Q&A from the Public High Cost In-District Claiming for the 2018-19 Enrollment Year Webinar, Oct. 3, 2019

The table below provides the questions with answers that were asked by participants during the Public High Cost Claiming for the 2018-19 Enrollment Year Webinar held on October 3, 2019.

The presentation slides can be found below:

 

Question Answer
1. What terminology should be on an IEP if students require need additional instructional hours after school in order for the students to meet their IEP goals? School districts should contact the STAC and Medicaid Unit with specific proposed language, and the STAC and Medicaid Unit will consult with the Office of Special Education.
2. If districts want to submit their DCPUB high cost worksheets in large batches via text files submitted using the SED File Transfer Manager, whom should they contact? School districts can e-mail OMSSTAC@nysed.gov for a copy of the required file layout for batch submission of DCPUB data. Districts will be notified when the STAC Unit is ready to accept those files. In the meantime, school districts should continue submitting DCPUB data using the online screen to ensure no delays in verification.
3. A student was to receive related services in a small group setting, but there weren't enough students requiring the service, so the student was served individually. Can districts STAC the service as 1:1? Yes, however an explanation must be noted in the comments section near the bottom of the DCPUB screen. If the related service was provided by a contracted related service provider, documentation from that provider showing the service could not have been provided in a group setting must be submitted.
4. Does a Hearing Assistance Technology (HAT) management purchase qualify as eligible for High Cost Public reimbursement?¬ Assistive technology purchases are aidable if the technology is directly related to an IEP-mandated service, is acquired during the September - June period, and is noted on the IEP.
5. In the Related Services section, should you enter 200 as the Actual Sessions if the service was provided five times weekly? If a related service session is provided once a day, the number of reported related service sessions cannot exceed the number of program days, typically 180.
6. Is the SED File Transfer Manager the same thing as "GoAnywhere"? The SED File Transfer Manager (SED FTM) is the latest iteration of GoAnywhere. The same usernames and passwords issued for GoAnywhere will continue to work for the SED FTM.
7. Why aren't some students showing up on the DRPUB reapplication screen?

There are two possible reasons:

  1. Once a reapplication has been processed, it will no longer appear on the reapplication screen. School districts can use the DQAPP screen to see if a reapplication has already been processed.
  2. Student approval records added to the STAC system after April 1 will not have a reapplication record for the new school year.
8. What must be included on an IEP to claim child-specific support personnel for High Cost Public aid? The IEP should specifically list the type of support personnel: Aide, Teaching Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), Registered Nurse (RN), or Interpreter. It should also specify the location where the aide is required, the number of students served by the support personnel, the duration of time with the student, and the frequency that the support personnel is required. The portion of time the support personnel is with the student while the student is being transported, "Adult Support", and "Adult Supervision" are not aidable.
9. Should a contracted nurse be claimed in Section III or as a Skilled Nursing related service in Section IV?

The cost of a 1:1 nurse should be reported in Section III. If the nurse is contracted, report the invoiced amount (up to the IEP-mandated level of service) in the Salary field, leave the Fringe value at 0, and explain in comments.

If the IEP only requires intermittent nursing services, report the costs in Section IV. The IEP should be specific as to the frequency and duration of the nursing services.

10. What determines the district threshold?

There are two factors:

  1. The Approved Operating Expense (AOE) listed on Line 1 of the PUB State Aid Output Report.
  2. The Total Aidable Pupil Units (TAPU) listed on Line 2 of the PUB State Aid Output Report.

The district threshold is three times the AOE divided by the TAPU. The district threshold is calculated by the SED State Aid Unit.

11. Will school districts be notified if the costs entered on a DCPUB or DCPOD high cost worksheet are changed by the STAC and Medicaid Unit? Adjustments to costs are noted in the SED Use Only box in the bottom-right corner of the DCPUB screen.
12. Can the special education teacher salaries be estimated across the board, or does each teacher salary need to be reported using actual costs? Actual teacher salaries must be reported on the DCPUB screen.
13. When filing original STACs for state aid projections included in the executive and legislative budget proposals, are the DCPUB worksheets required with estimated values? The DCPUB screen should not be completed until actual cost information is available. Cost estimates entered on DSPUB are sufficient for state aid projections.
14. If a teacher is going into the home to provide additional instruction, how should it be listed on the IEP? The description in the related services section of DCPUB should be as specific as possible. If listed as "specialized instruction", the narrative in the IEP should specify what aspect of instruction is being targeted, such as instruction focused on mobility, speech, autism deficiencies, etc.
15. When a service approval is added for a High Cost Public student on the DSPUB screen or reapplied on the DRPUB screen, sometimes the estimated education rate generates a "DCPUB Required" flag. When we enter a lower final actual cost, why does the "DCPUB Required" flag not get removed? Once flagged as "DCPUB Required", all amended costs for a record must be calculated through the DCPUB screen. School districts can contact the STAC unit to request an offline PDF version of the DCPUB screen to calculate 10-Month Annualized Costs before entering a service approval online. It is anticipated that offline versions of both the DCPUB and DCPOD worksheets will be posted on the Forms page of the STAC website in the coming weeks.
16. Can a district use an average hourly rate for in-house related service providers? School districts are strongly recommended to use specific period related service rates where the in-house staff assigned to a student are known. However, in a school district with large numbers of the same type of related service provider and/or where multiple individuals could be assigned to a given student from a related services pool during the school year, calculating an average rate for each type of related service might be necessary.
17. Is it best to withdraw the record if the student's actual 10-Month Annualized Cost ends up being less than the district's threshold? In most cases, school districts should withdraw approval records that aren't going to generate any High Cost Public aid. However, if the 10-Month Annualized Cost is close to the district’s threshold, it is better to verify the record in case the district threshold changes in the future.
18. Should districts submit invoices for services supplied by an outside provider right away, or wait until the STAC and Medicaid Unit requests them? Ordinarily, school districts would wait to submit supporting documentation until a record is selected by the STAC unit. If there is an unusual situation, school districts should contact the STAC unit at OMSSTAC@nysed.gov to see if there is anything that you should submit ahead of time. Reference students using STAC IDs; do not include personally identifiable student information in emails.
19. When should the "BOCES Extra" option in the Related/Other Services section be utilized? School districts would select the "BOCES Extra" provider type option when claiming services that were provided by BOCES but not included on the BOCES’s year-end final cost report.
20. Will it affect a school district's state aid reimbursement if some of the High Cost Public claims were not completed by the October deadline? A school district's final public excess cost reimbursement will not be affected by failing to meet the October deadline. However, by not submitting all eligible High Cost Public approvals by the October deadline, a school district’s state aid projections for the upcoming executive budget proposal will be less accurate. School districts should strive to get all High Cost Public approval records into the STAC system by the October or January deadlines to ensure accurate Executive/Legislative projections.
21. If the IEP recommends a shared aide, but there are no other students available who require a shared aide, what should school districts list as the "# of Students Served"? If an IEP specifies a shared aide but there weren't any other students to share the aide, school districts can report the number of student served as 1 and provide an explanation in the comments section.
22. When a high cost student moves from one New York State school district to another New York State school district, what does the new school district need to do? The new school district should add a partial year approval record on the DSPUB screen. The new school district will need to contact the student’s previous school district to amend their STAC record if an overlapping services error occurs.
23. Will in-district placements that are reapplied on the DRPUB screen require DCPUB worksheets? In-district student approvals added using the DRPUB reapplication screen will be subject to the same selection criteria for the DCPUB worksheet as in-district student approvals added manually on the DSPUB screen.
Last Updated: January 20, 2022