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70610012 - Circuit Breaker - Reimbursement for Special Education Residential Schools
Data Current as of: 6/22/2009
| Account | Description | FY2009 GAA |
FY2009 Total Spending |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7061-0012 | Circuit Breaker - Reimbursement for Special Education Residential Schools For the reimbursement of extraordinary special education costs under section 5A of chapter 71B of the General Laws; provided, that reimbursements shall be prorated so that expenses of this item do not exceed the amount appropriated in this item; provided further, that upon receipt by the department of elementary and secondary education of required special education cost reports from school districts, the department shall reimburse districts based on fiscal year 2008 claims; provided further, that not more than $11,250,000 shall be used to continue and expand voluntary residential placement prevention programs between the department of elementary and secondary education and other departments within the executive office of health and human services that develop community-based support services for children and their families; provided further, that of this $11,250,000, not less than $10,000,000 shall be made available to the department of mental retardation for the voluntary residential placement prevention program administered by that department; provided further, that $800,000 shall be expended for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic to provide books in accessible synthetic audio format made available through the federal NIMAS-NIMAC book repository, to do outreach and training of teachers and students for the use of NIMAS-NIMAC and human speech audio digital textbooks, and for human voice recording of MCAS exams; provided further, that, of this $800,000 $285,000 shall be expended for the costs of borrowing audio textbooks by special education students; provided further, that $200,000 of said $800,000 shall be targeted toward underserved communities in Barnstable, Bristol and Plymouth counties; provided further, that of this $800,000, not less than $25,000 shall be expended for the continuation of a pilot program for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic to provide the tenth grade math and English learning arts MCAS tests in audio digital format; provided further, that no funds shall be expended for the MCAS pilot program until the department of elementary and secondary education examines all security issues related to the pilot program and certifies to the legislature that the pilot program may be carried out without jeopardizing the security of the MCAS exams; provided further, that the report shall be completed not later than November 17, 2008 and shall be forwarded to the house and senate chairpersons of the joint committee on education and the chairpersons of the house and senate committees on ways and means; provided further, that $450,000 shall be expended for the funding of the costs of 10 intercollaborate networks throughout the Commonwealth to provide partial funding for transportation coordination, administrative support, software updates, maintenance and training; provided further, that the funding shall be expended for the purpose of expanding the pilot program to demonstrate that transportation of students to out-of-district special education placements can be accomplished at a lower cost and with improved quality of service by delegating the planning and contracting for such transportation to education collaborative networks; provided further, that $100,000 shall be expended for the administrative costs for statewide transportation network coordination that will provide funding to the Massachusetts Organization of Education Collaborative for staff, supplies and materials; provided further that the funding shall be expended for providing coordination and support services to the ten collaborative transportation networks; provided further that the special education transportation task force shall submit a report, detailing the reduction in routes, vendors, and savings for participating districts and also a cost model for regions served by the collaborative network by June 30, 2009 to the joint committee on education, and the house and senate committees on ways and means; provided further, that not more than $1,000,000 shall be expended for the monitoring and follow-up activities of the department's complaint management system, review and approval of local educational agency applications, and local school districts' compliance with the part B requirements of the federal Special Education Law, known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, in the provision of special education and related services to children with disabilities; provided further, that these monitoring activities shall occur in each school district in cycles of not less than 3 years; provided further, that not more than $500,000 shall be expended to administer the reimbursements funded herein; provided further, that notwithstanding said section 5A of said chapter 71B, the