Texas is slashing $607 million in Medicaid funding from program for students with disabilities

(The Texas Tribune) – Texas is clawing back more than $607 million per year in federal funding for special education services, a move local school district officials said will likely worsen already strained budgets for students with disabilities.The School Health and Related Services program provides hundreds of school districts critical funding for special education services, reimbursing them for counseling, nursing, therapy and transportation services provided to Medicaid-eligible children.Related Stories More than 775,000 students receive special education services in Texas, according to the Texas Education Agency. It is not as clear how many of them are eligible for Medicaid, though school district officials said many of the children who directly benefit from SHARS come from low-income families.But in the last year, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which manages the program at the state level, began imposing strict limitations on the types of services for which school districts are able to request federal reimbursement. The changes have accumulated into a $607 million slashing to the money school districts typically expect to receive under SHARS per year, according to health agency estimates.Bewildered by the sudden changes, school district officials and special education advocates said little has been communicated about why these...