An Act To Implement Certain Recommendations of the Task Force To Identify Special Education Cost Drivers and Innovative Approaches to Services
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1902
Committee Amendment CA_B_H780 (House)

LD 1902 
LR2942(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 /!,i{Jj--J(JO) 
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs 
Net Cost (Savings) 
General Fund 
Appropriations/Allocations 
General Fund 
State Mandates 
Required Activity 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Potential State Mandate - Unfunded 
FY 2017-18 
FY 2018-19 
$0 
$435,135 
$0 
$435,135 
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 suppo1t 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. 
Projections 
FY 2019-20 
$323,759 
$323,759 
Projections 
FY2020-21 
$338,967 
$338,967 
Unit Affected 
Local Cost 
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 rnembers 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 govemment will not be required to implement the mandated activities. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
This bill includes General Fund appropriations totaling $43 5, 13 5 in fiscal year 2018-19 to the Special Services Team 
program within the Depaitment 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. 
LR2942(03) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of2 
Cl!tu-1-- r; s-e) 
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 perfonn 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-
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. 
LR2942(03) - Fiscal Note - Page 2 of2