department, at the discretion of the commissioner, may expend up to $5,000,000 to reimburse districts for extraordinary increases in costs incurred during fiscal year 2009 which would be reimbursable under said section 5A of said chapter 71B; provided further, that reimbursements for current year costs shall be limited to school districts which experience increases of greater than 25 per cent from costs reimbursable under said section 5A of said chapter 71B and incurred during fiscal year 2008 to costs reimbursable under said section 5A of said chapter 71B and incurred during fiscal year 2009 or other cases of extraordinary hardship where special education costs increase in relationship to total district costs as the department may define through regulation or guidelines; provided further, that reimbursements for current year costs shall be allocated as one-time grants and shall not decrease reimbursements in the following fiscal year; provided further, that the department shall conduct audits of fiscal year 2008 claims; provided further, that if the claims are found to be inaccurate, the department shall recalculate the fiscal year 2009 reimbursement amount and adjust the third and fourth quarter payments to the districts to reflect the new reimbursement amount; and provided further, that the department shall file a report with the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than February 13, 2009 on the results of the audits; provided further, that not less than $2,000,000 shall be expended for partial reimbursement of transportation costs associated with out-of-district placements; provided further, that no district shall be eligible for said reimbursement unless it is participating in the special education transportation pilot program funded through this item, and demonstrates that they have used and applied special education transportation software to share routes; provided further, that all eligible districts shall receive an equal pro-rated share of their total eligible costs upon submission of claims to the department of elementary and secondary education; provided further, that the department of elementary and secondary education, based on the availability of funding, may expend up to $500,000 to identify, analyze and certify promising and best practices in public and approved special educational programs that can prevent or ameliorate either neurodevelopmental problems or other deficits leading to learning deficiencies or behavior problems that result in high cost Individual Education Plans; provided further, that a portion of these available funds shall be expended to provide grants for training, dissemination and applications of research identified as promising and best practices; and provided further, that a report shall be provided to the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on education not later than March 31, 2009 |
230,043,700 | 215,347,912 |
| SPENDING CATEGORY |
FY2005 Expended |
FY2006 Expended |
FY2007 Expended |
FY2008 Expended |
FY2009 GAA |
FY2009 Budget Reductions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wages & Salaries | 815 | 1,286 | 1,622 | 1,890 | 1,646 | -539 |
| Employee Benefits | 13 | 17 | 22 | 36 | 41 | 0 |
| Operating Expenses | 180 | 164 | 58 | 330 | 582 | -5 |
| Public Assistance | 198,559 | 190,687 | 200,961 | 210,633 | 227,175 | -14,108 |
| Grants & Subsidies | 0 | 300 | 300 | 555 | 600 | -50 |
| TOTAL | 199,568 | 192,454 | 202,965 | 213,445 | 230,044 | -14,702 |
FY2009 Spending Category Chart
EARMARK DESCRIPTION |
City / Town |
FY2009 GAA |
FY2009 9C Cuts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Intercollaborative Networks | Statewide | 450,000 | 0 |
| Transportation Network Coordination Administration | Statewide | 100,000 | 0 |
| Partial Transportation Cost Reimbursement | Statewide | 2,000,000 | -2,000,000 |
| Approved Special Education Program Analysis | Statewide | 500,000 | -500,000 |
| To continue and expand voluntary residential placement prevention programs between DOE and departments within EOHHS that develop community based services for children and their families | Statewide | 1,250,000 | 0 |
| For the monitoring and follow-up activities of the department's complaint management system | Statewide | 1,000,000 | 0 |
| To administer the reimbursements funded within this line item | Statewide | 500,000 | 0 |
| To reimburse districts for extraordinary increases in special education costs incurred | Statewide | 5,000,000 | -1,000,000 |
| Borrowing audiotaped textbooks - Barnstable, Bristol and Plymouth counties | Barnstable, Plymouth, Bristol | 200,000 | -100,000 |
| Recording for the blind and dyslexic pilot program for 10th grade math and English MCAS | Statewide | 25,000 | -12,500 |
| Borrowing audiotaped textbooks by special needs students | Statewide | 285,000 | -142,500 |
| To continue and expand voluntary residential placement prevention programs that develop community based services for children and their families at DMR | Statewide | 10,000,000 | -3,500,000 |
| To provide books for recording for the Blind and Dyslexic | Statewide | 290,000 | -145,000 |