Special Education DCFS Youth-in-Care Verification Due May 1
Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) enrollment calculations must account for and must deduct Illinois 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 via a separate claim process.
ISBE is requesting that all districts submit final DCFS YIC data for approval in I-Star by Thursday, May 1. Please note that these are special education students enrolled in the district on or before March 1. The School Code statutes for both orphanage programs require that districts submit claims to ISBE on or before June 15; however, this claim deadline is too late for ISBE to verify and deduct the special education DCFS YIC students from each district’s EBF enrollment in a timely manner to complete fiscal year 2025 EBF calculations.
To assist districts, a list of each district’s possible DCFS YIC special education students is available in the Student Information System. Districts can download a list of possible special education YIC students to review, determine if they are special education, and enter them into the I-Star system with the appropriate Fund Code of E or F. Please perform the following steps to download this list:
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Log in to IWAS.
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Select “Student Information System” from My Systems.
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Select “Evidence-Based Funding” from the menu on the left side of the screen.
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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.
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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.
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If no students are identified in this group, a message will be displayed to indicate that no students were found to be possible DCFS YIC, and no further action is required.
Districts that submit a Special Education Individual Orphanage approval record (Fund Codes D, E, F) with a begin date on or before March 1 in I-Star by May 1, 2025, will be able to submit an Orphanage claim by June 15 following the regular schedule and receive full state funding. Students with a begin date on or before March 1 who are submitted after May 1 will not be claimable for Special Education Individual Orphanage. Their enrollment, however, will be included in the district’s EBF enrollment count if they were active on October 1 or March 1. For students who have a begin date of March 2 through the end of the school year and were submitted after May 1, districts may still enter an orphanage approval record in I-Star and make a claim by June 15.
Districts should work with their respective staff who enter I-Star student data or their special education joint agreement partner, as appropriate. Each district is responsible for ensuring that all DCFS YIC special education students are entered in I-Star. Thank you for your continued partnership as we work to ensure that all Illinois students receive appropriate supports and services for academic excellence and postsecondary success.
Requests for I-Star technical assistance should be directed to the Harrisburg Project at support@hbug.k12.il.us or 800-635-5274. Please contact
ISBESpecED@isbe.net if you need additional guidance or support.
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