Full Text of SB1457 101st General Assembly
SB1457 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020 SB1457 Introduced 2/13/2019, by Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: | | 105 ILCS 5/29-5 | from Ch. 122, par. 29-5 |
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Amends the School Code. Makes technical and revisory changes in a Section concerning
State
reimbursement for transportation.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
| 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 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
| 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 | 17 | | in kindergarten or any of grades 1 through
12 who: (a) reside | 18 | | at least 1 1/2 miles as measured by the customary route of
| 19 | | travel, from the school attended; or (b) reside in areas where | 20 | | conditions are
such that walking constitutes a hazard to the | 21 | | safety of the child when
determined under Section 29-3; and (c) | 22 | | are transported to the school attended
from pick-up points at | 23 | | the beginning of the school day and back again at the
close of |
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| 1 | | the school day or transported to and from their assigned | 2 | | attendance
centers during the school day, shall be reimbursed | 3 | | by the State as hereinafter
provided in this Section.
| 4 | | The State will pay the cost of transporting eligible pupils | 5 | | less the prior year
assessed valuation in a dual school | 6 | | district maintaining secondary
grades 9 to 12 inclusive times a | 7 | | qualifying rate of .05%; in elementary
school districts | 8 | | maintaining grades K to 8 times a qualifying rate of
.06%; and | 9 | | in unit districts maintaining grades K to 12, including | 10 | | optional elementary unit districts and combined high school - | 11 | | unit districts, times a qualifying
rate of .07%; provided that | 12 | | for optional elementary unit districts and combined high school - | 13 | | unit districts, prior year assessed valuation for high school | 14 | | purposes, as defined in Article 11E of this Code, must be used. | 15 | | To be eligible to receive reimbursement in excess of 4/5
of the | 16 | | cost to transport eligible pupils, a school district shall have | 17 | | a
Transportation Fund tax rate of at least .12%. If a school | 18 | | district
does not have a .12% Transportation Fund tax rate, the | 19 | | amount of its
claim in excess of 4/5 of the cost of | 20 | | transporting pupils shall be
reduced by the sum arrived at by | 21 | | subtracting the Transportation Fund tax
rate from .12% and | 22 | | multiplying that amount by the district's prior year equalized | 23 | | or
assessed valuation, provided, that in no case shall said | 24 | | reduction
result in reimbursement of less than 4/5 of the cost | 25 | | to transport
eligible pupils.
| 26 | | The minimum amount to be received by a district is $16 |
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| 1 | | times the
number of eligible pupils transported.
| 2 | | When calculating the reimbursement for transportation | 3 | | costs, the State Board of Education may not deduct the number | 4 | | of pupils enrolled in early education programs from the number | 5 | | of pupils eligible for reimbursement if the pupils enrolled in | 6 | | the early education programs are transported at the same time | 7 | | as other eligible pupils.
| 8 | | Any such district transporting resident pupils during the | 9 | | school day
to an area vocational school or another school | 10 | | district's vocational
program more than 1 1/2 miles from the | 11 | | school attended, as provided in
Sections 10-22.20a and | 12 | | 10-22.22, shall be reimbursed by the State for 4/5
of the cost | 13 | | of transporting eligible pupils.
| 14 | | School day means that period of time during which the pupil | 15 | | is required to be
in attendance for instructional purposes.
| 16 | | If a pupil is at a location within the school district | 17 | | other than his
residence for child care purposes at the time | 18 | | for transportation to school,
that location may be considered | 19 | | for purposes of determining the 1 1/2 miles
from the school | 20 | | attended.
| 21 | | Claims for reimbursement that include children who attend | 22 | | any school
other than a public school shall show the number of | 23 | | such children
transported.
| 24 | | Claims for reimbursement under this Section shall not be | 25 | | paid for the
transportation of pupils for whom transportation | 26 | | costs are claimed for
payment under other Sections of this Act.
