Due to some technical difficulties on Friday we were
unable to send out the weekly message. Fortunately we have an FY05 budget to
share with you today. The General Assembly approved the budget Saturday
night.
We are still in the process of reviewing the numbers,
but the following link http://www.isbe.net/budget/FY05/final_FY05_budget.pdf
will allow you to view the year-to-year comparison. As I suspected last week,
there was a significant amount of money cut from assessment. The budget provides
a $154 increase to General State Aid bringing up the foundation level to $4,964,
which corresponds with the chart that we sent Thursday of last week http://www.isbe.net/budget/county_order.pdf.
The budget further includes $10 million for fast growth districts and $7.7
million in Transition assistance.
Funding for the Mandated Categorical Grant
follows:
Early Childhood funding has increased by nearly $30
million, while money was cut from the Reading Improvement Block Grant, Extending
Learning Opportunities, Technology for Success, Career
and Technical Education Programs and several other
areas.
There are two line-items that are cause for great
concern. There is inadequate funding for Emergency Financial Assistance and
Temporary Relocation, where we need an additional transfer of $1.3 million to
sufficiently assist districts in need. Additionally, the budget includes only
$1.67 million for District Consolidation, but our demands actually equal $4.2
million. School districts making claims under both of these areas could be
adversely affected this coming school year.
We are still in the process of reviewing what this means
for districts. But the above link does provide an overview. In the meantime I
assure you that as we begin to get some clarification on what some of these
budget increases and decreases mean we will keep you abreast of that
information.
Robert Schiller
State Superintendent
of Education
Below you will find important information that should
have been sent out Friday.
I would like to take this
opportunity to invite you to the 2004 Annual Superintendents Conference. Plans for this event are well underway.
At the request of many who suggested returning to a statewide conference,
ISBE will host the event at the Hilton Springfield Hotel.
Our theme this year is “The Big Picture: Education Prekindergarten through
20.” Attendees this year will have the opportunity to hear from
nationally renowned speakers on a variety of topics covering education. ISBE staff, award-winning school
principals and external exhibitors will also be on hand to provide information
throughout the conference.
For a downloadable flier and registration, please go to:
http://www.isbe.net/pdf/supts_conference_reg.pdf
We look forward to hearing from
you.
Included
in today’s message:
·
The Children’s Mental
Health Act of 2003
·
Waiver Procedure-Eligible
Applicants
·
Supplemental Data for
FY03/FY04 Federal Performance Reports
·
School Treasurer
Bonds
·
News
Clips
The
Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003
Recognizing that
“[c]hildren’s social development and emotional development are essential
underpinnings to school readiness and academic success,” the
The IASB sample policies and
procedures were developed with insight from the School Policy and Standards
Committee of the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership. The Partnership will continue to produce
more information and material on this important subject.
In an effort to help all
Policy
6:65, Student Social and Emotional Development,
is the key policy for district compliance with the Children’s Mental
Health Act. It requires that
student social and emotional development be incorporated in the district’s
educational program consistently with the social and emotional development
standards contained in the Illinois Learning Standards. ISBE has until December 31, 2004 to develop and implement a plan to incorporate
social and emotional development standards into the Illinois Learning standards.
Policy
7:250, Student Support
Services, was amended to direct the superintendent to develop
protocols for responding to students with social, emotional, or mental health
problems that impact learning ability.
Administrative
Procedure 7:250-AP2,
Protocol for
Responding to Students with Social, Emotional, or Mental Health
Problems, was added.
Staff members are directed to refer a student suspected of having social,
emotional, or mental health problems to the building-level Student Support
Committee that is annually appointed by the building principal. The committee reviews information about
a referred student, including prior interventions, and suggests appropriate
steps for referral and follow-up.
Waiver
procedure – eligible applicants
Public Act 93-0707, effective July
9, 2004, expands the pool of applicants eligible
to apply for waivers or modifications of School Code mandates or State Board
of Education rules to include regional superintendents of schools and joint
agreements.
