005.28.19 Ark. Code R. § 017 - DESE Rules Governing Special Education and Related Services, Sec. 24.00 High-Cost Occurences
ARKANSAS DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION SPECIAL EDUCATION AND RELATED SERVICES 24.00 SPECIAL EDUCATION HIGH-COST OCCURRENCES
Effective October 2019
24.01 REGULATORY AUTHORITY
24.01.1 These rules shall be known as the
Division of Elementary and Secondary Education Rules Governing Special
Education High-Cost Occurrences.
24.01.2 These rules are enacted pursuant to
the State Board of Education's authority under Ark. Code Ann. §§
6-20-2303,
6-20-2304,
6-41-207
and
6-11-105, and
Act 757 of 2019.
24.02
PURPOSE
24.02.1 It is the purpose of these
rules to set forth the criteria for determining local school district
eligibility for seeking reimbursement for Special Education High-Cost
Occurrences as defined under Ark. Code Ann. §
6-20-2303(21).
24.02.2 These rules define the process for
local school district access to funds for Special Education High-Cost
Occurrences.
24.03
DEFINITIONS
24.03.1 For the purpose of these
rules, Special Education High-Cost Occurrences means those individual cases
where special education and related services required by the individualized
education program (IEP) of a particular child with disabilities are unduly
expensive, extraordinary and/or beyond the routine and normal costs associated
with special education and related services provided by the local education
agency.
24.03.2 IDEA refers to the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
24.03.3 IEP means the individualized
education program for a student with disabilities under the IDEA.
24.04 ADMINISTRATION
24.04.1 The Special Education High-Cost
Occurrences fund will be administered by the Arkansas Department of
Education.
24.04.2 In the event
that requests for reimbursement exceed the amount of funds available in the
High-Cost Occurrences fund, reimbursements will be pro-rated.
24.05 ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR
HIGH-COST OCCURRENCE
24.05.1 A district is
deemed eligible to apply for reimbursement under these rules for a high-cost
occurrence when the costs associated with an individual student, after offsets
from other available revenue sources, equal or exceed $15,000.
24.05.2 In calculating costs associated with
an individual student, the costs must be incurred solely as a result of the
provision of special education and related services to the individual
student.
24.05.3 Ineligible costs
include, but may not be limited to, the basic costs of the classroom, such as
the maintenance and operation of the classroom, basic materials and supplies,
basic transportation and other routine and normal costs associated with the
provision of special education and related services to children with
disabilities.
24.05.4 Eligible
costs include any other costs not excluded in 24.05.3 that the district is
incurring solely as a result of the provision of special education and related
services to this student. Examples include private duty nursing services,
special transportation aide, specialized equipment, specific staff development,
occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language pathology, personal
care assistance, extended school year services, the pro-rata share of the costs
of a teacher whose primary assignment is the student, and Medicaid
match.
24.05.6 The district must
demonstrate and document that it has fully accessed, to the maximum extent
possible, other available revenue sources, including Medicaid and Title VI-B,
or provide documentation as to why these other revenue sources were unavailable
to the district for this high-cost occurrence.
24.05.7 Other available revenue sources,
including Medicaid and Title VI- B, are to be applied by the district as
offsets to reimbursable costs for each high-cost occurrence reimbursed through
the High-Cost Occurrence fund.
24.06 REIMBURSEMENT FOR HIGH-COST OCCURRENCE
BASED ON INDIVIDUAL STUDENT
24.06.1 The
Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, Special Education
Unit, will provide local education agencies with a format for requesting
high-cost occurrence reimbursement to be completed and submitted to the Special
Education Unit no later than April 1 of each school year.
24.06.2 Reimbursement requests will be
reviewed to determine whether the district has incurred a "high-cost
occurrence" as defined in these rules.
24.06.3 After offsets from other revenue
sources as specified in 24.05.6, the maximum amount of reimbursement for each
high-cost occurrence will be the sum of the following -
24.06.3.1 One hundred percent (100%) of the
amount above the $15,000 threshold up to $65,000, and
24.06.3.2 Eighty percent (80%) of the amount
above $65,000.
24.07 LIMITATION ON REIMBURSEMENT
24.07.1 No individual high-cost occurrence
shall be eligible for reimbursement of more than $100,000 from this fund per
year.
Notes
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