HB4612ham001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Ron Sandack

Filed: 3/21/2014

09800HB4612ham001 LRB098 18999 NHT 57057 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4612

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4612 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section 29-20 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/29-20 new)

Sec. 29-20. Transportation for school districts with shared service agreements. The State Board of Education shall create a pilot program allowing school districts to achieve savings through shared service agreements in providing transportation to students. This pilot program shall begin on January 1, 2015 and expire on January 1, 2018. Under the pilot program, any 2 or more school districts that share one or more boundaries may combine transportation activities to, in addition to the variety of economic, environmental, and traffic safety benefits, achieve savings to these school districts as well as this State. Any shared service agreement entered into for the purposes of this Section must be reduced to writing and forwarded to the State Board of Education prior to the effective date of that agreement. For any school districts electing to combine such transportation, the State Board of Education shall reimburse the school districts in an amount in addition to any other transportation reimbursement or other moneys owed to the school districts. In calculating this reimbursement, the State Board of Education shall reimburse school districts in the year following the year in which savings were achieved in an amount deemed equal to 50% of the actual or estimated savings achieved by this State from any reductions in other reimbursement the consolidation achieved. This additional reimbursement must be divided between or among the school districts by a percentage equal to the percentage of the total student population made up by each district's population. School districts may jointly enter into any contract not otherwise prohibited by this Article with other school districts or transportation providers to achieve these savings. In applying for reimbursement under this Section, school districts shall use forms prescribed by the State Board of Education, accompanied by any information requested by the State Board of Education or deemed useful by the school districts, including historic transportation information, mileage reductions, or information provided by vendors or consultants. School districts may enter into these shared service agreements for any period of time otherwise allowed by law, but in no case may they receive moneys under this Section on or after January 1, 2018. In estimating savings for multiple years under this Section, the State Board of Education shall estimate savings in each year achieved by the school districts; however, the final amount transferred under this Section may be changed in any year to reflect actual savings, and amounts may be reduced in a year if the previous year's moneys were transferred based on estimates that were not realized in that year.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2014.".