121st Maine Legislature
		Office of Fiscal and Program Review
		LD (not known)
		An Act Regarding the Continued Provision of Free and Appropriate Public Education for Eligible Children of Kindergarten Age
		LR 2872(01)
		Fiscal Note for Original Bill
		Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
		Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
					Projections	Projections
			2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$0	($93,317)	$754,529	$814,892
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$0	($93,317)	$754,529	$814,892
	Federal Expenditures Fund		$0	$421,184	$454,879	$491,269
Revenue
	Federal Expenditures Fund		$0	$421,184	$454,879	$491,269
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	Allowing a child who is already receiving free, appropriate public education services through the Child Development Services system, and who reaches age 5 between September 1st and October 15th to continue to receive those services if the child's parents choose not to enroll the child in kindergarten until the child reaches 6 years of age will result in a net General Fund savings of $93,317 in fiscal year 2004-05.  This fiscal note is based on a series of assumptions that are detailed below.  The actual fiscal impact of this measure may be higher or lower depending on actual experience.
	This bill includes General Fund appropriations totaling $698,638 in fiscal year 2004-05 for the state's share of continuing to provide services to the estimated 154 children who would be eligible for delayed entry into kindergarten.  Of that total, the Pre-School Handicapped program within the Department of Education will require $475,519 to provide services to those children who are not MaineCare eligible and the MaineCare program within the Department of Human Services will require $223,119 for the state's share of providing services to the MaineCare eligible children.  The MaineCare program will also require a Federal Expenditures Fund allocation of $421,184 in fiscal year 2004-05 for the federal match.
	It is anticipated that local school units will experience savings of $1,277,346 in fiscal year 2004-05 as a result of parents of eligible children choosing not to enroll their child in kindergarten until age 6.  This bill includes a one-time General Fund deappropriation of $791,955 in fiscal year 2004-05 to the General Purpose Aid for Local Schools program within the Department of Education to recognize the state's share of the savings to local school units from delayed entry into kindergarten.  The total savings to the local school units are projected to be $1,371,290 in fiscal year 2005-06 and $1,472,337 in fiscal year 2006-07.  Because of the transition to the Essential Programs and Services model beginning in fiscal year 2005-06, the state's share of the savings can not be determined at this time.
	The estimates in this fiscal note are based on the following assumptions:
	>> The number of children estimated to be eligible for the delayed entry into kindergarten is 171.  This estimate is provided by the Department of Education and is based on historical data on the actual number of exceptional students with birthdates between September 1 and October 15.
	>> Ninety percent of the parents of the 171 eligible children are expected to choose to delay their child's entry into kindergarten.
	>> Fifty percent of the children are assumed to be MaineCare eligible
	>> The average cost to provide services to non-MaineCare eligible children is estimated to be $6,264 with 75% of the cost being funded with State funds and 25% being funded with Federal funds.
	>> The average cost to provide services to MaineCare eligible children is estimated to be $7,200 with the State's share being approximately 35% and the Federal share being approximately 65%.  However, this estimate is adjusted downward to reflect that a small percentage of the MaineCare services would be provided to these children outside of the school setting.
	>> The savings associated with not providing special education services to children in the local schools is based on the total State and Local expenditures for special education in fiscal year 2002-03 adjusted to reflect the cost to the State of providing 100% of the funding for these services for State Wards and State Agency Clients.
	>> The savings-per-child is calculated by dividing the adjusted State and Local expenditures for special education in FY 2002-03 by the number of children ages 5-21 from the December 2002 ChildCount report, which was also adjusted for State Wards and State Agency Clients.
	>> The State's share of the adjusted State and Local special education expenditures is assumed to be 62%.
	>> The savings are adjusted to reflect that approximately 15% of the costs of providing special education services to these students are fixed costs and will still be incurred even if the student does not attend the local school.
	>> The estimate also includes savings associated with not providing non-special education services to these children
	>> Special education costs are projected to grow 8% per year in fiscal years 2005-06 and 2006-07.  Non-special education costs are projected to grow 5% per year.