|
Public Act 098-0636
|
| SB2945 Enrolled | LRB098 17823 OMW 52947 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 |
14-7.02 as follows:
|
(105 ILCS 5/14-7.02) (from Ch. 122, par. 14-7.02)
|
Sec. 14-7.02. Children attending private schools, public
|
out-of-state schools, public school residential facilities or |
private
special education facilities. The General Assembly |
recognizes that non-public
schools or special education |
facilities provide an important service in the
educational |
system in Illinois.
|
If because of his or her disability the special education
|
program of a district is unable to meet the needs of a child |
and the
child attends a non-public school or special education |
facility, a
public out-of-state school or a special education |
facility owned and
operated by a county government unit that |
provides special educational
services required by the child and |
is in compliance with the appropriate
rules and regulations of |
the State Superintendent of Education, the
school district in |
which the child is a resident shall pay the actual
cost of |
tuition for special education and related services provided
|
during the regular school term and during the summer school |
|
term if the
child's educational needs so require, excluding |
room, board and
transportation costs charged the child by that |
non-public school or
special education facility, public |
out-of-state school or county special
education facility, or |
$4,500 per year, whichever is less, and shall
provide him any |
necessary transportation. "Nonpublic special
education |
facility" shall include a residential facility,
within or |
without the State of Illinois, which provides
special education |
and related services to meet the needs of the child by
|
utilizing private schools or public schools, whether located on |
the site
or off the site of the residential facility.
|
The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules and |
regulations
for determining when placement in a private special |
education facility
is appropriate. Such rules and regulations |
shall take into account
the various types of services needed by |
a child and the availability
of such services to the particular |
child in the public school.
In developing these rules and |
regulations the State Board of
Education shall consult with the |
Advisory Council on
Education of Children with Disabilities and |
hold public
hearings to secure recommendations from parents, |
school personnel,
and others concerned about this matter.
|
The State Board of Education shall also promulgate rules |
and
regulations for transportation to and from a residential |
school.
Transportation to and from home to a residential school |
more than once
each school term shall be subject to prior |
approval by the State
Superintendent in accordance with the |
|
rules and regulations of the State
Board.
|
A school district making tuition payments pursuant to this
|
Section is eligible for reimbursement from the State for the |
amount of
such payments actually made in excess of the district |
per capita tuition
charge for students not receiving special |
education services.
Such reimbursement shall be approved in |
accordance with Section 14-12.01
and each district shall file |
its claims, computed in accordance with rules
prescribed by the |
State Board of Education, on forms prescribed by the
State |
Superintendent of Education. Data used as a basis of |
reimbursement
claims shall be for the preceding regular school |
term and summer school
term. Each school district shall |
transmit its claims to the State Board of Education
on or |
before
August 15. The State Board of Education, before |
approving any such claims,
shall determine their accuracy and |
whether they are based upon services
and facilities provided |
under approved programs. Upon approval the State
Board shall |
cause vouchers to be prepared showing the amount due
for |
payment of reimbursement claims to school
districts, for |
transmittal to the State Comptroller on
the 30th day of |
September, December, and March, respectively, and the final
|
voucher, no later than June 20. If the
money appropriated by |
the General Assembly for such purpose for any year
is |
insufficient, it shall be apportioned on the basis of the |
claims approved.
|
No child shall be placed in a special education program |
|
pursuant to
this Section if the tuition cost for special |
education and related
services increases more than 10 percent |
over the tuition cost for the
previous school year or exceeds |
$4,500 per year unless such costs have
been approved by the |
Illinois Purchased Care Review Board. The
Illinois Purchased |
Care Review Board shall consist of the following
persons, or |
their designees: the Directors of Children and Family
Services, |
Public Health,
Public Aid, and the
Governor's Office of |
Management and Budget; the
Secretary of Human Services; the |
State Superintendent of Education; and such
other persons as |
the
Governor may designate. The Review Board shall establish |
rules and
regulations for its determination of allowable costs |
and payments made by
local school districts for special |
education, room and board, and other related
services provided |
by non-public schools or special education facilities and
shall |
establish uniform standards and criteria which it shall follow. |
The Review Board shall approve the usual and customary rate or |
rates of a special education program that (i) is offered by an |
out-of-state, non-public provider of integrated autism |
specific educational and autism specific residential services, |
(ii) offers 2 or more levels of residential care, including at |
least one locked facility, and (iii) serves 12 or fewer |
Illinois students.
|
The Review Board shall establish uniform definitions and |
criteria for
accounting separately by special education, room |
and board and other
related services costs. The Board shall |
|
also establish guidelines for
the coordination of services and |
financial assistance provided by all
State agencies to assure |
that no otherwise qualified disabled child
receiving services |
under Article 14 shall be excluded from participation
in, be |
denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under
|
any program or activity provided by any State agency.
