BILL NUMBER: S7688

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to the definition of
"tuition" for children with handicapping conditions

 
PURPOSE:

This legislation will ensure that special act school districts are reim-
bursed for the costs of public expenses and that the tuition rates are
not affected because of these costs.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends education law section 4401 (5) to clarify
that tuition includes the maintenance and administration of instruc-
tional facilities. It also provides that tuition shall include direct
reimbursement of actual public expenses calculated annually outside the
total cost screens employed in the methodology that determines tuition
              

rates.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

"Special Act School Districts" are public school districts created by
special action of the legislature for the purpose of providing education
and related services to students with disabilities-physical, emotional
and/or mental. Most are placed in residential settings associated with
these schools primarily by the family court, local social service
districts, the Office of Children and Family Services and the Office of
Mental Health, or in the case of Mt. Pleasant Blythedale UFSD in West-
chester County, patients are residents of the adjacent children's hospi-
tal. Regular public school districts, based on the recommendations of
their Committees on Special Education, also place students with disabil-
ities in Special Act Schools for day or residential services.

There are currently ten Special Act School Districts in New York State.
These schools serve some of the neediest students in our state. Many of
these students are placed in these schools as the last option available
in the continuum of services, as they have had frequent encounters with
the criminal justice, foster care and mental health systems and confront
serious personal and family challenges.  In the case of Mt. Pleasant
Bythedale UFSD, they are recovering from life-threatening illnesses,
surgeries or accidents.

Despite being public schools, the methodology to calculate tuition rates
for Special Act public schools is the same one that is employed for
nonpublic schools. This is significant since public schools, including
Special Acts, have additional public school expenses that nonpublic
schools do not. In addition, the methodology to calculate tuition for
Special Act public schools categorizes administrative and facility costs
(i.e., non-instructional personnel costs, insurance, electric, gas and
maintenance) as indirect costs, and only allows for a maximum reimburse-
ment of these costs based on a 30%:70% ratio of indirect to direct
costs. Direct costs include instructional salaries and benefits and
instructional materials and supplies.  Indirect costs that exceed the
30% ratio are not reimbursable. In addition, costs that exceed the
established "cost screens" (rates for expenses as adjusted each year by
the Regional Cost Index which includes the area where the school is
located and surrounding counties to the north and south, irrespective of
significant demographic differences such as costs of living), used to
control increases in direct and indirect costs result in a decrease in
the tuition rate. Accordingly, if indirect costs exceed the 30% ratio,
the costs that exceed the 30% ratio are not included in the tuition rate
and if direct and/or indirect costs exceed the maximum allowable cost
screen, the exceeded amount is deducted from the tuition rate, thereby
lowering the rate even further.

Tuition rates are further impacted since they are based on two year old
expenses. At one time, tuition rates for Special Acts fully covered
these public school expenses. However, notwithstanding a recent increase
in the tuition rate, due to no rate increases for the prior 4 years,
these expenses are still not completely covered.  Finally, since 2007,
nondiscretionary increases to public school expenses, direct and indi-
rect, as well as the cost of state mandates including, but not limited
to, data collection and analysis, additional inspections and audits,
APPR and student assessment instruments and scoring, have resulted in
tuition rate decreases for all Special Act School Districts due to the
methodology described above. This has resulted in reductions in staff
and services at many schools.

Moreover, many Special Act School Districts have needed to borrow monies
to pay for these public school expenses.

This bill will rectify this inequity by requiring the reimbursement of
actual public school expenses and ensuring that these costs do not
continue to impact the tuition rate. This bill will also help to ensure
that our neediest students are provided with the resources they sorely
need for their education and other necessary services.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.