§ 4004. Financial responsibility. 1. Tuition expenses for a child
placed by a school district in a special act school district or in a
private school operated by a child care institution pursuant to this
article shall be the responsibility of such school district pursuant to
section forty-four hundred five of this chapter.

2. a. Any tuition expenses for an educational program approved by the
education department for the purposes of this article, incurred pursuant
to section four thousand two of this article, for a child who is a
resident of this state placed in a child care institution by a social
services district, the division for youth, or family court for a full
year program of instruction pursuant to section four thousand three of
this article, or for a child who is a resident of this state receiving
care in a residential treatment facility for children and youth and who
was placed in such a facility by a social services district, the
division for youth or the family court, shall be borne by the local
social services district financially responsible for such child and
tuition expenses for a child who is a resident of this state receiving
care in a residential treatment facility for children and youth and who
was not placed in such a facility by a school district, social services
district, the division for youth or the family court shall be borne by
the office of mental health, except that no public funding shall be made
available for any child receiving care in a residential treatment
facility for children and youth whose admission did not conform with the
provisions of section 9.51 of the mental hygiene law. Tuition expenses
for children admitted to Blythedale Children's Hospital on an inpatient
basis shall be the responsibility of the social services district in
which the child resided at the time of admission to such hospital. The
school district in which the child resided at the time a social services
district or the division for youth assumed responsibility for the
support and maintenance of the child, or was admitted to Blythedale
Children's Hospital, or the child was admitted to a residential
treatment facility for children and youth shall reimburse the state
towards the state's expenditure on behalf of such child for each child
determined to be handicapped by the committee on special education of
the school district of residence pursuant to section four thousand five
of this article. The amount of such reimbursement shall be equal to the
school district basic contribution as defined in subdivision eight of
section forty-four hundred one of this chapter.

b. The comptroller shall deduct from any state funds which become due
to a public school district other than a special act school district an
amount equal to the reimbursements required to be made to the state in
accordance with this section upon certification by the commissioner of
education of the monies due.

c. The state commissioner of social services shall notify the
commissioner of education at least every six months commencing September
first, nineteen hundred eighty-one of the name of each child for whom a
local social services commissioner has paid tuition during the preceding
six month period, the name of the school to which such tuition has been
paid, and the school district in which such child resided at the time of
entrance to care and whether such child has been determined to be
handicapped.

3. In the event of the failure of the social services district to make
payment for tuition pursuant to the provisions of this section, the
state comptroller shall withhold state reimbursement to any such social
services district in an amount equal to the unpaid obligation for
tuition and pay over such sum to the child care institution or special
act school district upon certification of the state commissioner of
social services. The state commissioner of social services shall
promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this subdivision.

4. Nothing in this article shall be construed to deny or limit access
to a free and appropriate education for a handicapped child pursuant to
the federal education of the handicapped act, as amended and the
regulations promulgated thereunder.

5. The board of education of a special act school district shall be
authorized to establish a fiscal stabilization reserve fund. There may
be paid into such fund an amount as may be provided pursuant to the
requirements of paragraph k of subdivision four of section forty-four
hundred five of this title.