Elementary & Secondary Education Committee
Filed: 3/4/2009
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1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1106
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2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1106 by replacing | ||||||
3 | everything after the enacting clause with the following: | ||||||
4 | "Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section | ||||||
5 | 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. Any | ||||||
8 | school
district, maintaining a school, transporting resident | ||||||
9 | pupils to another
school district's vocational program, | ||||||
10 | offered through a joint agreement
approved by the
the State | ||||||
11 | Board of Education, as provided in Section
10-22.22 or | ||||||
12 | transporting its resident pupils to a school which meets the
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13 | standards for recognition as established by the State Board of | ||||||
14 | Education
which provides transportation meeting the standards | ||||||
15 | of safety, comfort,
convenience, efficiency and operation | ||||||
16 | prescribed by the State Board of
Education for resident pupils |
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1 | in kindergarten or any of grades 1 through
12 who: (a) reside | ||||||
2 | at least 1 1/2 miles as measured by the customary route of
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3 | travel, from the school attended; or (b) reside in areas where | ||||||
4 | conditions are
such that walking constitutes a hazard to the | ||||||
5 | safety of the child when
determined under Section 29-3; and (c) | ||||||
6 | are transported to the school attended
from pick-up points at | ||||||
7 | the beginning of the school day and back again at the
close of | ||||||
8 | the school day or transported to and from their assigned | ||||||
9 | attendance
centers during the school day, shall be reimbursed | ||||||
10 | by the State as hereinafter
provided in this Section.
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11 | The State will pay the cost of transporting eligible pupils | ||||||
12 | less the
assessed valuation in a dual school district | ||||||
13 | maintaining secondary
grades 9 to 12 inclusive times a | ||||||
14 | qualifying rate of .05%; in elementary
school districts | ||||||
15 | maintaining grades K to 8 times a qualifying rate of
.06%; and | ||||||
16 | in unit districts maintaining grades K to 12, including | ||||||
17 | optional elementary unit districts and combined high school - | ||||||
18 | unit districts, times a qualifying
rate of .07%; provided that | ||||||
19 | for optional elementary unit districts and combined high school - | ||||||
20 | unit districts, assessed valuation for high school purposes, | ||||||
21 | as defined in Article 11E of this Code, must be used. To be | ||||||
22 | eligible to receive reimbursement in excess of 4/5
of the cost | ||||||
23 | to transport eligible pupils, a school district shall have a
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24 | Transportation Fund tax rate of at least .12%. If a school | ||||||
25 | district
does not have a .12% Transportation Fund tax rate, the | ||||||
26 | amount of its
claim in excess of 4/5 of the cost of |
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1 | transporting pupils shall be
reduced by the sum arrived at by | ||||||
2 | subtracting the Transportation Fund tax
rate from .12% and | ||||||
3 | multiplying that amount by the districts equalized or
assessed | ||||||
4 | valuation, provided, that in no case shall said reduction
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5 | result in reimbursement of less than 4/5 of the cost to | ||||||
6 | transport
eligible pupils.
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7 | The minimum amount to be received by a district is $16 | ||||||
8 | times the
number of eligible pupils transported.
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9 | Any such district transporting resident pupils during the | ||||||
10 | school day
to an area vocational school or another school | ||||||
11 | district's vocational
program more than 1 1/2 miles from the | ||||||
12 | school attended, as provided in
Sections 10-22.20a and | ||||||
13 | 10-22.22, shall be reimbursed by the State for 4/5
of the cost | ||||||
14 | of transporting eligible pupils.
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15 | School day means that period of time which the pupil is | ||||||
16 | required to be
in attendance for instructional purposes.
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17 | If a pupil is at a location within the school district | ||||||
18 | other than his
residence for child care purposes at the time | ||||||
19 | for transportation to school,
that location may be considered | ||||||
20 | for purposes of determining the 1 1/2 miles
from the school | ||||||
21 | attended.
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22 | Claims for reimbursement that include children who attend | ||||||
23 | any school
other than a public school shall show the number of | ||||||
24 | such children
transported.
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25 | Claims for reimbursement under this Section shall not be | ||||||
26 | paid for the
transportation of pupils for whom transportation |
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1 | costs are claimed for
payment under other Sections of this Act.
