‘Sec. 3. Review of maintenance of effort allocation component. The Department of Education shall review the maintenance of effort funding component of the essential programs and services funding formula to determine the purpose of the funding, whether it is accomplishing this purpose, why some school administrative units' expenditures are consistent with the funding formula allocation model and some are not and how to increase the equity of special education allocations across all school administrative units. The department shall invite input from state and local stakeholders and policy makers. The department shall report its findings and recommendations, including any statutory changes, to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs not later than March 15, 2019. After review of the report, the committee may report out a bill related to increasing equity of special education allocations across all school administrative units.’
Amend the bill in section 2 in §4710 in subsection 1 in the 3rd line (page 2, line 25 in L.D.) by striking out the following: " prekindergarten" and inserting the following: ' kindergarten'
Amend the bill by striking out all of sections 3 to 12 and inserting the following:
Amend the bill in section 13 in the last paragraph in the 3rd line from the end (page 6, line 25 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "January 15, 2019" and inserting the following: 'January 15, 2020'
Amend the bill in section 13 in the last paragraph in the last line (page 6, line 27 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "First" and inserting the following: 'Second'
Amend the bill in section 14 in the first paragraph in the last line (page 7, line 2 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "January 15," and inserting the following: 'March 1,'
Amend the bill by inserting after section 14 the following:
‘Sec. 15. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF
Special Services Team Z080
Initiative: Provides one-time funds for the pilot program to review and improve MaineCare billing systems and procedures as they relate to school administrative units' billing for medically necessary services.
| GENERAL FUND | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
|
All Other
|
$0 | $150,000 |
 |
|
|
| GENERAL FUND TOTAL | $0 | $150,000 |
Special Services Team Z080
Initiative: Provides funds for one Public Service Coordinator position and 2 Education Specialist III positions and related All Other costs to provide technical assistance, administration and monitoring of the tiered system of support for response to intervention systems.
| GENERAL FUND | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
|
POSITIONS - LEGISLATIVE COUNT
|
0.000 | 3.000 |
|
Personal Services
|
$0 | $265,542 |
|
All Other
|
$0 | $19,593 |
|
|
|
| GENERAL FUND TOTAL | $0 | $285,135 |
| EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF | ||
| DEPARTMENT TOTALS | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
|
GENERAL FUND
|
$0 | $435,135 |
|
|
|
| DEPARTMENT TOTAL - ALL FUNDS | $0 | $435,135 |
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is a minority report of the committee, narrows the focus of the bill to the addition of response to intervention systems to ensure an all-encompassing, tiered system of support for general and special education students; a review of the purpose of the maintenance of effort component of the essential programs and services funding formula and whether it is accomplishing this purpose and how to increase equity among all school administrative units; a review and improvement of MaineCare billing systems and procedures through a pilot program through the Department of Education in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services; and a requirement that the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs submit a request for consideration by the steering committee of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute to include a research project to investigate and address the costs associated with special education litigation and educational program materials. The amendment also delays the reporting dates to ensure adequate time for review. The amendment also adds an appropriations and allocations section.