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| 1 | | The allowable direct cost of transporting pupils for | 2 | | regular, vocational,
and special education pupil | 3 | | transportation shall be limited to the sum of
the cost of | 4 | | physical examinations required for employment as a school bus
| 5 | | driver; the salaries of full-time or part-time drivers and | 6 | | school bus maintenance
personnel; employee benefits excluding | 7 | | Illinois municipal retirement
payments, social security | 8 | | payments, unemployment insurance payments and
workers' | 9 | | compensation insurance premiums; expenditures to independent
| 10 | | carriers who operate school buses; payments to other school | 11 | | districts for
pupil transportation services; pre-approved | 12 | | contractual expenditures for
computerized bus scheduling; | 13 | | expenditures for housing assistance and homeless prevention | 14 | | under Sections 1-17 and 1-18 of the Education for Homeless | 15 | | Children Act that are not in excess of the school district's | 16 | | actual costs for providing transportation services and are not | 17 | | otherwise claimed in another State or federal grant that | 18 | | permits those costs to a parent, a legal guardian, any other | 19 | | person who enrolled a pupil, or a homeless assistance agency | 20 | | that is part of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance | 21 | | Act's continuum of care for the area in which the district is | 22 | | located; the cost of gasoline, oil, tires, and other
supplies | 23 | | necessary for the operation of school buses; the cost of
| 24 | | converting buses' gasoline engines to more fuel efficient | 25 | | engines or to
engines which use alternative energy sources; the | 26 | | cost of travel to
meetings and workshops conducted by the |
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| 1 | | regional superintendent or the
State Superintendent of | 2 | | Education pursuant to the standards established by
the | 3 | | Secretary of State under Section 6-106 of the Illinois Vehicle | 4 | | Code to improve the driving skills of
school bus drivers; the | 5 | | cost of maintenance of school buses including parts
and | 6 | | materials used; expenditures for leasing transportation | 7 | | vehicles,
except interest and service charges; the cost of | 8 | | insurance and licenses for
transportation vehicles; | 9 | | expenditures for the rental of transportation
equipment; plus a | 10 | | depreciation allowance of 20% for 5 years for school
buses and | 11 | | vehicles approved for transporting pupils to and from school | 12 | | and
a depreciation allowance of 10% for 10 years for other | 13 | | transportation
equipment so used.
Each school year, if a school | 14 | | district has made expenditures to the
Regional Transportation | 15 | | Authority or any of its service boards, a mass
transit | 16 | | district, or an urban transportation district under an
| 17 | | intergovernmental agreement with the district to provide for | 18 | | the
transportation of pupils and if the public transit carrier | 19 | | received direct
payment for services or passes from a school | 20 | | district within its service
area during the 2000-2001 school | 21 | | year, then the allowable direct cost of
transporting pupils for | 22 | | regular, vocational, and special education pupil
| 23 | | transportation shall also include the expenditures that the | 24 | | district has
made to the public transit carrier.
In addition to | 25 | | the above allowable costs school
districts shall also claim all | 26 | | transportation supervisory salary costs,
including Illinois |
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| 1 | | municipal retirement payments, and all transportation
related | 2 | | building and building maintenance costs without limitation.
| 3 | | Special education allowable costs shall also include | 4 | | expenditures for the
salaries of attendants or aides for that | 5 | | portion of the time they assist
special education pupils while | 6 | | in transit and expenditures for parents and
public carriers for | 7 | | transporting special education pupils when pre-approved
by the | 8 | | State Superintendent of Education.
| 9 | | Indirect costs shall be included in the reimbursement claim | 10 | | for districts
which own and operate their own school buses. | 11 | | Such indirect costs shall
include administrative costs, or any | 12 | | costs attributable to transporting
pupils from their | 13 | | attendance centers to another school building for
| 14 | | instructional purposes. No school district which owns and | 15 | | operates its own
school buses may claim reimbursement for | 16 | | indirect costs which exceed 5% of
the total allowable direct | 17 | | costs for pupil transportation.
