Local Texas school districts to lose approximately $660K in special education funding

TEXARKANA, Texas — Local school districts are feeling the sting in their budgets for special education funding due to a billing disagreement between state and federal governments going back to 2017.

Special education departments across Texas are facing cuts to the tune of $300 million and some districts are facing difficulties with providing needs to their more vulnerable students, or finding funding some other way.

This budgeting issue is happening due to an audit which found Texas schools were using incorrect coding for special education by deeming it medical services, which comes from the School Health and Related Services program (SHARS), through Medicaid. The subsequent overpayments led to funding for this year being cut from 700 million dollars.

Liberty-eylau Independent School District’s communications coordinator, Earl Gill, said the 2017 audit is causing the district to lose approximately $193,659.

Gill said the district’s SHARS funding varied from year to year.

“With the higher costs of conducting business and the increased FMAP (Federal Medical Assistance Percentage) for the 2022 FFY (Federal Fiscal Year), the district anticipated a significant increase over previous years,” Gill said. “This will greatly diminish our ability to maintain current programs and greatly diminish our abilities to provide educational opportunities for children with disabilities.”

Gill said the district was not having any issues with staff retention.

Pleasant Grove Independent School District’s Director of Marketing, Haley Turner, said the district would be losing less than $20,000.

“This will not affect the students or teachers in the special education program,” Turner said.

The marketing director echoed Gill, saying the district’s SHARS funding varied each year.

Todd Marshall, chief communications officer at Texarkana Independent School District, said the district anticipates losing $447,129 in funding due to the recalculation.

“(We receive) approximately $1 million annually, and we anticipate receiving a fifty percent decrease in future funding,” Marshall said.

Marshall said the change will not affect the services TISD offers to students served by the Special Services team.

“Special Education funding in the state of Texas has been lacking for several years, local special education expenditures exceed allocations provided by the state and federal programs to meet student needs,” Marshall said.

Marshall said the district will have to reallocate resources to adapt to the funding loss, as the 2023-24 fiscal year budget had already been adopted.

“This will complicate efforts to balance the budget in the future,” Marshall said.