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kindergarten to grade 12 public school system. The current law |
| delays until 2010 the State's obligation to meet the 55% school |
| funding level. This bill removes all transitional language in that |
| law that would delay the full implementation of the State's 55% |
| school funding requirement. This bill also creates an essential |
| programs and services review panel, made up largely of educational |
| practitioners, that is charged with annually evaluating the school |
| funding allocation system with respect to the model's accuracy and |
| integrity. In addition, the bill redesigns the 100% special |
| education funding requirement, established as a year-to-year |
| reimbursement system according to the School Finance and Tax Reform |
| Act of 2003, as a current-year state funding requirement that |
| operates through the essential programs and services allocation |
| system as it pertains to special education. This bill also |
| establishes the system of managing both the Fund for the Efficient |
| Delivery of Educational Services and the Fund for the Efficient |
| Delivery of Local and Regional Services, both of which were created |
| by the School Finance and Tax Reform Act of 2003. By the |
| management systems created in the bill, grants from both funds |
| would be distributed to school administrative units and local or |
| regional governmental units that compete for project financing. |
| The bill establishes the review panels charged with reviewing and |
| awarding the efficiency grants, as well as the funding |
| qualifications and review criteria. |
