128th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1902		LR 2942(03)
	An Act To Implement Certain Recommendations of the Task Force To Identify Special Education Cost Drivers and Innovative Approaches to Services
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
	Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
Potential State Mandate - Unfunded
			FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	Projections  FY 2019-20	Projections  FY 2020-21
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$0	$435,135	$323,759	$338,967
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$0	$435,135	$323,759	$338,967
State Mandates
	Required Activity				Unit Affected	Local Cost
	Requires all school administrative units to enhance and upgrade the system of response to intervention for kindergarten to grade 12 to become an all-encompassing, tiered system of support for all general and special education students who are not progressing towards meeting the content standards of the paramenters for essential instruction and graduation requirements.				School	Significant statewide
	The required local activities in this bill may represent a state mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine. If the bill does require a local unit of government to expand or modify its activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenue, the state mandate provisions of the Constitution of Maine require either: (1) General Fund appropriations be provided to fund at least 90% of any additional necessitated local costs of the mandate; or (2) a Mandate Preamble be added to the bill and two-thirds of the members of each House vote to exempt the mandate from the funding requirement. If the bill does represent a state mandate and neither one of these actions occurs, the local units of government will not be required to implement the mandated activities.
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill includes General Fund appropriations totaling $435,135 in fiscal year 2018-19 to the Special Services Team program within the Department of Education for the costs associated with enhancing and upgrading the system of response to intervention and a review of the MaineCare billing systems and procedures as it relates to school administrative units (SAU's) billing for medically necessary services.
	Of this amount, $285,135 is provided to establish one Public Service Coordinator position and 2 Education Specialist III positions and related All Other costs associated with the upgrading and enhancing of the response to intervention systems including administration and monitoring as well as providing technical assistance to SAU's.  Additionally, $150,000 is provided in fiscal year 2018-19 only for the review of the MaineCare billing systems and processes as it relates to SAU's billing for medically necessary services.
	This legislation requires the Education Research Institute (ERI) to investigate and address the costs associated with special education litigation and educational program materials if approved by the steering committee of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute for inclusion in the cooperative project agreement approved for fiscal year 2018-19.
	The Department of Education's General Purpose Aid for Local Schools program has funding of $250,000 in  2018-19 to support the work of the ERI, which was established in Public Law 1995, c. 395, Part J  to collect and analyze education information and perform targeted education research for the Legislature.  This fiscal note assumes that funding for the ERI in fiscal year 2018-19 included in the 2018-2019 biennial budget and allocated in LD 1869, An Act To Establish the total Cost of Education and the State and Local Contributions to Education for Fiscal Year 2018-19 and To Provide That Employees of School Management and Leadership Centers Are Eligible To Participate in the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, will be sufficient to support the cost of the research project in this bill.
	Any additional costs to the Department of Health and Human Services to take part in the working group to address problems in the current MaineCare billing system and processes for medically necessary services are expected to be minor and can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources.