Public Act 100-0055
 
HB2426 EnrolledLRB100 10088 NHT 20261 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 Section 
1D-1 as follows:
 



    (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 
Education 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 Training 
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. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2018, at 
least 25% of any additional Preschool Education, Parental 
Training, and Prevention Initiative program funding over and 
above the previous fiscal year's allocation shall be used to 
fund programs for children ages 0-3. Beginning in Fiscal Year 
2018, funding for Preschool Education, Parental Training, and 
Prevention Initiative programs above the allocation for these 
programs in Fiscal Year 2017 must be used solely as a 
supplement for these programs and may not supplant funds 
received from other sources. 

    (c) The educational services block grant shall include the 
following
programs: 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. 97-238, eff. 8-2-11; 97-324, eff. 8-12-11; 
97-813, eff. 7-13-12.)


 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.