49-10-113 - State financial aid.
49-10-113. State financial aid.
(a) (1) The state shall provide financial aid in each school year to school districts and other entities entitled by the laws of this state to receive school aid for educational and related services provided by them for children with disabilities.
(2) The aid shall be determined and paid in accordance with this section and rules and regulations set forth by the state board of education.
(b) State financial aid pursuant to this part and parts 2-6 of this chapter may be claimed by and shall be paid to any public school district or other entities entitled by the laws of this state to receive school aid for each of the following elements:
(1) The education of children with disabilities in the regular school programs of the district or entity;
(2) The education of children with disabilities in special classes, schools and programs designed to meet their special needs and the furnishing of corrective or remedial services designed to ameliorate or eliminate physical, mental, emotional or learning disabilities or handicaps; and
(3) The furnishing of transportation.
(c) (1) For the purposes of entitlement to state aid, children with disabilities shall be counted in the same manner as other children.
(2) In addition to the state aid claimed and paid pursuant to this section, any school district or special education services association that has maintained an approved program of education for children with disabilities during any school year shall be entitled to and receive reimbursement from the state for the excess cost of the individuals in the program above the cost of pupils in the regular curriculum, which shall be determined in the following manner:
(A) Each district shall keep an accurate, detailed and separate account of all moneys paid out by it for the maintenance of each of the types of classes and schools for the instruction and care of pupils attending them and for the cost of their transportation, and shall annually report on the account, indicating the excess cost for elementary or high school pupils for the school year over the last ascertained average cost for the instruction of regular children in the elementary public schools or public high schools, as the case might be, of the school district for a like period of time of attendance;
(B) Each special education services association shall keep an accurate, detailed and separate account of all moneys paid out by it for the maintenance of each of the types of classes and schools for the instruction and care of pupils attending them and for the cost of their transportation, and shall annually report on the accounts, indicating the excess cost for elementary or high school pupils for the school year over the last ascertained average cost for the instruction of regular children in the elementary public schools or public high schools as the case might be, of the school districts served by the special education services association for a like period of attendance; and
(C) In addition to any state aid for the transportation of children to and from school and other transportation in connection with school-related activities, the department of education, upon a claim properly substantiated, shall pay one hundred per cent (100%) of the costs of special buses and other special equipment actually employed in transporting children with disabilities.
(d) (1) If any of the educational or other services aided pursuant to this section are provided partly by one school district or other entitled entity and partly by another district or entity, and if there is no valid contract or agreement by which one of the districts or entities is the proper claimant for all the aid in question, each district and entity shall be entitled to claim and receive a proportionate share of state aid in accordance with its actual assumption of costs.
(2) The department shall provide for the calculation and apportionment of state aid in cases covered by subdivision (d)(1).
[Acts 1972, ch. 839, § 11; T.C.A., § 49-2959; Acts 1994, ch. 768, § 2.]