| 18 | | The State Board of Education shall prescribe uniform | 19 | | regulations for
determining the above standards and shall | 20 | | prescribe forms of cost
accounting and standards of determining | 21 | | reasonable depreciation. Such
depreciation shall include the | 22 | | cost of equipping school buses with the
safety features | 23 | | required by law or by the rules, regulations and standards
| 24 | | promulgated by the State Board of Education, and the Department | 25 | | of
Transportation for the safety and construction of school | 26 | | buses provided,
however, any equipment cost reimbursed by the |
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| 1 | | Department of Transportation
for equipping school buses with | 2 | | such safety equipment shall be deducted
from the allowable cost | 3 | | in the computation of reimbursement under this
Section in the | 4 | | same percentage as the cost of the equipment is depreciated.
| 5 | | On or before August 15, annually, the chief school | 6 | | administrator for
the district shall certify to the State | 7 | | Superintendent of Education the
district's claim for | 8 | | reimbursement for the school year ending on June 30
next | 9 | | preceding. The State Superintendent of Education shall check | 10 | | and
approve the claims and prepare the vouchers showing the | 11 | | amounts due for
district reimbursement claims. Each fiscal | 12 | | year, the State
Superintendent of Education shall prepare and | 13 | | transmit the first 3
vouchers to the Comptroller on the 30th | 14 | | day of September, December and
March, respectively, and the | 15 | | final voucher, no later than June 20.
| 16 | | If the amount appropriated for transportation | 17 | | reimbursement is insufficient
to fund total claims for any | 18 | | fiscal year, the State Board of Education shall
reduce each | 19 | | school district's allowable costs and flat grant amount
| 20 | | proportionately to make total adjusted claims equal the total | 21 | | amount
appropriated.
| 22 | | For purposes of calculating claims for reimbursement under | 23 | | this Section
for any school year beginning July 1, 1998, or | 24 | | thereafter, the
equalized
assessed valuation for a school | 25 | | district used to compute reimbursement
shall be computed in the | 26 | | same manner as it is computed under paragraph (2) of
subsection |
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| 1 | | (G) of Section 18-8.05.
| 2 | | All reimbursements received from the State shall be | 3 | | deposited into the
district's transportation fund or into the | 4 | | fund from which the allowable
expenditures were made.
| 5 | | Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school | 6 | | district receiving
a payment under this Section or under | 7 | | Section 14-7.02, 14-7.02b, or
14-13.01 of this Code may | 8 | | classify all or a portion of the funds that it
receives in a | 9 | | particular fiscal year or from general State aid pursuant to
| 10 | | Section 18-8.05 of this Code
as funds received in connection | 11 | | with any funding program for which it is
entitled to receive | 12 | | funds from the State in that fiscal year (including,
without | 13 | | limitation, any funding program referenced in this Section),
| 14 | | regardless of the source or timing of the receipt. The district | 15 | | may not
classify more funds as funds received in connection | 16 | | with the funding
program than the district is entitled to | 17 | | receive in that fiscal year for that
program. Any
| 18 | | classification by a district must be made by a resolution of | 19 | | its board of
education. The resolution must identify the amount | 20 | | of any payments or
general State aid to be classified under | 21 | | this paragraph and must specify
the funding program to which | 22 | | the funds are to be treated as received in
connection | 23 | | therewith. This resolution is controlling as to the
| 24 | | classification of funds referenced therein. A certified copy of | 25 | | the
resolution must be sent to the State Superintendent of | 26 | | Education.
The resolution shall still take effect even though a |
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| 1 | | copy of the resolution has
not been sent to the State
| 2 | | Superintendent of Education in a timely manner.
No
| 3 | | classification under this paragraph by a district shall affect | 4 | | the total amount
or timing of money the district is entitled to | 5 | | receive under this Code.
No classification under this paragraph | 6 | | by a district shall
in any way relieve the district from or | 7 | | affect any
requirements that otherwise would apply with respect | 8 | | to
that funding program, including any
accounting of funds by | 9 | | source, reporting expenditures by
original source and purpose,
| 10 | | reporting requirements,
or requirements of providing services.
| 11 | | Any school district with a population of not more than | 12 | | 500,000
must deposit all funds received under this Article into | 13 | | the transportation
fund and use those funds for the provision | 14 | | of transportation services.
| 15 | | (Source: P.A. 100-332, eff. 8-25-17; 100-465, eff. 8-31-17; | 16 | | 100-863, eff. 8-14-18.)
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