- Texas school districts vs. federal government
- Facing $300 million special education funding hit
- At least 28 school districts across our area are losing nearly $6 million in school Medicaid
School districts across Texas are faced with major cuts as a result of a billing disagreement between the state and federal governments dating back to 2017. In total, districts are expected to lose more than $300 million a year in special education funding.
This is impacting many schools across the Coastal Bend, including Tuloso-Midway ISD (TMISD).
“We would have been looking at $606,000," Rick Ruiz, Assistant Director for Special Education at Tuloso-Midway ISD said. "So after you take into account the changes, we’re looking to receive $156,000.”
That's nearly a half million dollar difference than what Tuloso-Midway would be receiving for special education.
To give a better understanding, districts receive money under the School Health and Related Services program (SHARS) with Medicaid. Districts receive money back from the federal government when their staff provides services to special education students that are medical, rather than educational.
This means that the child needs attention related to medical services and needs physical assistance from an employee at the school. The district is then supposed to document the activity and that's how they receive reimbursements of the initial costs.
But this issue didn't happen overnight. It dates back to 2017 when an audit found that Texas schools were incorrectly coding what was supposed to be counted as medical services. That resulted in overpayments, taking the state's former special education funding from $700 million to about $300 million less per year.
This federal administration decision has come as a surprise to many districts who usually receive a document of their budget in December. Only two weeks into January and many of them have to figure out how to support the remainder of the school year's budget.
“We’re going to have to find ways to maximize our resources to be able to account for that," Ruiz said. "It’s very difficult to have a quick turn around and say 'Hey by the way, you’re missing out on almost $500,00 that you could have had.”
After taking a look at 28 schools in our surrounding area, KRIS 6 News reporters found they are losing more than $6 million in total in school Medicaid. The district losing the most money, which is our largest, is Corpus Christi ISD. They're losing $2,095,273. Flour Bluff ISD's school Medicaid funding will be cut down by $574,654. Gregory-Portland ISD will face a $332,333 shortfall.
Some districts say they've already been facing challenges with lack of staffing, other funding, and the economic rollercoaster. This could make the hole even deeper and may cause a domino effect throughout the halls of Texas schools.
“It’s real easy to understand that now you’re impacting the entire student body, the entire district," Ruiz said. "Not just a special pop. We’re going to provide a quality education to our students, regardless of what’s going on.”
Some educators said many school districts will more than likely have to rely on the state to help with the lack of funds.
KRIS 6 News reached out to The Texas Association of School Boards, one of several vendors that districts hire to help administer the Medicaid reimbursement program, but they declined to comment on this matter.
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