Sp Ed DCFS Youth-in-Care Verification – Now Available
Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) enrollment calculations must account for and deduct Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) youth-in-care (YIC) who participate in the state’s Special Education Individual Orphanage (Section 14-7.03) and Regular Education Orphanage (Section 18-3) programs. Districts receive full State funding for these students through a separate claim process.
ISBE is requesting that all districts submit final DCFS YIC who are special education students enrolled in the district on or before March 1, 2020, for approval in I-Star by Friday, May 15. The School Code statutes for both Orphanage programs require that districts submit claims to ISBE on or before June 15. However, that claim deadline is too late for ISBE to verify and deduct the special education DCFS YIC students from each district’s EBF enrollment in time to complete fiscal year 2021 EBF calculations.
In order to assist districts in the same manner as last year, ISBE has made available a list of each district’s DCFS YIC in the EBF enrollment verification tool to meet the May 15 deadline. Districts are now able to download a list of possible special education YIC students to review, determine if they are special education and enter them into I-Star with the appropriate Fund Code of E or F. To download this list of possible special education YIC students, perform the following steps:
- Log into IWAS
- Select “Student Information System” from My Systems
- Select “Evidence Based Funding” from the menu on the left side of the screen.
- The EBF Review screen will be displayed. You will see a link below the enrollment counts: “Download a List of Possible Special Education Youth-in-Care Students”, along with additional information.
- Click the link to start the download of an Excel document that contains the list of possible special education youth-in-care students. Depending on your browser, the download may start immediately in the lower left corner of your browser window or may prompt you for a location to save the download.
- If no students are identified in this group, a message will be displayed to indicate that no students were found and no further action is required.
Districts that submit a special education orphanage approval record with a begin date on or before March 1 in I-Star by May 15 will be able to submit a claim by June 15 as normal. Students submitted after May 15 will not be claimable for special education orphanage; however, their enrollment will be included in the district’s EBF enrollment count if they were active on October 1 or March 1. Districts may enter an approval record in I-Star and make a claim by June 15 for students who have a begin date of March 2 through the end of the school year and were submitted after May 15. Thank you for your continued partnership as we work to ensure that all Illinois students get the resources they deserve for academic excellence and postsecondary success.
Districts should work with their staff who enter I-Star students or their special education joint agreement partner, as appropriate. Each district is responsible for ensuring that all DCFS YIC who are special education students are entered in I-Star.
Questions pertaining to the operation of I-Star should be directed to Harrisburg Project support@hbug.k12.il.us, phone (800) 635-5274.
Questions pertaining to special education student approvals can be directed to Jamie Johnson jjohnson@isbe.net.