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Public Act 096-1264
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| HB4879 Enrolled | LRB096 15867 MJR 31109 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section |
29-5 as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/29-5) (from Ch. 122, par. 29-5) |
Sec. 29-5. Reimbursement by State for transportation. Any |
school
district, maintaining a school, transporting resident |
pupils to another
school district's vocational program, |
offered through a joint agreement
approved by the State Board |
of Education, as provided in Section
10-22.22 or transporting |
its resident pupils to a school which meets the
standards for |
recognition as established by the State Board of Education
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which provides transportation meeting the standards of safety, |
comfort,
convenience, efficiency and operation prescribed by |
the State Board of
Education for resident pupils in |
kindergarten or any of grades 1 through
12 who: (a) reside at |
least 1 1/2 miles as measured by the customary route of
travel, |
from the school attended; or (b) reside in areas where |
conditions are
such that walking constitutes a hazard to the |
safety of the child when
determined under Section 29-3; and (c) |
are transported to the school attended
from pick-up points at |
the beginning of the school day and back again at the
close of |
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the school day or transported to and from their assigned |
attendance
centers during the school day, shall be reimbursed |
by the State as hereinafter
provided in this Section.
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The State will pay the cost of transporting eligible pupils |
less the
assessed valuation in a dual school district |
maintaining secondary
grades 9 to 12 inclusive times a |
qualifying rate of .05%; in elementary
school districts |
maintaining grades K to 8 times a qualifying rate of
.06%; and |
in unit districts maintaining grades K to 12, including |
optional elementary unit districts and combined high school - |
unit districts, times a qualifying
rate of .07%; provided that |
for optional elementary unit districts and combined high school - |
unit districts, assessed valuation for high school purposes, |
as defined in Article 11E of this Code, must be used. To be |
eligible to receive reimbursement in excess of 4/5
of the cost |
to transport eligible pupils, a school district shall have a
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Transportation Fund tax rate of at least .12%. If a school |
district
does not have a .12% Transportation Fund tax rate, the |
amount of its
claim in excess of 4/5 of the cost of |
transporting pupils shall be
reduced by the sum arrived at by |
subtracting the Transportation Fund tax
rate from .12% and |
multiplying that amount by the districts equalized or
assessed |
valuation, provided, that in no case shall said reduction
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result in reimbursement of less than 4/5 of the cost to |
transport
eligible pupils.
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The minimum amount to be received by a district is $16 |
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times the
number of eligible pupils transported.
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When calculating the reimbursement for transportation |
costs, the State Board of Education may not deduct the number |
of pupils enrolled in early education programs from the number |
of pupils eligible for reimbursement if the pupils enrolled in |
the early education programs are transported at the same time |
as other eligible pupils.
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Any such district transporting resident pupils during the |
school day
to an area vocational school or another school |
district's vocational
program more than 1 1/2 miles from the |
school attended, as provided in
Sections 10-22.20a and |
10-22.22, shall be reimbursed by the State for 4/5
of the cost |
of transporting eligible pupils.
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School day means that period of time which the pupil is |
required to be
in attendance for instructional purposes.
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If a pupil is at a location within the school district |
other than his
residence for child care purposes at the time |
for transportation to school,
that location may be considered |
for purposes of determining the 1 1/2 miles
from the school |
attended.
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Claims for reimbursement that include children who attend |
any school
other than a public school shall show the number of |
such children
transported.
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Claims for reimbursement under this Section shall not be |
paid for the
transportation of pupils for whom transportation |
costs are claimed for
payment under other Sections of this Act.
