Lawmakers, advocates and parents told amNewYork they\u2019re fed up over the years-long issues with special education services at the York City Department of Education, which they said contributed to the agency leaving $431 million in Medicaid reimbursements on the table from mid 2023 to mid 2025, according to a new comptroller\u2019s audit, released Thursday.<\/p>\n
For more than a decade, teachers, education advocates and the city\u2019s financial watchdog have raised the same complaints. During a 2021 audit, the comptroller\u2019s office estimated that for eligible occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy sessions, the DOE failed to claim an estimated $179.6 million to reimburse the city for legally mandated special education services like PT, OT and ST.<\/p>\n
Chair of the City Council Education Committee and former special education teacher, Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx), told amNewYork in a statement that it was long past time the DOE corrected the systemic failures that were costing the city millions each year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFederal Medicaid reimbursements provide crucial money for our schools, and leaving $431 million of this federal money on the table is completely unacceptable,\u201d he said. \u201cBack when I was a UFT (United Federation of Teachers) chapter leader, we were already flagging this exact issue, and past comptroller audits have echoed those warnings for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Documenting Special Education Services<\/strong><\/p>\n The comptroller\u2019s audit determined that the majority of Medicaid reimbursement dollars which DOE failed to claim stemmed from issues with documentation. Medicaid requires specific documentation like students\u2019 Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), consent forms, orders for services, session notes and progress updates.<\/p>\n But for the 17.2 million reimbursement-eligible therapy service sessions, close to half lacked the proper forms and documentation to reach the evidentiary threshold required to unlock money, according to the audit.<\/p>\n \u201cLosing out on dollars meant to support our students because of missing documentation or unfilled paperwork is a longstanding administrative breakdown we cannot afford to keep tolerating,\u201d said Dinowitz.<\/p>\n Leonie Haimson, executive director of the nonprofit education advocacy organization Class Size Matters, drew a direct line from fumbling Medicaid reimbursement to the DOE\u2019s continued use of a much embattled data tracking tool, the Special Education Student Information System (SESIS), which DOE announced it would replace seven years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of [the] most disturbing findings in this audit to me is that DOE is still using SESIS, the highly flawed special Ed reporting system that they announced they\u2019d decided to replace back in 2019- tho[ugh] they say they are still working on developing a new system,\u201d Haimson said in a post on social media.<\/p>\n The SESIS system has been plagued with trouble since it was rolled out in 2011, garnering widespread criticism and prompting multiple lawsuits. Teachers complained of snail-like speeds and frequent glitches wiping away progress. One educator, who asked not to be identified, described what experiences they\u2019ve had with SESIS as \u201cinfuriating.\u201d<\/p>\n They also raised privacy concerns, telling amNewYork that when using SESIS, an instructor can see information about all students with IEP\u2019s, even ones they do not directly work with, something advocates are concerned violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).<\/p>\n