Bright Ideas
By Julie Jilek
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, CSBO
NORTHWEST SUBURBAN SPEC. ED. ORG.
By Tammy Greco
GRANT COORDINATOR
ILLINOIS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (ISBE)
In July 2018, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced a procedural change in how Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B flow-through and preschool grant funds would be distributed in Illinois. These federal funds flow from the federal government to states (recipients) and then to subrecipients within the states. Previously, ISBE allocated funds to subrecipients that included state-authorized charter schools, special education cooperatives and school districts that are not a part of cooperatives. Then these funds were then further sub-granted from special education cooperatives to their member school districts. The July 2018 announcement from ISBE informed subrecipients that according to the U.S. Department of Special Education (OSEP), subrecipients cannot further subgrant IDEA grant funds. With this procedural change, IDEA flow-through and preschool funds would no longer flow through special education cooperatives and would flow directly to school districts. Cooperatives and their member districts were given the option to implement the procedural change beginning with either the FY20 or FY21 school year.
Read on to learn about some of the procedural changes that were implemented during the transition in FY20, additional changes that will take place going into FY21 as well as some tips, best practices and important timelines. Additionally,
new initiatives from ISBE funded by IDEA will be highlighted.