California Congressional Staff Briefed on K-12 Education -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 3 -- February 14, 2003

On January 31, 2003 the California School Boards Association gave a briefing to the House and the Senate staff on education issues that the state is facing this upcoming year. Rick Pratt, Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Relations, Mina G. Fasulo, Assistant Executive Director for Communications, Phillip Escamilla, Legislative Advocate, and Samantha Dobbins, Research and Policy Consultant, spoke on issues ranging from implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act to Medicaid reimbursements that the schools get for their services.

All presenters expressed concern about the budget situation in California and how it will affect the state's ability to carry out several state and federal education mandates. The funding for categorical programs, many of which are targeted by the "No Child Left Behind Act", is expected to be cut 1.28 percent, or as much as much as $2.2 billion. The presenters argued that such funding cuts would significantly undermine California's ability to meet the state education performance goals and the "No Child Left Behind" standards.

Another issue discussed during the briefing was a new proposal by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), an office within the Department of Health and Human Services, to change guidelines on Medicaid billing, which provides schools with reimbursements for administrative services to students with medical needs. The presenters were concerned about CMS's January 1, 2003 announcement that schools may recover only 50 percent of costs of administrative work related to serving Medicaid-eligible students, as opposed to the 75 percent that schools could recover in reimbursements previously. The presenters stated that CMS's revised guidelines would put children with special medical needs at risk and severely reduce reimbursements to schools.

With respect to this year's legislative efforts, the California School Boards Association commented that it will focus on increase of funding for and re-authorization of the Individuals with Special Needs Education Act (IDEA) which was first enacted in 1975.

For more information about the California School Boards Association, please visit their website at: http://www.csba.org .

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