15-1204

15-1204. Voucher; application; approval;
requirements; budgets; prohibited uses; advances

A. When an institution decides to place a person in an institutional special
education program, the institution, upon application to and approval by the division of
special education, shall have a permanent special education institutional voucher issued
pursuant to this article to pay the special education instructional costs of the person
at the institution.

B. When an institution decides to place a person who resides in the institution in
a school special education program, the school, upon application to and approval by the
division of special education, shall have a permanent special education institutional
voucher issued pursuant to this article to pay the special education instructional costs
of the person in the school.

C. No person residing in an institution and attending a school may have a
certificate of educational convenience issued pursuant to section 15-825, subsection A.

D. The director of the division of special education shall develop requirements for
the approval of vouchers, pursuant to this section, including the requirement that the
person be educationally evaluated.

E. If approved, the voucher, in an amount not exceeding the sum of the following,
shall be paid directly to the institution or deposited with the county treasurer to the
credit of the school, with notice to the county school superintendent:

1. For group A, the base level multiplied by two.

2. For group B, the sum of the base for kindergarten through eight and the support
level weight for the category, multiplied by the base level.

3. For both group A and group B, one hundred dollars for capital outlay costs and
fifty dollars for transportation costs.

F. The budget format developed cooperatively between the department of economic
security and the department of education pursuant to section 8-503 shall be used by the
institutions to determine and segregate residential costs from educational instructional
costs.

G. If sufficient appropriated monies are available and upon a showing by an
institution that additional state monies are necessary for current expenses, an advance
apportionment of state aid may be paid to an institution. In no event shall an
institution have received more than three-fourths of its total apportionment under this
section before May 1 of the fiscal year. Early payments pursuant to this subsection must
be approved by the state treasurer, the director of the department of administration and
the superintendent of public instruction.

H. Notwithstanding subsection G of this section, when making the April payment to
an institution, the department of education may include an additional amount based on an
estimate of monies payable to the institution in May. Before the department of education
apportions monies to the institution in June, it shall adjust the June payment to account
for any discrepancies between the monies actually paid in April and May and the amount
which should have been paid. If an overpayment in May exceeds the total amount payable
in June, the institution shall refund to the department of education an amount equal to
the overpayment within sixty days of notification of the overpayment. If the overpayment
is not refunded within sixty days by the institution, the superintendent of public
instruction shall reduce the state aid entitlement to the institution for the succeeding
fiscal year to recover any overpayment of state aid received during the current fiscal
year.

I. Any special education institutional voucher issued pursuant to this article
shall not be used in any school or institution that discriminates on the basis of race,
religion, creed, color or national origin.

J. The state board of education may withhold state aid from an institution for
noncompliance with any applicable statute or any applicable rule adopted by the state
board.