122nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1772		LR 3023(02)
	An Act to Improve Early Childhood Special Education
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment "   "
	Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
					Projections	Projections
			2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		($1,144,500)	$1,144,500	$1,144,500	$1,144,500
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		($1,144,500)	$1,144,500	$1,144,500	$1,144,500
	Federal Expenditures Fund		($371,566)	($1,582,273)	($1,582,273)	($1,582,273)
Current Costs - Legislative Study
Legislative Study
	The projected costs of the four legislative members of the Subcommittee to Study Early Childhood Special Education are $1,680 in fiscal year 2006-07.  The Legislature's budget includes $20,000 in fiscal year 2006-07 for legislative studies.  Whether the amount is sufficient to fund all studies will depend on the number of studies authorized by the Legislative Council and the Legislature.
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	Public Law 2005, c. 12, Part YY deappropriated $6,300,000 in fiscal year 2006-07 from the Child Development Services (Preschool Handicapped) program within the Department of Education and required the Commissioner of Education to develop a plan to restructure the CDS system to achieve savings through administrative and program cost efficiencies.  The purpose of this legislation is to implement the proposals in the plan to achieve savings through the reorganization of the delivery of certain early childhood special education services and the centralization of certain administrative services.
	The Department of Education has estimated that these changes will result in total General Fund savings of $6.13 million over the 2006-2007 biennium with approximately $5.0 million being saved in the Child Development Services program and an additional $1.13 million being saved in the MaineCare program within the Department of Health and Human Services.  Of the $5.0 million in anticipated savings from the Child Development Services program over the 2006-2007 biennium, approximately $0.9 million is expected to be generated in fiscal year 2005-06 and $4.1 million generated in fiscal year 2006-07.   Since the CDS program General Fund account is not a carrying account, any funds remaining at the end of fiscal year 2005-06 will lapse to the General Fund.  This bill includes a General Fund deappropriation of $930,000 in fiscal year 2005-06 and a General Fund appropriation of $930,000 in fiscal year 2006-07 to the Child Development Services program within the Department of Education in order to recognize the FY06 savings in FY07.
	The bill includes General Fund deappropriations of $214,500 in fiscal year 2005-06 and $922,116 in fiscal year 2006-07 for the MaineCare program based on the assumption of savings associated with the decline in enrollment, adherence to current eligibility criteria and other changes in evaluations and service delivery and the delivery of certain autism programs.  The bill also includes Federal Expenditures Fund deallocations of $371,566 in fiscal year 2005-06 and $1,582,273 in fiscal year 2006-07 associated with the federal Medicaid match.  The Department of Health and Human Services has not confirmed that these savings can be achieved or will not be offset by other increases in MaineCare spending.  If net savings are not realized, these deappropriations will make it more difficult for the MaineCare program to keep spending within budgeted resources.
	As stated above, the measures proposed in this bill are estimated to generate approximately $6.13 million in savings in fiscal year 2006-07 which is $0.17 million below the $6.3 million savings required in FY 2006-07.  If additional savings are not found, an additional General Fund appropriation may be needed in FY 2006-07 for the Child Development Services program for the shortfall.