HB1254eng 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB1254 Engrossed LRB100 02962 NHT 12967 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 18-12 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/18-12) (from Ch. 122, par. 18-12)

Sec. 18-12. Dates for filing State aid claims. The school board of each school district, a regional office of education, a laboratory school, or a State-authorized charter school shall require teachers, principals, or superintendents to furnish from records kept by them such data as it needs in preparing and certifying to the State Superintendent of Education its report of claims provided in Section 18-8.05 of this Code. The claim shall be based on the latest available equalized assessed valuation and tax rates, as provided in Section 18-8.05, shall use the average daily attendance as determined by the method outlined in Section 18-8.05, and shall be certified and filed with the State Superintendent of Education by June 21 for districts and State-authorized charter schools with an official school calendar end date before June 15 or within 2 weeks following the official school calendar end date for districts, regional offices of education, laboratory schools, or State-authorized charter schools with a school year end date of June 15 or later. Failure to so file by these deadlines constitutes a forfeiture of the right to receive payment by the State until such claim is filed. The State Superintendent of Education shall voucher for payment those claims to the State Comptroller as provided in Section 18-11.

Except as otherwise provided in this Section, if any school district fails to provide the minimum school term specified in Section 10-19, the State aid claim for that year shall be reduced by the State Superintendent of Education in an amount equivalent to 1/176 or .56818% for each day less than the number of days required by this Code.

If the State Superintendent of Education determines that the failure to provide the minimum school term was occasioned by an act or acts of God, or was occasioned by conditions beyond the control of the school district which posed a hazardous threat to the health and safety of pupils, the State aid claim need not be reduced.

If a school district is precluded from providing the minimum hours of instruction required for a full day of attendance due to (A) an adverse weather condition, (B) or a condition beyond the control of the school district that poses a hazardous threat to the health and safety of students, or (C) beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the utilization of the school district's facilities for not more than 2 school days per school year by local or county authorities for the purpose of holding a memorial or funeral services in remembrance of a community member, then the partial day of attendance may be counted if (i) the school district has provided at least one hour of instruction prior to the closure of the school district, (ii) a school building has provided at least one hour of instruction prior to the closure of the school building, or (iii) the normal start time of the school district is delayed.

If, prior to providing any instruction, a school district must close one or more but not all school buildings after consultation with a local emergency response agency or due to a condition beyond the control of the school district, then the school district may claim attendance for up to 2 school days based on the average attendance of the 3 school days immediately preceding the closure of the affected school building or, if approved by the State Board of Education, utilize the provisions of an e-learning program for the affected school building as prescribed in Section 10-20.56 of this Code. The partial or no day of attendance described in this Section and the reasons therefore shall be certified within a month of the closing or delayed start by the school district superintendent to the regional superintendent of schools for forwarding to the State Superintendent of Education for approval.

Other than the utilization of any e-learning days as prescribed in Section 10-20.56 of this Code, no exception to the requirement of providing a minimum school term may be approved by the State Superintendent of Education pursuant to this Section unless a school district has first used all emergency days provided for in its regular calendar.

If the State Superintendent of Education declares that an energy shortage exists during any part of the school year for the State or a designated portion of the State, a district may operate the school attendance centers within the district 4 days of the week during the time of the shortage by extending each existing school day by one clock hour of school work, and the State aid claim shall not be reduced, nor shall the employees of that district suffer any reduction in salary or benefits as a result thereof. A district may operate all attendance centers on this revised schedule, or may apply the schedule to selected attendance centers, taking into consideration such factors as pupil transportation schedules and patterns and sources of energy for individual attendance centers.

Electronically submitted State aid claims shall be submitted by duly authorized district individuals over a secure network that is password protected. The electronic submission of a State aid claim must be accompanied with an affirmation that all of the provisions of Sections 18-8.05, 10-22.5, and 24-4 of this Code are met in all respects.

(Source: P.A. 99-194, eff. 7-30-15; 99-657, eff. 7-28-16.)

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