| 122nd MAINE LEGISLATURE | |||||||||
| LD 1772 | LR 3023(01) | ||||||||
| An Act to Improve Early Childhood Special Education | |||||||||
| Fiscal Note for Original Bill | |||||||||
| Sponsor: Sen. Mitchell of Kennebec | |||||||||
| Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs | |||||||||
| Fiscal Note Required: Yes | |||||||||
| Fiscal Note | |||||||||
| Current Cost - State Mandate | |||||||||
| State Mandate | |||||||||
| New or Expanded Activity | Unit Affected | Costs | |||||||
| Requiring school administrative units to assume the responsibility for the children in its residential jurisdiction currently being served by the Child Development Services (CDS) system is a State mandate. Unless General Fund appropriations are provided to fund at least 90% of the additional costs or a Mandate Preamble is amended to the bill and two-thirds of the members of each House vote to exempt this mandate from the funding requirement, the school administrative units may not be required to implement the changes. | School | Significant | |||||||
| Fiscal Detail and Notes | |||||||||
| Public Law 2005, c. 12, Part YY deappropriated $6,300,000 in fiscal year 2006-07 from the Preschool Handicapped program within the Department of Education from savings achieved through administrative and program cost efficiencies and required the Commissioner of Education to develop a plan to restructure the CDS system and to report to the Legislature by November 1, 2005. The intent of this legislation is to implement the proposals in the November 2005 plan in order to achieve the required savings. However, whether the measures proposed in this bill will be sufficient to generate the $6.3 million savings required in FY 2006-07 can not be determined at this time. | |||||||||
| It is the intention of the Department of Education to utilize ongoing General Funds appropriations to the Preschool Handicapped program to fund the cost to school administrative units associated with providing early intervention services to children with disabilities. The current services budget for the 2006-2007 includes General Fund appropriations to the Preschool Handicapped program of $12.1 million in FY 2006-07. It is not clear whether funding in this program will be sufficient in future bienniums to fund 90% of the cost to local school administrative units to provide these services. | |||||||||
| Additional costs to the Department of Health and Human Services can not be determined at this time. | |||||||||