Public Act 097-0238
 
SB1742 EnrolledLRB097 09922 NHT 50085 b

    AN ACT concerning education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections
1C-4 and 1D-1 as follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/1C-4)
    Sec. 1C-4. Reports. The State Superintendent of Education,
in cooperation with the school districts participating under
this Article, shall annually report to the leadership of the
General Assembly on the progress made in implementing this
Article. By February 1, 1997, the State Board of Education
shall submit to the Governor and General Assembly a
comprehensive plan for Illinois school districts, including
the school district that has been organized under Article 34
and is under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Board of
Education, to establish and implement a block grant funding
system for educational programs that are currently funded
through single-program grants. Before submitting its plan to
establish and implement a block grant funding system to the
Governor and General Assembly as required by this Section, the
State Board of Education shall give appropriate notice of and
hold statewide public hearings on the subject of funding
educational programs through block grants. The plan shall be
designed to relieve school districts of the administrative
burdens that impede efficiency and accompany single-program
funding.
    A school district that receives an Early Childhood
Education Block Grant shall report to the State Board of
Education on its use of the block grant in such form and detail
as the State Board of Education may specify. In addition, the
report 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. The State Board of Education shall ensure that the
reporting requirements for a district organized under Article
34 of this Code are the same as for all other school districts
in this State.
(Source: P.A. 88-555, eff. 7-27-94; 89-397, eff. 8-20-95;
89-610, eff. 8-6-96.)
 
    (105 ILCS 5/1D-1)
    Sec. 1D-1. Block grant funding.
    (a) For fiscal year 1996 and each fiscal year thereafter,
the State Board of Education shall award to a school district
having a population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants a general
education block grant and an educational services block grant,
determined as provided in this Section, in lieu of distributing
to the district separate State funding for the programs
described in subsections (b) and (c). The provisions of this
Section, however, do not apply to any federal funds that the
district is entitled to receive. In accordance with Section
2-3.32, all block grants are subject to an audit. Therefore,
block grant receipts and block grant expenditures shall be
recorded to the appropriate fund code for the designated block
grant.
    (b) The general education block grant shall include the
following programs: REI Initiative, Summer Bridges, Preschool
At Risk, K-6 Comprehensive Arts, School Improvement Support,
Urban Education, Scientific Literacy, Substance Abuse
Prevention, Second Language Planning, Staff Development,
Outcomes and Assessment, K-6 Reading Improvement, 7-12
Continued Reading Improvement, Truants' Optional Education,
Hispanic Programs, Agriculture Education, Parental Education,
Prevention Initiative, Report Cards, and Criminal Background
Investigations. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
all amounts paid under the general education block grant from
State appropriations to a school district in a city having a
population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants shall be appropriated
and expended by the board of that district for any of the
programs included in the block grant or any of the board's
lawful purposes.
    (c) The educational services block grant shall include the
following programs: Bilingual, Regular and Vocational
Transportation, State Lunch and Free Breakfast Program,
Special Education (Personnel, Transportation, Orphanage,
Private Tuition), funding for children requiring special
education services, Summer School, Educational Service
Centers, and Administrator's Academy. This subsection (c) does
not relieve the district of its obligation to provide the
services required under a program that is included within the
educational services block grant. It is the intention of the
General Assembly in enacting the provisions of this subsection
(c) to relieve the district of the administrative burdens that
impede efficiency and accompany single-program funding. The
General Assembly encourages the board to pursue mandate waivers
pursuant to Section 2-3.25g.
    The funding program included in the educational services
block grant for funding for children requiring special
education services in each fiscal year shall be treated in that
fiscal year as a payment to the school district in respect of
services provided or costs incurred in the prior fiscal year,
calculated in each case as provided in this Section. Nothing in
this Section shall change the nature of payments for any
program that, apart from this Section, would be or, prior to
adoption or amendment of this Section, was on the basis of a
payment in a fiscal year in respect of services provided or
costs incurred in the prior fiscal year, calculated in each
case as provided in this Section.
    (d) For fiscal year 1996 and each fiscal year thereafter,
the amount of the district's block grants shall be determined
as follows: (i) with respect to each program that is included
within each block grant, the district shall receive an amount
equal to the same percentage of the current fiscal year
appropriation made for that program as the percentage of the
appropriation received by the district from the 1995 fiscal
year appropriation made for that program, and (ii) the total
amount that is due the district under the block grant shall be
the aggregate of the amounts that the district is entitled to
receive for the fiscal year with respect to each program that
is included within the block grant that the State Board of
Education shall award the district under this Section for that
fiscal year. In the case of the Summer Bridges program, the
amount of the district's block grant shall be equal to 44% of
the amount of the current fiscal year appropriation made for
that program.
    (e) The district is not required to file any application or
other claim in order to receive the block grants to which it is
entitled under this Section. The State Board of Education shall
make payments to the district of amounts due under the
district's block grants on a schedule determined by the State
Board of Education.
    (f) A school district to which this Section applies shall
report to the State Board of Education on its use of the block
grants in such form and detail as the State Board of Education
may specify. In addition, the report 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. The State Board of
Education shall ensure that the reporting requirements for the
district are the same as for all other school districts in this
State.
    (g) This paragraph provides for the treatment of block
grants under Article 1C for purposes of calculating the amount
of block grants for a district under this Section. Those block
grants under Article 1C are, for this purpose, treated as
included in the amount of appropriation for the various
programs set forth in paragraph (b) above. The appropriation in
each current fiscal year for each block grant under Article 1C
shall be treated for these purposes as appropriations for the
individual program included in that block grant. The proportion
of each block grant so allocated to each such program included
in it shall be the proportion which the appropriation for that
program was of all appropriations for such purposes now in that
block grant, in fiscal 1995.
    Payments to the school district under this Section with
respect to each program for which payments to school districts
generally, as of the date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd
General Assembly, are on a reimbursement basis shall continue
to be made to the district on a reimbursement basis, pursuant
to the provisions of this Code governing those programs.
    (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school
district receiving a block grant under this Section may
classify all or a portion of the funds that it receives in a
particular fiscal year from any block grant authorized under
this Code or from general State aid pursuant to Section 18-8.05
of this Code (other than supplemental general State aid) as
funds received in connection with any funding program for which
it is entitled to receive funds from the State in that fiscal
year (including, without limitation, any funding program
referred to in subsection (c) of this Section), regardless of
the source or timing of the receipt. The district may not
classify more funds as funds received in connection with the
funding program than the district is entitled to receive in
that fiscal year for that program. Any classification by a
district must be made by a resolution of its board of
education. The resolution must identify the amount of any block
grant or general State aid to be classified under this
subsection (h) and must specify the funding program to which
the funds are to be treated as received in connection
therewith. This resolution is controlling as to the
classification of funds referenced therein. A certified copy of
the resolution must be sent to the State Superintendent of
Education. The resolution shall still take effect even though a
copy of the resolution has not been sent to the State
Superintendent of Education in a timely manner. No
classification under this subsection (h) by a district shall
affect the total amount or timing of money the district is
entitled to receive under this Code. No classification under
this subsection (h) by a district shall in any way relieve the
district from or affect any requirements that otherwise would
apply with respect to the block grant as provided in this
Section, including any accounting of funds by source, reporting
expenditures by original source and purpose, reporting
requirements, or requirements of provision of services.
(Source: P.A. 92-568, eff. 6-26-02; 92-651, eff. 7-11-02;
93-21, eff. 7-1-03; 93-53, eff. 7-1-03; 93-1022, eff. 8-24-04.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1,
2011.