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2 | The allowable direct cost of transporting pupils for | ||||||
3 | regular, vocational,
and special education pupil | ||||||
4 | transportation shall be limited to the sum of
the cost of | ||||||
5 | physical examinations required for employment as a school bus
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6 | driver; the salaries of full or part-time drivers and school | ||||||
7 | bus maintenance
personnel; employee benefits excluding | ||||||
8 | Illinois municipal retirement
payments, social security | ||||||
9 | payments, unemployment insurance payments and
workers' | ||||||
10 | compensation insurance premiums; expenditures to independent
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11 | carriers who operate school buses; payments to other school | ||||||
12 | districts for
pupil transportation services; pre-approved | ||||||
13 | contractual expenditures for
computerized bus scheduling; the | ||||||
14 | cost of gasoline, oil, tires, and other
supplies necessary for | ||||||
15 | the operation of school buses; the cost of
converting buses' | ||||||
16 | gasoline engines to more fuel efficient engines or to
engines | ||||||
17 | which use alternative energy sources; the cost of travel to
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18 | meetings and workshops conducted by the regional | ||||||
19 | superintendent or the
State Superintendent of Education | ||||||
20 | pursuant to the standards established by
the Secretary of State | ||||||
21 | under Section 6-106 of the Illinois Vehicle Code to improve the | ||||||
22 | driving skills of
school bus drivers; the cost of maintenance | ||||||
23 | of school buses including parts
and materials used; | ||||||
24 | expenditures for leasing transportation vehicles,
except | ||||||
25 | interest and service charges; the cost of insurance and | ||||||
26 | licenses for
transportation vehicles; expenditures for the |
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1 | rental of transportation
equipment; plus a depreciation | ||||||
2 | allowance of 20% for 5 years for school
buses and vehicles | ||||||
3 | approved for transporting pupils to and from school and
a | ||||||
4 | depreciation allowance of 10% for 10 years for other | ||||||
5 | transportation
equipment so used.
Each school year, if a school | ||||||
6 | district has made expenditures to the
Regional Transportation | ||||||
7 | Authority or any of its service boards, a mass
transit | ||||||
8 | district, or an urban transportation district under an
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9 | intergovernmental agreement with the district to provide for | ||||||
10 | the
transportation of pupils and if the public transit carrier | ||||||
11 | received direct
payment for services or passes from a school | ||||||
12 | district within its service
area during the 2000-2001 school | ||||||
13 | year, then the allowable direct cost of
transporting pupils for | ||||||
14 | regular, vocational, and special education pupil
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15 | transportation shall also include the expenditures that the | ||||||
16 | district has
made to the public transit carrier.
In addition to | ||||||
17 | the above allowable costs school
districts shall also claim all | ||||||
18 | transportation supervisory salary costs,
including Illinois | ||||||
19 | municipal retirement payments, and all transportation
related | ||||||
20 | building and building maintenance costs without limitation.
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21 | Special education allowable costs shall also include | ||||||
22 | expenditures for the
salaries of attendants or aides for that | ||||||
23 | portion of the time they assist
special education pupils while | ||||||
24 | in transit and expenditures for parents and
public carriers for | ||||||
25 | transporting special education pupils when pre-approved
by the | ||||||
26 | State Superintendent of Education.
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1 | Indirect costs shall be included in the reimbursement claim | ||||||
2 | for districts
which own and operate their own school buses. | ||||||
3 | Such indirect costs shall
include administrative costs, or any | ||||||
4 | costs attributable to transporting
pupils from their | ||||||
5 | attendance centers to another school building for
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6 | instructional purposes. No school district which owns and | ||||||
7 | operates its own
school buses may claim reimbursement for | ||||||
8 | indirect costs which exceed 5% of
the total allowable direct | ||||||
9 | costs for pupil transportation.
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10 | The State Board of Education shall prescribe uniform | ||||||
11 | regulations for
determining the above standards and shall | ||||||
12 | prescribe forms of cost
accounting and standards of determining | ||||||
13 | reasonable depreciation. Such
depreciation shall include the | ||||||
14 | cost of equipping school buses with the
safety features | ||||||
15 | required by law or by the rules, regulations and standards
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16 | promulgated by the State Board of Education, and the Department | ||||||
17 | of
Transportation for the safety and construction of school | ||||||
18 | buses provided,
however, any equipment cost reimbursed by the | ||||||
19 | Department of Transportation
for equipping school buses with | ||||||
20 | such safety equipment shall be deducted
from the allowable cost | ||||||
21 | in the computation of reimbursement under this
Section in the | ||||||
22 | same percentage as the cost of the equipment is depreciated.
