97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
SB1742

 

Introduced 2/9/2011, by Sen. Pamela J. Althoff

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
105 ILCS 5/1D-1

    Amends the School Code. Provides that the report that a school district having a population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants must file with the State Board of Education on its use of the block grants must include the following description for the district, which must also be reported to the General Assembly: block grant allocation and expenditures by program; population and service levels by program; and administrative expenditures by program. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
51D-1 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 5/1D-1)
7    Sec. 1D-1. Block grant funding.
8    (a) For fiscal year 1996 and each fiscal year thereafter,
9the State Board of Education shall award to a school district
10having a population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants a general
11education block grant and an educational services block grant,
12determined as provided in this Section, in lieu of distributing
13to the district separate State funding for the programs
14described in subsections (b) and (c). The provisions of this
15Section, however, do not apply to any federal funds that the
16district is entitled to receive. In accordance with Section
172-3.32, all block grants are subject to an audit. Therefore,
18block grant receipts and block grant expenditures shall be
19recorded to the appropriate fund code for the designated block
20grant.
21    (b) The general education block grant shall include the
22following programs: REI Initiative, Summer Bridges, Preschool
23At Risk, K-6 Comprehensive Arts, School Improvement Support,

 

 

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1Urban Education, Scientific Literacy, Substance Abuse
2Prevention, Second Language Planning, Staff Development,
3Outcomes and Assessment, K-6 Reading Improvement, 7-12
4Continued Reading Improvement, Truants' Optional Education,
5Hispanic Programs, Agriculture Education, Parental Education,
6Prevention Initiative, Report Cards, and Criminal Background
7Investigations. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
8all amounts paid under the general education block grant from
9State appropriations to a school district in a city having a
10population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants shall be appropriated
11and expended by the board of that district for any of the
12programs included in the block grant or any of the board's
13lawful purposes.
14    (c) The educational services block grant shall include the
15following programs: Bilingual, Regular and Vocational
16Transportation, State Lunch and Free Breakfast Program,
17Special Education (Personnel, Transportation, Orphanage,
18Private Tuition), funding for children requiring special
19education services, Summer School, Educational Service
20Centers, and Administrator's Academy. This subsection (c) does
21not relieve the district of its obligation to provide the
22services required under a program that is included within the
23educational services block grant. It is the intention of the
24General Assembly in enacting the provisions of this subsection
25(c) to relieve the district of the administrative burdens that
26impede efficiency and accompany single-program funding. The

 

 

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1General Assembly encourages the board to pursue mandate waivers
2pursuant to Section 2-3.25g.
3    The funding program included in the educational services
4block grant for funding for children requiring special
5education services in each fiscal year shall be treated in that
6fiscal year as a payment to the school district in respect of
7services provided or costs incurred in the prior fiscal year,
8calculated in each case as provided in this Section. Nothing in
9this Section shall change the nature of payments for any
10program that, apart from this Section, would be or, prior to
11adoption or amendment of this Section, was on the basis of a
12payment in a fiscal year in respect of services provided or
13costs incurred in the prior fiscal year, calculated in each
14case as provided in this Section.
15    (d) For fiscal year 1996 and each fiscal year thereafter,
16the amount of the district's block grants shall be determined
17as follows: (i) with respect to each program that is included
18within each block grant, the district shall receive an amount
19equal to the same percentage of the current fiscal year
20appropriation made for that program as the percentage of the
21appropriation received by the district from the 1995 fiscal
22year appropriation made for that program, and (ii) the total
23amount that is due the district under the block grant shall be
24the aggregate of the amounts that the district is entitled to
25receive for the fiscal year with respect to each program that
26is included within the block grant that the State Board of

 

 

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1Education shall award the district under this Section for that
2fiscal year. In the case of the Summer Bridges program, the
3amount of the district's block grant shall be equal to 44% of
4the amount of the current fiscal year appropriation made for
5that program.
6    (e) The district is not required to file any application or
7other claim in order to receive the block grants to which it is
8entitled under this Section. The State Board of Education shall
9make payments to the district of amounts due under the
10district's block grants on a schedule determined by the State
11Board of Education.
12    (f) A school district to which this Section applies shall
13report to the State Board of Education on its use of the block
14grants in such form and detail as the State Board of Education
15may specify. In addition, the report must include the following
16description for the district, which must also be reported to
17the General Assembly: block grant allocation and expenditures
18by program; population and service levels by program; and
19administrative expenditures by program.
20    (g) This paragraph provides for the treatment of block
21grants under Article 1C for purposes of calculating the amount
22of block grants for a district under this Section. Those block
23grants under Article 1C are, for this purpose, treated as
24included in the amount of appropriation for the various
25programs set forth in paragraph (b) above. The appropriation in
26each current fiscal year for each block grant under Article 1C

 

 

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1shall be treated for these purposes as appropriations for the
2individual program included in that block grant. The proportion
3of each block grant so allocated to each such program included
4in it shall be the proportion which the appropriation for that
5program was of all appropriations for such purposes now in that
6block grant, in fiscal 1995.
7    Payments to the school district under this Section with
8respect to each program for which payments to school districts
9generally, as of the date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd
10General Assembly, are on a reimbursement basis shall continue
11to be made to the district on a reimbursement basis, pursuant
12to the provisions of this Code governing those programs.
13    (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school
14district receiving a block grant under this Section may
15classify all or a portion of the funds that it receives in a
16particular fiscal year from any block grant authorized under
17this Code or from general State aid pursuant to Section 18-8.05
18of this Code (other than supplemental general State aid) as
19funds received in connection with any funding program for which
20it is entitled to receive funds from the State in that fiscal
21year (including, without limitation, any funding program
22referred to in subsection (c) of this Section), regardless of
23the source or timing of the receipt. The district may not
24classify more funds as funds received in connection with the
25funding program than the district is entitled to receive in
26that fiscal year for that program. Any classification by a

 

 

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1district must be made by a resolution of its board of
2education. The resolution must identify the amount of any block
3grant or general State aid to be classified under this
4subsection (h) and must specify the funding program to which
5the funds are to be treated as received in connection
6therewith. This resolution is controlling as to the
7classification of funds referenced therein. A certified copy of
8the resolution must be sent to the State Superintendent of
9Education. The resolution shall still take effect even though a
10copy of the resolution has not been sent to the State
11Superintendent of Education in a timely manner. No
12classification under this subsection (h) by a district shall
13affect the total amount or timing of money the district is
14entitled to receive under this Code. No classification under
15this subsection (h) by a district shall in any way relieve the
16district from or affect any requirements that otherwise would
17apply with respect to the block grant as provided in this
18Section, including any accounting of funds by source, reporting
19expenditures by original source and purpose, reporting
20requirements, or requirements of provision of services.
21(Source: P.A. 92-568, eff. 6-26-02; 92-651, eff. 7-11-02;
2293-21, eff. 7-1-03; 93-53, eff. 7-1-03; 93-1022, eff. 8-24-04.)
 
23    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
24becoming law.