Tuesday 29 May 2012

Budget Subcomm says use fed special ed $ for student med therapy ...

DesaulnierRecommending that schools pay for student medical programs with federal special education monies, state Sen. Mark De Saulnier, at left, chair of Senate Budget Committee #3, rejected Gov. Brown's proposed cut to the state's?Children's Services' Medical Therapy Program?(CCS- MTP) last Thursday.?Marisa Lagos reported on the story for the?San Francisco Chronicle.

Under Browns' proposal, families with annual incomes over $40,000 would no longer be eligible for MTP services?unless medical expenses exceed 20% of their income; currently there is no financial eligibility requirement.

From the Subcommittee agenda, May 24, 2012:

If Brown's proposal is approved, an estimated 4,779 children would lose MTP services...it would result in annual savings of $21.9 million ($10.9 million General Fund and?$11 million county funds).

Instead it is recommended to use available federal special education funds to cover the costs?of providing services to the 14,273?children with?Individual Education Programs (IEPs) [under the federal?Individuals with Disabilities Education Act]?who receive medical therapy.

Currently state and county funds cover the medical therapy services included in the IEP.

A conservative estimate of these costs is $24.6 million ($12.2 million General Fund?and $12.4 million county funds).

The subcommittee staff recommendation would require schools to pay for all therapies?included in a child?s IEP, including medical, (as required by federal law) and to provide schools?with this additional special education funding to cover the increased cost. Under this scenario,?the state would continue to require [the clinics] to provide medically necessary therapies, but?placeholder language would specify that medically necessary therapies included in an IEP?would not be the financial responsibility of the CCS, but would be funded by the schools.

The CCS-MTP provides physical, occupational, and medical?therapy to handicapped children with neurological and musculoskeletal disorders, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, head and spinal cord injuries;?24,433 children receive services in 125 mobile?outpatient clinics located on school campuses and run by county CCS programs.

Written for California's Children by Elizabeth J Carlyle.

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