HB3871 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB097 13463 RPM 57981 b

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB3871

Introduced 11/2/2011, by Rep. Luis Arroyo

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/1D-1

Amends the School Code. Provides that any school district receiving a block grant under the provision concerning block grant funding for districts with over 500,000 inhabitants shall be required to testify every year before the General Assembly regarding their overall annual budget and their budget request to the General Assembly for the following fiscal year. Provides that the testimony shall include plans to build or repair schools and to close or consolidate schools.

A BILL FOR

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 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: 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.

(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school district receiving a block grant under this Section shall be required to testify every year before the General Assembly regarding their overall annual budget and their budget request to the General Assembly for the following fiscal year. Such testimony shall include plans to build or repair schools and to close or consolidate schools.

(Source: P.A. 97-238, eff. 8-2-11; 97-324, eff. 8-12-11; revised 9-21-11.)