LOCAL

Chicago City Council Committee Votes to Move Forward on Minimum Wage Ordinance 

This morning, a committee of the Chicago City Council passed a Mayor’s proposal for what is called a management ordinance. This is an ordinance related to Chicago’s budget process. This ordinance includes components to raise the Chicago minimum wage to $15 an hour at a quicker schedule than required statewide, which is complicated since there are lots of different kinds of jobs and employers (corporate vs nonprofit vs restaurants etc). The ordinance also includes a component to phase out the 14c subminimum wage for disabled workers in Chicago in 4 years.  It will be voted on by the entire City Council Nov 26.  Two parents and a number of advocates spoke in support of the measure as well as raised concerns about ensuring that there was a strong transition plan that coordinate between the local and state government.  The issue of the staff crisis was also raised with a call for Chicago policy makers to support the They Deserve More efforts at the state level.  If you live in Chicago and want to lift up your voice as well, check out this link from Access Living.

STATE

The Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) is requesting provider participation in completing the Provider Cost and Wage Survey to support the on-going rate study.

Our contractor, Navigant Consulting, Inc., is conducting a rate study to establish new rate setting methodologies for the Community Integrated Living Arrangements (CILA) waiver program, and for Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (ICF/IDD). These methodologies will encompass all services that touch on an individual supported in a CILA or ICF/IDD, including community day services and other ancillary services.

The data collected from this cost and wage survey will support the development of updated rates for these services. Reported costs will inform several future rate assumptions, including administration and program support staffing, total costs to provide services, benefits for direct service staff, direct service staff hours and wages, and direct staff time and staffing, among others.

The deadline to submission of the complete surveys is Friday, December 20, 2019.

The attached survey material and instructions are also posted on a dedicated website to support the residential services rate study.  The survey is Excel-based, in a version compatible with Excel 97 and more. Below are instructions on how to access the survey:

  • Scroll down to ‘Provider Cost and Wage Survey’ section and select the Excel tool.
  • To download the files, right-click and select ‘Save Link As’ to download the document to your computer.

Note: When saving the file, please add your agency’s name to the beginning of the file name (e.g., ABC Agency HCBS and ICF/IDD Provider Rate Study)

Please submit completed forms to Navigant at ILDDDRates@Navigant.com. If there are any costs or issues that you believe should be considered but were not included in the survey, note those issues (and any other comments) in the transmittal email when submitting the survey.

Navigant Webinar on the  Provider Cost and Wage Survey 

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 19 – 10:00 am – 12:00 pm CT, Call In: (844) 290-1604, Conference ID: 7487677

Webinar Link: https://insidenci.webex.com/insidenci/onstage/g.php?MTID=ee1d11598615fcb194e28f3be9de5dd93

Completion of this survey is your opportunity to provide critical information that will help inform the development of new rate-setting methodologies. 

PLEASE NOTE SMALLER ORGANIZATIONS: For smaller organizations, that aren’t able to provide the full set of costs, can still report basic information around their wage rates, benefit offerings, and day program site and transportation information that will still be helpful to Navigant, even if they are unable to complete the survey in every detail.

If you have any questions, please contact Navigant at ILDDDRates@Navigant.com or 312-625-3334.

FEDERAL

Budget & Appropriations: House to Vote on Short Term Spending Bill to Avert Shutdown

The House is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a funding stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown. The measure would extend the current continuing resolution (CR) from November 21 to December 20. The continuing resolution (CR) comes as lawmakers continue to disagree over parameters for new spending bills, with the largest controversies centered around President Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico. Leaders of the Appropriations committees are negotiating over how to allocate funds among 12 spending bills. Another CR would allow them to put off final decisions about how to deal with the border wall.  

Announcements

Education: NCSECS Releases Report on Civil Rights Data Collection

Last week, the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools (NCSECS) released the Key Trends in Special Education in Charter Schools in2015-2016: Secondary Analysis of the Civil Rights Data Collection. This report analyzes the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) which tracks emerging trends as reported by 85,864 public schools across the U.S., including 5,548 charter schools. Highlights of key findings include:

  • Students with disabilities are suspended about twice as often as their peers without disabilities across all schools
  • Charter schools suspended higher percentages of all students than traditional public schools, and their students with disabilities were suspended the most
  • Charter schools are enrolling more students with disabilities than in the past, yet collectively continue to enroll proportionally fewer students with disabilities compared to traditional public schools
  • Charter schools tend to educate students with disabilities in the general education environment at higher rates compared to traditional public schools.

The report also provides analyses that include gender and race, the impact of a charter’s legal status on enrollment and educational environment, and the growth of specialized charter schools who focus on serving students with disabilities. In addition, it provides detailed state-level information and national trend data using the interactive data set.

Miscellaneous News: The Arc Resumes the Paul Marchand Internship in Disability Public Policy

The Paul Marchand Internship Fund will provide $6,000 per semester or summer session to assist interns interested in pursuing careers in public policy advocacy for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD). For 38 years, Paul Marchand was a dedicated disability policy advocate and recognized leader working on behalf of people with I/DD and the larger disability community. Upon his retirement in 2011, The Arc, with substantial contributions from United Cerebral Palsy, other organizations, and individuals with whom Paul worked during his decades in Washington, D.C. established an internship to honor Paul and to continue to cultivate disability policy advocates through the summer of 2018. The Arc is pleased to resumed this program in 2020. Applications for the spring 2020 session are due by November 30, 2019.