded 
through single-program grants.
Before submitting its plan to 
establish and implement a block grant funding
system to the 
Governor and General Assembly as required by this Section, the

State Board of Education shall give appropriate notice of and 
hold statewide
public hearings on the subject of funding 
educational programs through block
grants.  The
plan shall be

designed to relieve school districts of the administrative 
burdens that impede
efficiency and accompany single-program 
funding.

    A school district that receives an Early Childhood 
Education Block Grant shall report to the State Board of 
Education on its use of the block
grant in such form and detail 
as the State Board of Education
may specify. In addition, the 
report must include the following
description for the district, 
which must also be reported to
the General Assembly: block 
grant allocation and expenditures
by program; population and 
service levels by program; and
administrative expenditures by 
program.  The State Board of Education shall ensure that the 
reporting requirements for a district organized under Article 
34 of this Code are the same as for all other school districts 
in this State. 
(Source: P.A. 88-555, eff. 7-27-94; 89-397, eff. 8-20-95; 
89-610, eff.
8-6-96.)

 



    (105 ILCS 5/1D-1)


    Sec. 1D-1. Block grant funding. 

    (a) For fiscal year 1996 and each fiscal year thereafter, 
the State Board
of Education shall award to a school district 
having a population exceeding
500,000 inhabitants a general 
education block grant and an educational services
block grant, 
determined as provided in this Section, in lieu of distributing 
to
the district separate State funding for the programs 
described in subsections
(b) and (c).  The provisions of this 
Section, however, do not apply to any
federal funds that the 
district is entitled to receive.  In accordance with
Section 
2-3.32, all block grants are subject to an audit.  Therefore, 
block
grant receipts and block grant expenditures shall be 
recorded to the
appropriate fund code for the designated block 
grant.

    (b) The general education block grant shall include the 
following
programs: REI Initiative, Summer Bridges, Preschool 
At Risk, K-6
Comprehensive Arts, School Improvement Support, 
Urban Education, Scientific
Literacy, Substance Abuse 
Prevention, Second Language Planning, Staff
Development, 
Outcomes and Assessment, K-6 Reading Improvement, 7-12 
Continued
Reading Improvement, Truants'
Optional Education, 
Hispanic Programs, Agriculture Education,
Parental Education, 
Prevention Initiative, Report Cards, and Criminal
Background 
Investigations.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
all
amounts paid under the general education block grant from 
State appropriations
to a school district in a city having a 
population exceeding 500,000
inhabitants shall be appropriated 
and expended by the board of that district
for any of the 
programs included in the block grant or any of the board's

lawful purposes.

    (c) The educational services block grant shall include the 
following
programs: Bilingual, Regular and Vocational 
Transportation, State Lunch and
Free Breakfast Program, 
Special Education (Personnel,
 Transportation, Orphanage, 
Private Tuition), funding
for children requiring special 
education services, Summer School,
Educational Service 
Centers, and Administrator's Academy.  This subsection (c)
does 
not relieve the district of its obligation to provide the 
services
required under a program that is included within the 
educational services block
grant.  It is the intention of the 
General Assembly in enacting the provisions
of this subsection 
(c) to relieve the district of the administrative burdens
that 
impede efficiency and accompany single-program funding.  The 
General
Assembly encourages the board to pursue mandate waivers 
pursuant to Section
2-3.25g.
    The funding program included in the educational services 
block grant
for funding for children requiring special 
education services in each fiscal
year shall be treated in that 
fiscal year as a payment to the school district
in respect of 
services provided or costs incurred in the prior fiscal year,

calculated in each case as provided in this Section.  Nothing in 
this Section
shall change the nature of payments for any 
program that, apart from this
Section, would be or, prior to 
adoption or amendment of this Section, was on
the basis of a 
payment in a fiscal year in respect of services provided or

costs incurred in the prior fiscal year, calculated in each 
case as provided
in this Section.


