HR1078 LRB094 20057 RAS 57623 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The federal government has established a goal of
3 reimbursing forty percent of the costs of special education
4 incurred by school districts; it currently provides only
5 eighteen percent of costs nationally and fourteen percent of
6 costs in Illinois; and
 
7     WHEREAS, In the 2004-2005 school year, over 321,000
8 children with disabilities were served in special education
9 programs across Illinois, costing school districts millions of
10 dollars in unreimbursed costs; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Special education accounts for approximately
12 twenty-one percent of all education spending; and
 
13     WHEREAS, Illinois has continued to prorate special
14 education mandated categoricals at less than one hundred
15 percent, with the FY06 budget prorating these mandated
16 categoricals at ninety-seven percent; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Illinois school districts currently spend an
18 estimated $1 billion from their own general education funds to
19 meet the unreimbursed costs of special education services that
20 are mandated by federal and State laws and administrative
21 rules; and
 
22     WHEREAS, While school districts are required to disclose
23 their revenues and expenditures through their annual budget,
24 there is no particular focus given to special education costs
25 making it difficult for the State to assess the true cost of
26 special education in Illinois; therefore, be it
 
27     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
28 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
29 we strongly urge the State Board of Education to develop a

 

 

HR1078 - 2 - LRB094 20057 RAS 57623 r

1 process by which they can collect and evaluate, both on a
2 district and statewide level, the costs of providing special
3 education services beyond that which is reimbursed by the
4 State; and be it further
 
5     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
6 delivered to the State Board of Education.