(1) Principal and interest on approved school construction costs; and

(2) Approved lease costs.; and

(3)__Approved special education tuition costs for an out-of-district placement.

Sec. 4. 20-A MRSA §15612, sub-§11, as amended by PL 1997, c. 736, §2, is further amended to read:

11. Special education tuition and costs for out-of-district placement adjustment. A school administrative unit that places a student in an out-of-district placement, in a regional program established consistent with section 7253 or in a regional program recognized by the department prior to July 1, 1997 must receive an adjustment equal to the amount, if any, by which the tuition, treatment and room and board costs for an approved out-of- district special education placement in the year of allocation exceeds 3 times the secondary foundation per pupil operating rate for that year, or a prorated amount if the placement is less than a full year. State payments to school administrative units pursuant to this subsection must be made during the year of allocation. The funds for the adjustment are limited to the amount appropriated by the Legislature for that purpose, and the department is authorized to prorate payments to units if the amount appropriated is insufficient to make full payments to all units.

Sec. 5. 20-A MRSA §15613, sub-§17, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 395, Pt. R, §1, is amended to read:

17. Unobligated balances. Unobligated balances from amounts appropriated for general purpose aid for local schools may not lapse but must be redistributed to school administrative units in the same fiscal year. The commissioner shall make the final determination of the total amount of unobligated funds and

must redistribute 75% of those funds to program costs and 25% of those funds to out-of-district placement costs. To redistribute the 75% portion unobligated balances to the state share of program costs, the reduction percentage originally calculated for program costs pursuant to section 15603, subsection 26-A, paragraph F must be reduced by an amount sufficient to distribute the 75% share unobligated funds. The reductions in these percentages the percentage apply to all program cost areas except the transportation operating cost allocation.

SUMMARY

This bill requires the State to reimburse a school administrative unit for 100% of the unit's special education tuition and costs for an out-of-district placement approved by the Commissioner of Education. Under this bill, the Department of Education is required to appropriate funds for out-of-district special education placements to those school administrative units that have submitted supporting evaluative data justifying the placement of an exceptional student in an approved regional program.