093_HB0763enr HB0763 Enrolled LRB093 05523 NHT 05614 b 1 AN ACT relating to schools. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing 5 Section 29-5 as follows: 6 (105 ILCS 5/29-5) (from Ch. 122, par. 29-5) 7 Sec. 29-5. Reimbursement by State for transportation. 8 Any school district, maintaining a school, transporting 9 resident pupils to another school district's vocational 10 program, offered through a joint agreement approved by the 11 State Board of Education, as provided in Section 10-22.22 or 12 transporting its resident pupils to a school which meets the 13 standards for recognition as established by the State Board 14 of Education which provides transportation meeting the 15 standards of safety, comfort, convenience, efficiency and 16 operation prescribed by the State Board of Education for 17 resident pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 through 12 18 who: (a) reside at least 1 1/2 miles as measured by the 19 customary route of travel, from the school attended; or (b) 20 reside in areas where conditions are such that walking 21 constitutes a hazard to the safety of the child when 22 determined under Section 29-3; and (c) are transported to the 23 school attended from pick-up points at the beginning of the 24 school day and back again at the close of the school day or 25 transported to and from their assigned attendance centers 26 during the school day, shall be reimbursed by the State as 27 hereinafter provided in this Section. 28 The State will pay the cost of transporting eligible 29 pupils less the assessed valuation in a dual school district 30 maintaining secondary grades 9 to 12 inclusive times a 31 qualifying rate of .05%; in elementary school districts HB0763 Enrolled -2- LRB093 05523 NHT 05614 b 1 maintaining grades K to 8 times a qualifying rate of .06%; in 2 unit districts maintaining grades K to 12 times a qualifying 3 rate of .07%. To be eligible to receive reimbursement in 4 excess of 4/5 of the cost to transport eligible pupils, a 5 school district shall have a Transportation Fund tax rate of 6 at least .12%. If a school district does not have a .12% 7 Transportation Fund tax rate, the amount of its claim in 8 excess of 4/5 of the cost of transporting pupils shall be 9 reduced by the sum arrived at by subtracting the 10 Transportation Fund tax rate from .12% and multiplying that 11 amount by the districts equalized or assessed valuation, 12 provided, that in no case shall said reduction result in 13 reimbursement of less than 4/5 of the cost to transport 14 eligible pupils. 15 The minimum amount to be received by a district is $16 16 times the number of eligible pupils transported. 17 Any such district transporting resident pupils during the 18 school day to an area vocational school or another school 19 district's vocational program more than 1 1/2 miles from the 20 school attended, as provided in Sections 10-22.20a and 21 10-22.22, shall be reimbursed by the State for 4/5 of the 22 cost of transporting eligible pupils. 23 School day means that period of time which the pupil is 24 required to be in attendance for instructional purposes. 25 If a pupil is at a location within the school district 26 other than his residence for child care purposes at the time 27 for transportation to school, that location may be considered 28 for purposes of determining the 1 1/2 miles from the school 29 attended. 30 Claims for reimbursement that include children who attend 31 any school other than a public school shall show the number 32 of such children transported. 33 Claims for reimbursement under this Section shall not be 34 paid for the transportation of pupils for whom transportation HB0763 Enrolled -3- LRB093 05523 NHT 05614 b 1 costs are claimed for payment under other Sections of this 2 Act. 3 The allowable direct cost of transporting pupils for 4 regular, vocational, and special education pupil 5 transportation shall be limited to the sum of the cost of 6 physical examinations required for employment as a school bus 7 driver; the salaries of full or part-time drivers and school 8 bus maintenance personnel; employee benefits excluding 9 Illinois municipal retirement payments, social security 10 payments, unemployment insurance payments and workers' 11 compensation insurance premiums; expenditures to independent 12 carriers who operate school buses; payments to other school 13 districts for pupil transportation services; pre-approved 14 contractual expenditures for computerized bus scheduling; the 15 cost of gasoline, oil, tires, and other supplies necessary 16 for the operation of school buses; the cost of converting 17 buses' gasoline engines to more fuel efficient engines or to 18 engines which use alternative energy sources; the cost of 19 travel to meetings and workshops conducted by the regional 20 superintendent or the State Superintendent of Education 21 pursuant to the standards established by the Secretary of 22 State under Section 6-106 of the Illinois Vehicle Code to 23 improve the driving skills of school bus drivers; the cost of 24 maintenance of school buses including parts and materials 25 used; expenditures for leasing transportation vehicles, 26 except interest and service charges; the cost of insurance 27 and licenses for transportation vehicles; expenditures for 28 the rental of transportation equipment; plus a depreciation 29 allowance of 20% for 5 years for school buses and vehicles 30 approved for transporting pupils to and from school and a 31 depreciation allowance of 10% for 10 years for other 32 transportation equipment so used. Each school year, if a 33 school district has made expenditures to the Regional 34 Transportation Authority or any of its service boards, a mass HB0763 Enrolled -4- LRB093 05523 NHT 05614 b 1 transit district, or an urban transportation district under 2 an intergovernmental agreement with the district to provide 3 for the transportation of pupils and if the public transit 4 carrier received direct payment for services or passes from a 5 school district within its service area during the 2000-2001 6 school year, then the allowable direct cost of transporting 7 pupils for regular, vocational, and special education pupil 8 transportation shall also include the expenditures that the 9 district has made to the public transit carrier. In addition 10 to the above allowable costs school districts shall also 11 claim all transportation supervisory salary costs, including 12 Illinois municipal retirement payments, and all 13 transportation related building and building maintenance 14 costs without limitation. 