    (d) For fiscal year 1996 and each fiscal year thereafter, 
the amount
of the district's block grants shall be determined 
as follows:
(i) with respect to each program that is included 
within each block grant, the
district shall receive an amount 
equal to the same percentage of the current
fiscal year 
appropriation made for that program as the percentage of the

appropriation received by the district from the 1995 fiscal 
year appropriation
made for that program, and
(ii) the total 
amount that is due the district under the block grant shall be

the aggregate of the amounts that the district is entitled to 
receive for the
fiscal year with respect to each program that 
is included within the block
grant that the State Board of 
Education shall award the district under this
Section for that 
fiscal year.  In the case of the Summer Bridges program,
the 
amount of the district's block grant shall be equal to 44% of 
the amount
of the current fiscal year appropriation made for 
that program.

    (e) The district is not required to file any application or 
other claim in
order to receive the block grants to which it is 
entitled under this Section.
The State Board of Education shall 
make payments to the district of amounts due
under the 
district's block grants on a schedule determined by the State 
Board
of Education.

    (f) A school district to which this Section applies shall 
report to the
State Board of Education on its use of the block 
grants in such form and detail
as the State Board of Education 
may specify. In addition, the report must include the following 
description for the district, which must also be reported to 
the General Assembly: block grant allocation and expenditures 
by program; population and service levels by program; and 
administrative expenditures by program. The State Board of 
Education shall ensure that the reporting requirements for the 
district are the same as for all other school districts in this 
State. 

    (g) This paragraph provides for the treatment of block 
grants under Article
1C for purposes of calculating the amount 
of block grants for a district under
this Section.  Those block 
grants under Article 1C are, for this
purpose, treated as 
included in the amount of appropriation for the various

programs set forth in paragraph (b) above.  The appropriation in 
each current
fiscal year for each block grant under Article 1C 
shall be treated for these
purposes as appropriations for the 
individual program included in that block
grant.  The proportion 
of each block grant so allocated to each such program
included 
in it shall be the proportion which the appropriation for that 
program
was of all appropriations for such purposes now in that 
block grant, in fiscal
1995.

    Payments to the school district under this Section with 
respect to each
program for which payments to school districts 
generally, as of the date of
this
amendatory Act of the 92nd 
General Assembly, are on a reimbursement basis
shall continue 
to be made to the district on a reimbursement basis, pursuant

to the provisions of this Code governing those programs.

    (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school 
district
receiving a block grant under this Section may 
classify all or a portion of
the funds that it receives in a 
particular fiscal year from any block grant
authorized under 
this Code or from general State aid pursuant to Section
18-8.05 
of this Code (other than supplemental general State aid) as

funds received in connection with any funding program for which 
it is
entitled to receive funds from the State in that fiscal 
year (including,
without limitation, any funding program 
referred to in subsection (c) of
this Section), regardless of 
the source or timing of the receipt.  The
district may not 
classify more funds as funds received in connection
with the 
funding program than the district is entitled to receive in 
that
fiscal year for that program.  Any classification by a 
district must be made by
a resolution
of its board of 
education.  The resolution must identify the amount of any
block 
grant or general State aid to be classified under this 
subsection (h)
and must specify the funding program to which 
the funds are to be
treated as received in connection 
therewith.  This resolution is
controlling as to the 
classification of funds referenced therein.  A certified
copy of 
the resolution must be sent to the State Superintendent of

Education.
The resolution shall still take effect even though a 
copy of the resolution
has not been sent to the State

Superintendent of Education in a timely manner.
 No 
classification under this subsection (h) by a district shall

affect the total amount or timing of money the district is 
entitled to receive
under this Code.
 No classification under 
this subsection (h) by a district
shall in any way relieve the 
district from or affect any
requirements that otherwise would 
apply with respect to the
block grant as provided in this 
Section, including any
accounting of funds by source, reporting 
expenditures by
original source and purpose,
reporting 
requirements, or requirements of provision of
services.

(Source: P.A. 92-568, eff. 6-26-02; 92-651, eff. 7-11-02; 
93-21, eff. 7-1-03; 93-53, eff. 7-1-03; 93-1022, eff. 8-24-04.)

 
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 
2011.