Proposed US Department of Education (USDE) Section 504 rule updates aimed at addressing barriers for students with disabilities, fix outdated language, and align with civil rights laws will almost surely not make a revised October deadline.  To date, The USDE has yet to send its regulatory plans to the Office of Management and Budget, which can take up to 120 days to review them

The proposed rules are expected to bring clarity to how Section 504 accommodations for students with disabilities align with the civil rights protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

As school districts nationwide work to help children and families retain benefits amid the transition to automatic renewal systems due to the end of the pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is threatening state Medicaid agencies with sanctions for improperly removing children from the safety-net coverage during ongoing eligibility checks resulting from the end of the public health emergency declared during the pandemic.

On Wednesday, August 30, 2023, all 50 states and Washington, D.C. received letters from the federal government after it was found that a number of states using automatic renewal systems to review the eligibility of families all at once, despite a lower bar for children that would allow them to remain eligible. Such action could result in eligible children improperly losing their Medicaid coverage.

The CMS is giving state until mid-September to assess their systems, pause disenrollments if they find errors, and reinstate coverage for any affected individuals.

Source: K-12 Dive. Click here for more.

As next year’s deadline for American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds approaches, school districts must prepare for the impact. To that end, with roughly a year left before the September 2024 obligation deadline, The School Superintendents Association (AASA) launched its fourth American Rescue Plan (ARP) survey of school district leaders to ascertain what spending priorities and challenges they are anticipating as the fiscal timeline tightens. The survey reveals 53% of school district leaders anticipate the need to decrease specialist staffing, including behavioral health personnel and reading specialists, as well as cuts or decreases in summer learning programming tailored exact student needs.

To access School District Spending of American Rescue Plan Funding Part IV, click here.

It is estimated that 536,400 children have lost access to Medicaid and CHIP insurance since automatic renewals ended in April. As a result, a toolkit from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) titled Medicaid and CHIP Renewals: Reaching Children and Families in School-Based and Early Education and Care Settings has been made available. It urges K-12 and early childhood educators, administrators, staff and parent-teacher associations to help families be aware of the change in public health policy through letters, robocalls, text messages, social media and other communications.

In addition, The School Superintendents Association (AASA) advises that raising awareness about continuous coverage also benefits school systems that rely on Medicaid reimbursements for school-based health services. In fact, keeping students enrolled in Medicaid will be especially important for the fiscal health of those districts, since Medicaid reimbursements for school-based services is the third- or fourth-largest federal revenue stream for school systems. 

To access the toolkit Medicaid and CHIP Renewals: Reaching Children and Families in School-Based and Early Education and Care Settings, click here.

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