Public Act 095-0811
 
HB4309 Enrolled LRB095 15452 NHT 41444 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 shall require teachers,
principals, or superintendents to furnish from records kept by
them such data as it needs in preparing and certifying to the
regional superintendent its school district report of claims
provided in Sections 18-8.05 through 18-9 as required by the
State Superintendent of Education. The district claim shall be
based on the latest available equalized assessed valuation and
tax rates, as provided in Section 18-8.05 and 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
regional superintendent by June 21 for districts with an
official school calendar end date before June 15 or within 2
weeks following the official school calendar end date for
districts with a school year end date of June 15 or later. The
regional superintendent shall certify and file with the State
Superintendent of Education district State aid claims by July 1
for districts with an official school calendar end date before
June 15 or no later than July 15 for districts with an official
school calendar 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 and
vouchered for payment. The regional superintendent of schools
shall certify the county report of claims by July 15; and 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 .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 the State Superintendent of Education determines that
the failure to provide the minimum school term was due to a
school being closed on or after September 11, 2001 for more
than one-half day of attendance due to a bioterrorism or
terrorism threat that was investigated by a law enforcement
agency, the State aid claim shall not be reduced.
    If, during any school day, (i) a school district has
provided at least one clock hour of instruction but must close
the schools due to adverse weather conditions or due to a
condition beyond the control of the school district that poses
a hazardous threat to the health and safety of pupils prior to
providing the minimum hours of instruction required for a full
day of attendance, (ii) the school district must delay the
start of the school day due to adverse weather conditions and
this delay prevents the district from providing the minimum
hours of instruction required for a full day of attendance, or
(iii) a school district has provided at least one clock hour of
instruction but must dismiss students from one or more
recognized school buildings due to a condition beyond the
control of the school district, the partial day of attendance
may be counted as a full day of attendance. If a school
district closes one or more recognized school buildings due to
a condition beyond the control of the district prior to
providing any instruction, then the district may claim a full
day of attendance for a maximum of 2 school days based on the
average of the 3 prior school days of attendance immediately
preceding the closure of the school building. The partial or no
day of attendance and the reasons therefor shall be certified
in writing within a month of the closing or delayed start by
the local school district superintendent to the Regional
Superintendent of Schools for forwarding to the State
Superintendent of Education for approval.
    If a school building is ordered to be closed by the school
board, in consultation with a local emergency response agency,
due to a condition that poses a hazardous threat to the health
and safety of pupils, then the school district shall have a
grace period of 4 days in which the general State aid claim
shall not be reduced so that alternative housing of the pupils
may be located.
    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.
    No State aid claim may be filed for any district unless the
district superintendent executes and files with the State
Superintendent of Education, in the method prescribed by the
Superintendent, certification that the district has complied
with the requirements of Section 10-22.5 in regard to the
nonsegregation of pupils on account of color, creed, race, sex
or nationality.
    No State aid claim may be filed for any district unless the
district superintendent executes and files with the State
Superintendent of Education, in the method prescribed by the
Superintendent, a sworn statement that to the best of his or
her knowledge or belief the employing or assigning personnel
have complied with Section 24-4 in all respects.
    Electronically submitted State aid claims shall be
submitted by duly authorized district or regional 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 through 18-9, 10-22.5, and 24-4 of this Code are met in
all respects.
(Source: P.A. 94-1105, eff. 6-1-07; 95-152, eff. 8-14-07;
revised 11-15-07.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1,
2008.