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Public Act 097-1160
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| HB1864 Enrolled | LRB097 08494 NHT 48621 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Public Community College Act is amended by |
changing Section 2-16.02 as follows:
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(110 ILCS 805/2-16.02) (from Ch. 122, par. 102-16.02)
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Sec. 2-16.02. Grants. Any community college district that |
maintains a
community college recognized by the State Board |
shall receive, when eligible,
grants enumerated in this |
Section. Funded semester credit hours or other
measures or both |
as specified by the State Board shall be used to distribute
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grants to community colleges. Funded semester credit hours |
shall be defined,
for purposes of this Section, as the greater |
of
(1) the number of semester credit hours, or equivalent, in |
all funded
instructional categories of students who have been |
certified as being in
attendance at midterm during the |
respective terms of the base fiscal year or
(2) the average of |
semester credit hours, or equivalent, in all funded
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instructional categories of students who have been certified as |
being in
attendance at midterm during the respective terms of |
the base fiscal year and
the 2 prior fiscal years. For purposes |
of this Section, "base fiscal year"
means the fiscal year 2 |
years prior to the fiscal year for which the grants are
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appropriated. Such students shall have been residents of |
Illinois and shall
have been enrolled in courses that are part |
of instructional program categories
approved by the State Board |
and that are applicable toward an associate degree
or |
certificate.
Courses that are eligible for reimbursement are |
those courses for which
the district pays 50% or more of the |
program costs from unrestricted
revenue sources, with the |
exception of courses offered by contract with
the Department of |
Corrections in correctional institutions. For the
purposes of |
this Section, "unrestricted revenue sources" means those
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revenues in which the provider of the revenue imposes no |
financial
limitations upon the district as it relates to the |
expenditure of the funds. Base operating grants shall be paid |
based on rates per funded
semester credit hour or equivalent |
calculated by the State Board for funded
instructional |
categories using cost of instruction, enrollment, inflation, |
and
other relevant factors. A portion of the base operating |
grant shall be
allocated on the basis of non-residential gross |
square footage of space
maintained by the district.
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Equalization grants shall be calculated by the State Board |
by determining a
local revenue factor for each district by: (A) |
adding (1)
each district's Corporate Personal Property |
Replacement Fund
allocations from the base
fiscal year or the |
average of the base fiscal year and prior year, whichever is
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less, divided by the applicable statewide average tax rate to |
(2) the
district's most recently audited
year's equalized |
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assessed valuation or the average of the most recently audited
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year and prior year, whichever is less, (B) then dividing by |
the district's
audited full-time equivalent resident students |
for the base fiscal year or the
average for the base fiscal |
year and the 2 prior fiscal years, whichever is
greater, and |
(C) then multiplying by the applicable statewide average tax
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rate. The State Board
shall calculate a statewide weighted |
average threshold by applying
the same methodology to the |
totals of all districts' Corporate Personal
Property Tax |
Replacement Fund allocations, equalized assessed valuations, |
and
audited full-time equivalent district resident students |
and multiplying by the
applicable statewide average tax rate. |
The difference between the statewide
weighted average |
threshold and the local revenue
factor, multiplied by the |
number of full-time equivalent resident students,
shall |
determine the amount of equalization funding that each district |
is
eligible to receive. A percentage factor, as determined by |
the State Board,
may be applied to the statewide threshold as a |
method for allocating
equalization funding. A minimum |
equalization grant of an amount per district
as determined by |
the State Board shall be established for any community college
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district which qualifies for an equalization grant based upon |
the preceding
criteria, but becomes ineligible for |
equalization funding, or would have
received a grant of less |
than the minimum equalization grant, due to threshold
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prorations applied to reduce equalization funding.
As of July |
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1, 2013 2004, a community college district eligible to receive |
an equalization grant based upon the preceding criteria must |
maintain a
minimum required combined in-district tuition and |
universal fee rate per
semester credit hour equal to 70% 85% of |
the State-average combined rate, as
determined by the State |
Board, or the total revenue received by the community college |
district from combined in-district tuition and universal fees |
must be at least 30% of the total revenue received by the |
community college district, as determined by the State Board, |
for equalization funding. As of July 1,
2004, a community |
college district must maintain a minimum required
operating tax |
rate equal to at least 95% of its maximum authorized tax
rate |
to qualify for equalization funding. This 95% minimum tax rate
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requirement shall be based upon the maximum operating tax rate |
as
limited by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law.
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The State Board shall distribute such other grants as may |
be
authorized or appropriated by the General Assembly.
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Each community college district entitled to State grants |
under this
Section must submit a report of its enrollment to |
the State Board not later
than 30 days following the end of |
each semester, quarter, or term in a
format prescribed by the |
State Board. These semester credit hours, or
equivalent, shall |
be certified by each district on forms provided by the
State |
Board. Each district's certified semester credit hours, or |
equivalent,
are subject to audit pursuant to Section 3-22.1.
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The State Board shall certify, prepare, and submit monthly |
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vouchers to the State Comptroller
setting
forth an amount equal |
to one-twelfth of the grants approved by the State Board for |
base
operating grants and equalization grants. The State Board |
shall prepare and
submit to the State Comptroller vouchers for |
payments of other grants as
appropriated by the General |
Assembly. If the amount appropriated for grants
is different |
from the amount provided for such grants under this Act, the
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grants shall be proportionately reduced or increased |
accordingly.
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For the purposes of this Section, "resident student" means |
a student in a
community college district who maintains |
residency in that district or
meets other residency definitions |
established by the State Board, and who
was enrolled either in |
one of the approved instructional program categories
in that |
district, or in another community college district to which the
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resident's district is paying tuition under Section 6-2 or with |
which the
resident's district has entered into a cooperative |
agreement in lieu of such
tuition.
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For the purposes of this Section, a "full-time equivalent" |
student is
equal to 30 semester credit hours.
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The Illinois Community College Board Contracts and Grants |
Fund is hereby
created in the State Treasury. Items of income |
to this fund shall include
any grants, awards, endowments, or |
like proceeds, and where appropriate,
other funds made |
available through contracts with governmental, public, and
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private agencies or persons. The General Assembly shall from |