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The allowable direct cost of transporting pupils for |
regular, vocational,
and special education pupil |
transportation shall be limited to the sum of
the cost of |
physical examinations required for employment as a school bus
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driver; the salaries of full or part-time drivers and school |
bus maintenance
personnel; employee benefits excluding |
Illinois municipal retirement
payments, social security |
payments, unemployment insurance payments and
workers' |
compensation insurance premiums; expenditures to independent
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carriers who operate school buses; payments to other school |
districts for
pupil transportation services; pre-approved |
contractual expenditures for
computerized bus scheduling; the |
cost of gasoline, oil, tires, and other
supplies necessary for |
the operation of school buses; the cost of
converting buses' |
gasoline engines to more fuel efficient engines or to
engines |
which use alternative energy sources; the cost of travel to
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meetings and workshops conducted by the regional |
superintendent or the
State Superintendent of Education |
pursuant to the standards established by
the Secretary of State |
under Section 6-106 of the Illinois Vehicle Code to improve the |
driving skills of
school bus drivers; the cost of maintenance |
of school buses including parts
and materials used; |
expenditures for leasing transportation vehicles,
except |
interest and service charges; the cost of insurance and |
licenses for
transportation vehicles; expenditures for the |
rental of transportation
equipment; plus a depreciation |
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allowance of 20% for 5 years for school
buses and vehicles |
approved for transporting pupils to and from school and
a |
depreciation allowance of 10% for 10 years for other |
transportation
equipment so used.
Each school year, if a school |
district has made expenditures to the
Regional Transportation |
Authority or any of its service boards, a mass
transit |
district, or an urban transportation district under an
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intergovernmental agreement with the district to provide for |
the
transportation of pupils and if the public transit carrier |
received direct
payment for services or passes from a school |
district within its service
area during the 2000-2001 school |
year, then the allowable direct cost of
transporting pupils for |
regular, vocational, and special education pupil
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transportation shall also include the expenditures that the |
district has
made to the public transit carrier.
In addition to |
the above allowable costs school
districts shall also claim all |
transportation supervisory salary costs,
including Illinois |
municipal retirement payments, and all transportation
related |
building and building maintenance costs without limitation.
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Special education allowable costs shall also include |
expenditures for the
salaries of attendants or aides for that |
portion of the time they assist
special education pupils while |
in transit and expenditures for parents and
public carriers for |
transporting special education pupils when pre-approved
by the |
State Superintendent of Education.
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Indirect costs shall be included in the reimbursement claim |
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for districts
which own and operate their own school buses. |
Such indirect costs shall
include administrative costs, or any |
costs attributable to transporting
pupils from their |
attendance centers to another school building for
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instructional purposes. No school district which owns and |
operates its own
school buses may claim reimbursement for |
indirect costs which exceed 5% of
the total allowable direct |
costs for pupil transportation.
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The State Board of Education shall prescribe uniform |
regulations for
determining the above standards and shall |
prescribe forms of cost
accounting and standards of determining |
reasonable depreciation. Such
depreciation shall include the |
cost of equipping school buses with the
safety features |
required by law or by the rules, regulations and standards
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promulgated by the State Board of Education, and the Department |
of
Transportation for the safety and construction of school |
buses provided,
however, any equipment cost reimbursed by the |
Department of Transportation
for equipping school buses with |
such safety equipment shall be deducted
from the allowable cost |
in the computation of reimbursement under this
Section in the |
same percentage as the cost of the equipment is depreciated.
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On or before August 15, annually, the chief school |
administrator for
the district shall certify to the State |
Superintendent of Education the
district's claim for |
reimbursement for the school year ending on June 30
next |
preceding. The State Superintendent of Education shall check |
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and
approve the claims and prepare the vouchers showing the |
amounts due for
district reimbursement claims. Each fiscal |
year, the State
Superintendent of Education shall prepare and |
transmit the first 3
vouchers to the Comptroller on the 30th |
day of September, December and
March, respectively, and the |
final voucher, no later than June 20.
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If the amount appropriated for transportation |
reimbursement is insufficient
to fund total claims for any |
fiscal year, the State Board of Education shall
reduce each |
school district's allowable costs and flat grant amount
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proportionately to make total adjusted claims equal the total |
amount
appropriated.
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For purposes of calculating claims for reimbursement under |
this Section
for any school year beginning July 1, 1998, or |
thereafter, the
equalized
assessed valuation for a school |
district used to compute reimbursement
shall be computed in the |
same manner as it is computed under paragraph (2) of
subsection |
(G) of Section 18-8.05.
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All reimbursements received from the State shall be |
deposited into the
district's transportation fund or into the |
fund from which the allowable
expenditures were made.
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Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school |
district receiving
a payment under this Section or under |
Section 14-7.02, 14-7.02b, or
14-13.01 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
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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),
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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
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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
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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
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Superintendent of Education in a timely manner.
No
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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 program, including any
accounting of funds by |
source, reporting expenditures by
original source and purpose,
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