15 Special education allowable costs shall also include 16 expenditures for the salaries of attendants or aides for that 17 portion of the time they assist special education pupils 18 while in transit and expenditures for parents and public 19 carriers for transporting special education pupils when 20 pre-approved by the State Superintendent of Education. 21 Indirect costs shall be included in the reimbursement 22 claim for districts which own and operate their own school 23 buses. Such indirect costs shall include administrative 24 costs, or any costs attributable to transporting pupils from 25 their attendance centers to another school building for 26 instructional purposes. No school district which owns and 27 operates its own school buses may claim reimbursement for 28 indirect costs which exceed 5% of the total allowable direct 29 costs for pupil transportation. 30 The State Board of Education shall prescribe uniform 31 regulations for determining the above standards and shall 32 prescribe forms of cost accounting and standards of 33 determining reasonable depreciation. Such depreciation shall 34 include the cost of equipping school buses with the safety HB0763 Enrolled -5- LRB093 05523 NHT 05614 b 1 features required by law or by the rules, regulations and 2 standards promulgated by the State Board of Education, and 3 the Department of Transportation for the safety and 4 construction of school buses provided, however, any equipment 5 cost reimbursed by the Department of Transportation for 6 equipping school buses with such safety equipment shall be 7 deducted from the allowable cost in the computation of 8 reimbursement under this Section in the same percentage as 9 the cost of the equipment is depreciated. 10 On or before July 10, annually, the chief school 11 administrator for the district shall certify to the regional 12 superintendent of schools upon forms prescribed by the State 13 Superintendent of Education the district's claim for 14 reimbursement for the school year ended on June 30 next 15 preceding. The regional superintendent of schools shall 16 check all transportation claims to ascertain compliance with 17 the prescribed standards and upon his approval shall certify 18 not later than July 25 to the State Superintendent of 19 Education the regional report of claims for reimbursements. 20 The State Superintendent of Education shall check and approve 21 the claims and prepare the vouchers showing the amounts due 22 for district reimbursement claims. Beginning with the 1977 23 fiscal year, the State Superintendent of Education shall 24 prepare and transmit the first 3 vouchers to the Comptroller 25 on the 30th day of September, December and March, 26 respectively, and the final voucher, no later than June 15. 27 If the amount appropriated for transportation 28 reimbursement is insufficient to fund total claims for any 29 fiscal year, the State Board of Education shall reduce each 30 school district's allowable costs and flat grant amount 31 proportionately to make total adjusted claims equal the total 32 amount appropriated. 33 For purposes of calculating claims for reimbursement 34 under this Section for any school year beginning July 1, HB0763 Enrolled -6- LRB093 05523 NHT 05614 b 1 1998, or thereafter, the equalized assessed valuation for a 2 school district used to compute reimbursement shall be 3 computed in the same manner as it is computed under paragraph 4 (2) of subsection (G) of Section 18-8.05. 5 All reimbursements received from the State shall be 6 deposited into the district's transportation fund or into the 7 fund from which the allowable expenditures were made. 8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school 9 district receiving a payment under this Section or under 10 Section 14-7.02, 14-7.02a, or 14-13.01 of this Code may 11 classify all or a portion of the funds that it receives in a 12 particular fiscal year or from general State aid pursuant to 13 Section 18-8.05 of this Code as funds received in connection 14 with any funding program for which it is entitled to receive 15 funds from the State in that fiscal year (including, without 16 limitation, any funding program referenced in this Section), 17 regardless of the source or timing of the receipt. The 18 district may not classify more funds as funds received in 19 connection with the funding program than the district is 20 entitled to receive in that fiscal year for that program. 21 Any classification by a district must be made by a resolution 22 of its board of education. The resolution must identify the 23 amount of any payments or general State aid to be classified 24 under this paragraph and must specify the funding program to 25 which the funds are to be treated as received in connection 26 therewith. This resolution is controlling as to the 27 classification of funds referenced therein. A certified copy 28 of the resolution must be sent to the State Superintendent of 29 Education. The resolution shall still take effect even though 30 a copy of the resolution has not been sent to the State 31 Superintendent of Education in a timely manner. No 32 classification under this paragraph by a district shall 33 affect the total amount or timing of money the district is 34 entitled to receive under this Code. No classification HB0763 Enrolled -7- LRB093 05523 NHT 05614 b 1 under this paragraph by a district shall in any way relieve 2 the district from or affect any requirements that otherwise 3 would apply with respect to that funding program, including 4 any accounting of funds by source, reporting expenditures by 5 original source and purpose, reporting requirements, or 6 requirements of providing services. 7 Any school district with a population of not more than 8 500,000 must deposit all funds received under this Article 9 into the transportation fund and use those funds for the 10 provision of transportation services. 11 (Source: P.A. 92-568, eff. 6-26-02; 93-166, eff. 7-10-03.) 12 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 13 becoming law.