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23 | On or before August 15, annually, the chief school | ||||||
24 | administrator for
the district shall certify to the State | ||||||
25 | Superintendent of Education the
district's claim for | ||||||
26 | reimbursement for the school year ending on June 30
next |
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1 | preceding. The State Superintendent of Education shall check | ||||||
2 | and
approve the claims and prepare the vouchers showing the | ||||||
3 | amounts due for
district reimbursement claims. Each fiscal | ||||||
4 | year, the State
Superintendent of Education shall prepare and | ||||||
5 | transmit the first 3
vouchers to the Comptroller on the 30th | ||||||
6 | day of September, December and
March, respectively, and the | ||||||
7 | final voucher, no later than June 20.
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8 | If the amount appropriated for transportation | ||||||
9 | reimbursement is insufficient
to fund total claims for any | ||||||
10 | fiscal year, the State Board of Education shall
reduce each | ||||||
11 | school district's allowable costs and flat grant amount
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12 | proportionately to make total adjusted claims equal the total | ||||||
13 | amount
appropriated.
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14 | For purposes of calculating claims for reimbursement under | ||||||
15 | this Section
for any school year beginning July 1, 1998, or | ||||||
16 | thereafter, the
equalized
assessed valuation for a school | ||||||
17 | district used to compute reimbursement
shall be computed in the | ||||||
18 | same manner as it is computed under paragraph (2) of
subsection | ||||||
19 | (G) of Section 18-8.05.
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20 | All reimbursements received from the State shall be | ||||||
21 | deposited into the
district's transportation fund or into the | ||||||
22 | fund from which the allowable
expenditures were made.
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23 | Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school | ||||||
24 | district receiving
a payment under this Section or under | ||||||
25 | Section 14-7.02, 14-7.02b, or
14-13.01 of this Code may | ||||||
26 | classify all or a portion of the funds that it
receives in a |
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1 | particular fiscal year or from general State aid pursuant to
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2 | Section 18-8.05 of this Code
as funds received in connection | ||||||
3 | with any funding program for which it is
entitled to receive | ||||||
4 | funds from the State in that fiscal year (including,
without | ||||||
5 | limitation, any funding program referenced in this Section),
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6 | regardless of the source or timing of the receipt. The district | ||||||
7 | may not
classify more funds as funds received in connection | ||||||
8 | with the funding
program than the district is entitled to | ||||||
9 | receive in that fiscal year for that
program. Any
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10 | classification by a district must be made by a resolution of | ||||||
11 | its board of
education. The resolution must identify the amount | ||||||
12 | of any payments or
general State aid to be classified under | ||||||
13 | this paragraph and must specify
the funding program to which | ||||||
14 | the funds are to be treated as received in
connection | ||||||
15 | therewith. This resolution is controlling as to the
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16 | classification of funds referenced therein. A certified copy of | ||||||
17 | the
resolution must be sent to the State Superintendent of | ||||||
18 | Education.
The resolution shall still take effect even though a | ||||||
19 | copy of the resolution has
not been sent to the State
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20 | Superintendent of Education in a timely manner.
No
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21 | classification under this paragraph by a district shall affect | ||||||
22 | the total amount
or timing of money the district is entitled to | ||||||
23 | receive under this Code.
No classification under this paragraph | ||||||
24 | by a district shall
in any way relieve the district from or | ||||||
25 | affect any
requirements that otherwise would apply with respect | ||||||
26 | to
that funding program, including any
accounting of funds by |
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1 | source, reporting expenditures by
original source and purpose,
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2 | reporting requirements,
or requirements of providing services.
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3 | Any school district with a population of not more than | ||||||
4 | 500,000
must deposit all funds received under this Article into | ||||||
5 | the transportation
fund and use those funds for the provision | ||||||
6 | of transportation services.
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7 | (Source: P.A. 94-875, eff. 7-1-06; 95-903, eff. 8-25-08.)".
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