|
The Review Board shall review the costs for special |
education and
related services provided by non-public schools |
or special education
facilities and shall approve or disapprove |
such facilities in accordance
with the rules and regulations |
established by it with respect to
allowable costs.
|
The State Board of Education shall provide administrative |
and staff support
for the Review Board as deemed reasonable by |
the State Superintendent of
Education. This support shall not |
include travel expenses or other
compensation for any Review |
Board member other than the State Superintendent of
Education.
|
The Review Board shall seek the advice of the Advisory |
Council on
Education of Children with Disabilities on the rules |
and
regulations to be
promulgated by it relative to providing |
special education services.
|
If a child has been placed in a program in which the actual |
per pupil costs
of tuition for special education and related |
services based on program
enrollment, excluding room, board and |
transportation costs, exceed $4,500 and
such costs have been |
approved by the Review Board, the district shall pay such
total |
costs which exceed $4,500. A district making such tuition |
|
payments in
excess of $4,500 pursuant to this Section shall be |
responsible for an amount in
excess of $4,500 equal to the |
district per capita
tuition charge and shall be eligible for |
reimbursement from the State for
the amount of such payments |
actually made in excess of the districts per capita
tuition |
charge for students not receiving special education services.
|
If a child has been placed in an approved individual |
program and the
tuition costs including room and board costs |
have been approved by the
Review Board, then such room and |
board costs shall be paid by the
appropriate State agency |
subject to the provisions of Section 14-8.01 of
this Act. Room |
and board costs not provided by a State agency other
than the |
State Board of Education shall be provided by the State Board
|
of Education on a current basis. In no event, however, shall |
the
State's liability for funding of these tuition costs begin |
until after
the legal obligations of third party payors have |
been subtracted from
such costs. If the money appropriated by |
the General Assembly for such
purpose for any year is |
insufficient, it shall be apportioned on the
basis of the |
claims approved. Each district shall submit estimated claims to |
the State
Superintendent of Education. Upon approval of such |
claims, the State
Superintendent of Education shall direct the |
State Comptroller to make payments
on a monthly basis. The |
frequency for submitting estimated
claims and the method of |
determining payment shall be prescribed in rules
and |
regulations adopted by the State Board of Education. Such |
|
current state
reimbursement shall be reduced by an amount equal |
to the proceeds which
the child or child's parents are eligible |
to receive under any public or
private insurance or assistance |
program. Nothing in this Section shall
be construed as |
relieving an insurer or similar third party from an
otherwise |
valid obligation to provide or to pay for services provided to
|
a disabled child.
|
If it otherwise qualifies, a school district is eligible |
for the
transportation reimbursement under Section 14-13.01 |
and for the
reimbursement of tuition payments under this |
Section whether the
non-public school or special education |
facility, public out-of-state
school or county special |
education facility, attended by a child who
resides in that |
district and requires special educational services, is
within |
or outside of the State of Illinois. However, a district is not
|
eligible to claim transportation reimbursement under this |
Section unless
the district certifies to the State |
Superintendent of Education that the
district is unable to |
provide special educational services required by
the child for |
the current school year.
|
Nothing in this Section authorizes the reimbursement of a |
school
district for the amount paid for tuition of a child |
attending a
non-public school or special education facility, |
public out-of-state
school or county special education |
facility unless the school district
certifies to the State |
Superintendent of Education that the special
education program |
|
of that district is unable to meet the needs of that child
|
because of his disability and the State Superintendent of |
Education finds
that the school district is in substantial |
compliance with Section 14-4.01. However, if a child is |
unilaterally placed by a State agency or any court in a |
non-public school or special education facility, public |
out-of-state school, or county special education facility, a |
school district shall not be required to certify to the State |
Superintendent of Education, for the purpose of tuition |
reimbursement, that the special education program of that |
district is unable to meet the needs of a child because of his |
or her disability.
|
Any educational or related services provided, pursuant to |
this
Section in a non-public school or special education |
facility or a
special education facility owned and operated by |
a county government
unit shall be at no cost to the parent or |
guardian of the child.
However, current law and practices |
relative to contributions by parents
or guardians for costs |
other than educational or related services are
not affected by |
this amendatory Act of 1978.
|
Reimbursement for children attending public school |
residential facilities
shall be made in accordance with the |
provisions of this Section.
|
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school |
district
receiving a payment under this Section or under |
Section 14-7.02b, 14-13.01, or
29-5 of this Code may classify |
|
all or a portion of the funds that
it receives in a particular |
fiscal year or from general State aid pursuant
to Section |
18-8.05 of this Code
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 referenced in 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 |
payments or
general State aid to be classified under this |
paragraph 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 |
paragraph 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 paragraph by a district shall
in |
any way relieve the district from or affect any
requirements |
that otherwise would apply with respect to
that funding |