Eligible
applicants are:
The full text of P.A. 93-0707 is available
at:
http://www.legis.state.il.us/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?name=093-0707
Public
notice requirements:
Please note the following public notice
requirements from P.A. 93-0707 and Section 2-3.25g of the School Code (105
ILCS 5/2-3.25g):
Public
hearing on application for waiver or modification: A public hearing must be held by ALL
applicants. For applicants with
governing boards (including school districts, joint agreements, and
ISCs), the date identified for the public hearing must be a day other
than the day on which a regular board meeting is held.
Required
notices of public hearing: ALL
applicants must provide the following notices to inform the public and others of
the hearing date. Each notice must
state the time, date, location and general subject matter of the
hearing.
Please note that all other public notice requirements
and deadlines for the waiver process remain unchanged by the passage of this new
Act. They are still in effect and
must be followed whenever an eligible applicant submits an application for a
waiver or modification of law and rules.
As a reminder, the next deadline for submission of a waiver
of a School Code mandate is postmarked by Friday, August 13, 2004, for inclusion in
the October 2004 report to the General Assembly and action during Fall Veto
Session. Applications to waive ISBE rules, or
to modify a School Code mandate or ISBE rules, can be submitted at any
time, so long as the applicant allows the 45 days allotted by law for the
State Board to act on the request.
Additional information on the waiver/modification
process is available on the State Board’s website at http://www.isbe.net/isbewaivers/default.htm. If you have any questions, please call
Winnie Tuthill or Shelley Helton at (217) 782-5270.
Supplemental
Data for FY03/FY04 Federal Performance Reports
The one time only data collection form
‘Supplemental Data for FY03 / FY04 Federal Performance Reports’
is ready in IWAS for the district superintendents to use in submitting
information. In the spring of 2004, the U.S. Department of Education
required the state and local districts to submit supplemental data on drug,
alcohol, weapons and violence related suspension and expulsion. Please
provide the district level information, and submit it to the Illinois State
Board of Education by September 15, 004.
Please call the ISBE Helpdesk at 217/558-3600 if you have questions regarding
the submission of the Supplemental Data for FY03 / FY04 Federal Performance
Reports through IWAS.
School
Treasurer Bonds
Section 3-8 and Section 8-2 of the School Code (105 ILCS
5/3-8 and 105 ILCS 5/8-2) require Regional Superintendents of Schools to file an
affidavit with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) showing which
treasurers of school districts in their region are properly bonded. This affidavit must be filed
by September 1
of each year. Copies of the
actual school treasurer bond do not have to be filed with
ISBE.
Section 8-2 of the School Code (105 ILCS 5/8-2) requires
each treasurer of a school district to be properly bonded. The penalty of the bond shall be 25% of
the amount of all bonds, notes, mortgages, moneys and effects of which the
treasurer is to have custody. The
bond shall be increased or decreased from time to time, as the increase or
decrease of the amount of notes, bonds, mortgages, moneys and effects may
require. The bond shall be payable
to the township trustees of schools over the district or payable to the school
board of the district, whichever is applicable. The bond shall be filed with the
Regional Superintendent of Schools.
Section 3-8 of the School Code (105 ILCS 5/3-8)
describes the duties of the Regional Superintendent of Schools upon receipt of
the treasurer bonds. When the bond
of any school treasurer is filed with the Regional Superintendent of Schools,
the Regional Superintendent shall carefully examine it. If the bond is found to be in all
respects according to law and the sureties sufficient, the Regional
Superintendent shall endorse his/her approval and file it with the papers of
his/her office. If the bond is in
any respect defective, or if the sureties are insufficient, the bond shall be
returned for correction.
Electronic version of the Affidavit, and other
information, can be found on the ISBE website at: www.isbe.net\sfms\html\t_bonds.htm
If you have questions, please contact Michelle Heninger
at 217.785.8779 or e-mail her at mheninge@isbe.net
News
Clips